Assessment of aquatic pathogens from freshwater fishes in Oman

There is common idea of what kind of aquatic pathogens in the water body, they are mainly virus, bacteria, parasite and fungi. The keystone of any effective biosecurity program is the consistent practice of all elements in the established measures including identification of all known pathogens in certain fish species or region, assessing the introduction and establishment of the common hazards, prevention of introduction and diseases detection and control. A number of factors are expected to affect host?parasite relationships as a result of global climate change, including parasite range extension, increased virulence, modified temporal dynamics of host?parasite interactions, decreased host condition, and increased disease outbreaks. Fishes are highly susceptible to disease infections, particularly in wild populations from diverse aquatic environments where ecological requirements for intermediate hosts and parasite transmission are met. However, only limited information is available in Omani freshwater fish pathogens, there is urgent need for conducting studies of such fish pathogens a highly related with environment to maintain sustainable natural ecosystem. The proposed project, therefore, would like to to survey parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases of Omani freshwater fish species.