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WAVMA's 5th Birthday

The World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA) is five years old this year if you include the year it was known informally as the AqVA, setting up and agreeing the Bylaws and arranging the very first meeting in Washington D.C.

The mission of WAVMA is ....

The mission of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association is to serve the discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine in enhancing aquatic animal health and welfare, public health and seafood safety, in support of the veterinary profession, aquatic animal owners and industries, and other stakeholders.

The purpose of WAVMA is:

  1. To serve aquatic veterinary medicine practitioners of many disciplines and backgrounds by developing programs to support and sustain members, and the aquatic species industries that they serve.
  2. To identify, foster and strengthen professional interactions among aquatic medical practitioners and other organizations around the world.
  3. To be an advocate for, develop guidance on, and promote the advancement of the science, ethics and professional aspects of aquatic animal medicine within the veterinary profession and a wider audience.
  4. To optimally position and advance the discipline of aquatic veterinary medicine, and support the practice of aquatic veterinary medicine in all countries.

Both the mission and purpose grew out of the need of aquatic veterinary practitioners around the world to belong to an international organisation that could cohesively promote and develop aquatic veterinary medicine. This theme was reflected in the presentations given, from veterinary associations around the world, during WAVMA's first meeting (see The World Veterinary Association (WVA) report on the meeting) held in Washington D.C. during July 2007. Four years on the mission and purpose are still as relevant even though aquatic veterinary medicine has advanced in leaps and bounds.

Aquaculture has been seen as the next big "thing" for many years and currently the FAO see aquaculture expansion as a necessary requirement for the world to be able to feed an increasing population. As aquaculture expands, producers are increasingly aware of the need to involve veterinarians in the care and welfare of their stock. Equally more veterinarians are interested in working in aquaculture. Whether this has come about simply as part of a normal development process or has been facilitated by organisations such as WAVMA is hard to tell. Certainly one would like to think that WAVMA has helped facilitate this through it's various activities. 

WAVMA has contributed to increased veterinary interest through assisting in organising aquatic veterinary medicine sessions at the World Veterinary Congress and stand alone conferences as well as providing a portal for information exchange and education through it's website. The ease and availability with which the veterinary practitioner can source information has improved.At the same time through WAVMA's support of Aquavetmed.info which provides listings of vets providing aquatic veterinary medicine services and  diagnostic laboratories, coupled with involvement in the I-ABC has promoted awareness of veterinarians and the services they provide amongst producers.

For a young organisation it appears that a lot has been achieved. Happy birthday WAVMA.