Through our own research we have identified field isolates which are being used for the development of a new vaccine, working on determine reservoirs, survival of the bacteria in sea water, screening broodfish and testing several vaccination strategies as well as QTL for SRS. We are currently running test with the new Pharmaq live vaccine and will start in Q3 a benchmark trial at the R&D Center in Colaco, to test the new custom made vaccine with other SRS vaccines available in Chile. Still, it is too early to tell if these vaccines are successful as the large fish is most at risk of SRS.
Cermaq also takes part in other initiatives to fight SRS. The Pincoy project is one example of this. The focus is how we can reduce the risk of SRS outbreak at every stage of the production. Sharing experiences and best practice the aim is to determine the risk factors at each stage of the production. The overall aim is to reduce the use of antibiotics by 50 % in two years. In the initiative are involved Skretting, Aquagen, Blue Genomics, Pharmaq, Centrovet, Blumar, Ventisqueros and Cermaq.
Pincoy project aims for a holistic approach to fight SRS and sea lice. Therefore is needed to gather all efforts to reduce the risks, involving:genetic improvements, smolt quality, functional feeding, new focus to vaccination, good farming practices, in feed and continues monitoring processes.