Summary of economic losses due to bacterial pathogens in aquaculture industry

The aquaculture industry has grown significantly in recent decades in order to meet global food demands, generating large economic gains in the countries that practice this activity. It is projected that by 2028, aquaculture will have a higher fish production than the wild catch sector. However, despite the high impact this industry has had on food production, there are a number of environmental and health factors that can affect and trigger fish diseases, causing significant economic losses. Among these diseases are those generated by the attack of pathogenic bacteria; more specifically, by the genera of gram-negative bacteria and, to a lesser extent, gram-positive bacteria. This chapter summarizes the information obtained by scientific sources on economic losses due to different types of contamination in the aquaculture industry, mainly the losses generated by the attacks of pathogenic bacteria. In addition, numerical data on production losses worldwide are presented according to the type of pathogenic bacteria. At the end of this chapter, the stages for the identification of bacterial diseases and the analysis of a fish farming system in the region of Huasteca Potosina, Mexico are detailed.