Quantitative Analysis of Biosecurity Levels in Ornamental Fish Farms Based on a Scoring System. A Case Study in Sri Lanka

The importance of biosecurity levels vary, as every pathway of disease transmission is not the same. The risk based quantitative assessment, which is more insightful, compared to general qualitative assessment, and therefore, could be considered as the ideal way to identify the gaps in different biosecurity measures in detail. All the possible ways of transmitting pathogens and the relevant preventive measures in fish farms have been included in the analysis used in the study and it has been further sub divided into external and internal biosecurity. In this, relative importance of different biosecurity aspects has been taken into account and accordingly, the final score is weighted in developing the risk based weighted scoring system. The biosecurity score obtained was indicated after the completion of the questionnaire and the scores at each subcategory can be compared by the farmer or the field veterinarian. A study carried out using a sample of 91 ornamental fish farmers in Gampaha District, revealed that there is a vast variation in the scores of biosecurity level in fish farms, ranging from 63% to 5% and this implies that many biosecurity measures have not been adequately implemented in these farms and there exists more room for improvement.