A Spanish biotech firm is starting up a new project to develop better vaccination programs in fish farms to protect against livestock diseases.
Bionaturis is running the project, together with Cadiz University’s department of chemical engineering, food technology and environmental sciences, and the Andalusian Aquaculture Technological Centre Foundation.
Right now, according to a release from Bionaturis, the aquaculture industry is worth about EUR 500 million (USD million), but with such densely-populated fish farm areas, diseases run rampant. Experts estimate about 20 percent of stock fish are lost due to disease, and the only known way to prevent it is to administer vaccines with a needle.
“We will develop vaccines and other types of treatment to be administered orally in a safe and efficient way for some of the main pathogens that currently affect aquaculture,” said Ana de las Heras, who will supervise the project.
The project is expected to take about three years.
