Science and industry join forces to avert the antimicrobial resistance crisis

In 2016, researchers from the Centre and partner institutions embarked on a collaborative journey with some of the largest seafood companies in the world. Today, this unique science-industry collaboration is allowing frontier research on antimicrobial use and mapping of antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture.

The SeaBOS initiative, or Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship, was born from a desire to test a hypothesis: can sustainable leadership by key seafood companies, so called “Keystone Actors”, trigger cascading effects throughout the entire seafood industry? In October 2023, the SeaBOS initiative moved into a new phase of implementation by launching two keystone projects to deliver results on the ground. One of these looks at antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and aims to achieve transformative change in the aquaculture sector. Centre researchers Patrik Henriksson, Max Troell and Oskar Nyberg play a central role in the project.

Antimicrobials, such as antibiotics, are a cornerstone of modern medicine. But they are at risk becoming ineffective as microorganisms (particularly bacteria) around the world are increasingly developing resistance towards them. This is largely due to mis- or overuse of antimicrobials both in the treatment of humans and animals.

The challenge

The presence of AMR in aquaculture production systems may not only pose a direct threat to human health, but could also impact production itself by lowering drug efficacy and drive selection towards more virulent strains of pathogen bacteria. More knowledge is required to understand the emergence and presence of antimicrobial resistance genes in aquaculture and its surrounding environment.

In the AMR Keystone Project, scientists and corporate partners are working together to create an industry aligned methodology for monitoring and quantifying the presence of resistance genes in bacteria associated with farmed aquatic animals. This can allow both scientists and companies to better understand the risks that are present in these production systems and where to focus interventions. With a view to achieving transformation on the ground, the projects seek to identify, assess and implement interventions for reducing the use of antibiotics in aquaculture, and initialize engagement with governments to support policy development.

Collaboration as a driving force

The project is a complex collaborative endeavour which spans multiple continents, time zones and fields of expertise. It brings together the two largest seafood companies in Thailand, Charoen Pokphand Foods and Thai Union, a team of researchers from the Centre, the Department of Veterinary Public Health at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food and Environments (SAAFE CRC).

The starting point for the project is the shrimp aquaculture sector in Thailand, a sector with a dynamic landscape of over 12,000 small-to-medium scale actors and a handful of large international producers, with a wide variety of actors involved throughout the production chain.

Collaboration between industry actors and scientific experts from both international and local institutions has allowed the project to go from conceptualization to implementation in a remarkably short time. The project team do not only intend to create a conceptual monitoring strategy, but also to put the methodology to the test, implementing the suggested approaches to enable learning experiences and refinements along the course of its development. The project’s intended outcome is a work package for monitoring relevant resistant genes in aquaculture across diverse regions and farmed species by 2025. The approach taken and solutions developed are intended to be adaptable and scalable to other farms, species and/or regions.

The data on the presence of resistant genes in the aquaculture sector can serve to support risk evaluations and to increase understanding of pathways for the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance. In other words, in order to design interventions for reducing AMR, we need to first understand where antibiotics are used and how AMR develops. But solutions to antimicrobial resistance need to come from a broad collaborative effort with a “One Health” approach, with interventions ranging from farm-level and social awareness to decisive action in legislative institutions.

Sharing best practices

SeaBOS members, health experts, NGOs, regulators, and academics have a broad range of experience with solutions to improve health and antibiotic stewardship, but sharing those learnings remains a challenge. Through the Keystone Project on AMR, the SeaBOS initiative will work to create a common resource pool of solutions to antibiotic challenges, which can help achieve a holistic approach to challenges within the sector in collaboration with external stakeholders. The ultimate goal is to develop and share best practices leading to reduced use of critically important antibiotics, focusing on farmers and regulators, but also to spread these learning to relevant stakeholders who can enable further promotion and implementation.