With the growth of aquaculture and the increasing impact of diseases, there is a need to ensure an adequate aquatic veterinary workforce of well-trained individuals. A wide range of knowledge, skills and education/experience (KSAs) is required to provide a variety of veterinary or veterinary-related services. Inevitably this workforce will be composed of veterinarians and non-veterinarian paraprofessionals working in private practice, and employed by governmental agencies, diagnostic laboratories and other aquatic animal health-related institutions and companies. Given the very diverse needs, roles, expertize and the responsibilities required of this workforce, a concerted and collaborative effort of academic institutions, government agencies, and veterinary and non-veterinary organizations is needed to ensure this workforce has the KSAs to provide these services. Fortunately, several programs are in place and are continually being refined to help ensure training and credentialing of sufficient numbers of experienced individuals, both at national and international levels.

Although the utilization of private aquatic veterinary practitioners by aquatic animal owners and industries over the last several decades has been slow (primarily because of reluctance of producers to utilize and pay for veterinary services), the availability of education, training and credentialing programs for aquatic veterinarians has increased. These include courses in both veterinary and non-veterinary degree-earning curricula, and extracurricular continuing education and professional development (CEPD) programs offered by academic institutions, and veterinary and non-veterinary organizations. While it is difficult to determine the number of para-veterinary professionals with experience in aquatic veterinary-related fields, the number of veterinarians registered in an online Directory of Aquatic Veterinarians (at www.aquavetmed.info) has increased progressively since 2006 to more than 3,000. Similarly, more than 4,300 veterinarians have completed the USDA/APHIS National Veterinary Accreditation Program (NVAP, a program that allows private practitioners to perform work on behalf of the government) since 2012. This has occurred in all U.S. states with FL, IN, CA, IL, TX, NC, MO, IA, OH, NY and PA ranked in the top 10, each having more than 120 USDA/APHIS-accredited veterinarians completing one or more of the NVAP aquatic veterinary training modules.

Preliminary results of an ongoing survey of all 30 veterinary schools currently accredited by the AVMA Council on Education in North America and elsewhere, and a 2014 survey of European veterinary schools by the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, indicate a large number of required and elective courses covering a variety of core aquatic-oriented subjects are currently in veterinary school curricula. Some courses have been offered for more than 20 years. While most of these courses provide sufficient training necessary to practice aquatic veterinary medicine after graduation, no veterinary school adequately covers all nine of the subject matter areas considered essential for aquatic veterinary practice. To address this, a new Certified Aquatic Veterinarian (CertAqV) Program has been initiated by the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association to recognize and credential KSAs acquired from a combination of academic, CEPD, or self-study sources. Coupled with existing and developing aquatic veterinary board certification programs that recognize advance KSAs above those of the average practicing veterinarian, it is believed that an adequate veterinary workforce exists to service clients and organizations, companies, institutions or government agencies that rely on a well-trained aquatic veterinary workforce.

* Presenting author