Location: Aquatic Animal Health Research
Project Number: 6010-10600-002-021-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2026
End Date: Apr 30, 2029
Objective:
The goal of this project is to strengthen disease preparedness and day-to-day management in warmwater aquaculture by developing and testing integrated monitoring approaches that can identify elevated disease risk before outbreaks occur. The work will bring together environmental monitoring, microbial surveillance, and remote sensing to better understand how shifts in water quality, microbial activity, and pond conditions influence disease risk under real production settings. By drawing on aquatic animal health, environmental science, and production aquaculture, this project addresses persistent industry challenges related to disease losses, reduced survival, and inconsistent production performance.
Over the three-year project period, potential disease-risk indicators will be identified and evaluated in commercial ponds. Once these indicators have been validated, findings will be translated into practical guidance and training for producers. This will support adoption of monitoring strategies and management responses that can be implemented in the near term (<5 years) to improve disease preparedness and help sustain U.S. warmwater aquaculture over the long term.
Approach:
This project will use a field-based monitoring strategy to track environmental and microbial conditions associated with increased disease risk in warmwater aquaculture systems. Data will be collected from multiple production ponds using coordinated approaches, including continuous water quality monitoring and automated sampling, as well as microbial and pathogen detection from pond water and bioaerosol samples.
Supplemental remote sensing data will be collected using drone-based hyperspectral imaging of pond surfaces on a standardized schedule to provide additional context for observed environmental and microbial patterns.
Microorganisms recovered from water and bioaerosol samples will be identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In addition, a hyperspectral microscopy platform developed at Auburn University will be used to examine spectral patterns from bacteria isolated from pond water, providing added context for interpreting pond-scale hyperspectral signals. Together, these data will be evaluated to identify and validate practical disease-risk signatures under commercial production conditions. Results will then be translated into producer-ready guidance and training to support earlier disease awareness and more informed management decisions.