The publication brings together the work of 27 specialists from national and international institutions, which was led and systematized by 8 national experts on the subject, including Dr. Javiera Cornejo, full professor of the Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences of the University of Chile and Executive Director of the Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Aquaculture (CASA).

Contribution from CASA

CASA's participation helped ensure that the roadmap incorporated technical criteria based on scientific evidence and a comprehensive vision of sustainability, with special attention to health risk, responsible medicines management and the application of the One Health approach.

Dr. Javiera Cornejo highlighted the relevance of the document for the country and the role of CASA in its development:

“For CASA, this publication reflects our commitment to the responsible management of antimicrobials in aquaculture. As a country, we have the scientific evidence and capabilities to move towards more sustainable practices, but we need to do so in a coordinated manner and with a long-term vision. This roadmap reflects precisely that: a collaboratively developed proposal that puts the One Health approach and the generation of applied knowledge for decision-making at its core.”

An unprecedented collaborative process

The published work includes the analyses carried out at the First Congress on Management of Bacterial Diseases in Aquaculture, held in November 2024 in Puerto Varas.

The proposal was led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and included the participation of the following institutions: Salmon Technological Institute (INTESAL), Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR), Marine Research Center (CIMARQ) dependent on UNAB, Wavet Research, Andrés Bello University, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh, TEKBios and the Pincoy Project.

Key findings and recommendations

The document proposes a comprehensive strategy based on the One Health approach, emphasizing the need to coordinate surveillance and health actions across the human, animal, and environmental sectors.

Its main recommendations include:

• Addressing environmental gaps through advanced molecular tools that allow for the prevention of ecological impacts.
• Strengthen therapeutic alternatives, given the limited effectiveness of current vaccines against Piscirickettsia salmonis.
• Promote national innovations, including complementary therapies such as herbal medicine.
• Strengthen specialized training, with a sustained training effort to achieve improvements in the responsible use of antimicrobials.

Looking to the future

The success of this collaborative model led the participating institutions to plan a second version of the Congress on Management of Bacterial Diseases in Aquaculture for 2026, where they hope to review the progress made based on this roadmap.

The full article is available in open access in Antibiotics (MDPI).