Counting the Costs of Farmed Salmonids Diseases

Abstract

This article describes the assumptions and calculations underlying best estimates of the direct and indirect costs of three salmonid diseases in the United Kingdom: infectious salmon anaemia (ISA), viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS), and infectious haemorrhagic necrosis (IHN) using a standardized spreadsheet-based model. The data input for the model was derived from the literature and from a small survey specifically conducted to obtain the additional information required. The costs of private and public surveillance, treatment, prevention, and eradication of the known outbreaks of ISA and VHS, and a simulated outbreak of IHN, were estimated. The average current costs of all aquaculture disease surveillance and control by the private and public sectors averaged £17.6 million per annum, of which the private sector share of expenditure averaged 80% per annum. Specific disease surveillance and control costs for three diseases ranged between £4.7 million and £5.6 million per annum. While the current literature supports the concept that indirect costs (such as export trade restriction and consumer response to disease outbreak) have the capacity to cause major losses in the industry, the indication in our model is that the magnitude of indirect costs for salmonid disease outbreak is not significant.

Keywords:

• Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA)
• viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS)
• infectious haemorrhagic necrosis (IHN)
• direct costs
• indirect costs
• surveillance and control

Notes

1. The Scottish Government. 2012. Aquaculture. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Fisheries/Fish-Shellfish

2. Domestic fish farmers also produce small volumes of cod and halibut. Shellfish farming forms an increasingly important part of the UK aquaculture. The production of oysters and mussels dominate this sub-sector.

3. There were two further isolated outbreaks of this disease in salmon farms in Shetlands in 2009.

4. BBC News. 1999. Fish compensation row taken to Europe. BBC News, August 13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/419367.stm

5. Consequential on-farm losses include losses due to the fall in stock numbers, restrictions of movement, and due to the loss in fish value.

6. The UK financial year runs from 6 April to 5 April of the following year.

7. The control for a particular disease can also imply controlling for other unintended diseases.

8. Price includes labor costs and hire of specialty equipment that may be needed.

9. The UK is the only major producer of farmed salmon with a large domestic market. Nevertheless, exports are also large and represent roughly 50% of output.

10. The Scottish Government. 2011. Input-output tables. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/Input-Output/Downloads