Objectif
The management and control of disease in aquaculture is the single most important limiting factor in the development of the industry in Europe. Molecular analysis of pathogens by nucleotide sequencing has provided extremely valuable information on the epizootiology of aquatic disease and is all increasingly important tools in disease management. At present, development of such analyses is carried out in an ad hoc fashion, risking complementarily, duplication of effort or development of mutually exclusive data collections. Establishment of this thematic network will provide a harmonized dataset for important pathogens, together with defined quality standards. Such a network has considerable added value in terms of the data collections, information resources and epizootiological facilities for aquaculture research, development and management.