Sanitary control in Spanish aquaculture

Fish and shellfish health problems have been classically overlooked in Span ish aquaculture for quite some time. This holds true for both the industry and the responsible administration, despite the economic importance of the aquaculture in several areas of the country. In this contribution we will b riefly analyse the sanitary situation for both marine and freshwater fin-fi sh culture. Spain is an important producer of rainbow trout in continental Europe and a mong the first producers of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) with the largest commercial output of this species in mariculture. Spain exports mainly cult ivated seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and seabream (Sparus aurata) as juven iles within the European Community and to third countries where they are gr own to market size. As a consequence of the publication of the European Dir ectives/Decisions related to the sanitary control requirements in aquacultu re (EEC 91/67, 93/53, 93/54 and the 92/532 modified by Decision 96/240), th e Spanish legislation has been adapted, with a certain delay, to the new si tuation created by the publication of the correspondent Royal Decrees (RD 1 488/1994, RD 1882X, LLX 1994, RD 2581/96 and more recently the RD 138/1997) . Spain is divided into 17 autonomous regions each with a correspondent regio nal government. Spanish legislation requires each regional government to re sponsibly organize adequate control measures and to nominate authorized lab oratories to carry out diagnostic analysis with the aim to implement the EE C Directives and to maintain the necessary health status of fish. Therefore , the existence of a fish health laboratory within the animal health regula tory system is very recent whereas just a few people were working in fish h ealth issues during the 1980s. Besides these efforts, in 1994 the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, established its National Reference Labo ratory on Fish Diseases (NRLFD) within the Animal Health Laboratory in Madr id. Moreover, other laboratories located in various parts of Spain and asso ciated with different universities as well as with various national and reg ional research centers (i.e. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifica s, CSIC; Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, INIA) are now invo lved on subjects related to sanitary problems in the marine and freshwater aquaculture (Ledo et al. 1990; Toranzo et al. 1990; Pinto et al. 1991; Marc otegui et al. 1992; Vilas et al. 1994; Perez-Prieto and Rodriguez 1997). So me of the regional governments are using these laboratories for diagnostic services while fulfilling the EEC regulations. Unfortunately, the lack of c o-ordination among the NRLFD and the aforementioned institutions within an organized national network (which at present could easily be organised) sti ll leaves a painful gap for the effective implementation of available infor mation on disease control by the regulatory authorities.