Usage and knowledge of antibiotics of fish farmers in small-scale freshwater aquaculture in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

This study focussed on the use and knowledge of antibiotics of tilapia and traditional freshwater species fish farmers in Hai Duong province, the major freshwater fish producing area in Red River Delta, Vietnam. As found from this cross-sectional survey, antibiotics were used by 91.7% of a total 60 surveyed farmers for the purposes of disease prevention and treatment. However, 98.2% of these farmers carried out no form of antibiotic susceptibility testing before choosing, buying and using antibiotics. Additionally, 78.9% of the respondent farmers who experienced significant mortalities in their stocks immediately treated with antibiotics without any diagnostic analysis or support. Within those surveyed, whilst 76.7% believed that antibiotics could be used to treat bacterial diseases, 13.3% farmers thought that antibiotics could also be used to treat viral diseases. The use of antibiotics by surveyed farmers can be influenced by unreliable sources of information, such as sometimes given by drug manufacturers and sellers. Several antibiotics listed as 'critically important' in human medicine, along with antibiotics prohibited by the government, were used by surveyed farmers. Findings from this study indicate that government, academia and private sectors should work collaboratively together to improve consultative services, provide training on disease diagnosis, promote responsible use of antibiotics and develop alternative solutions/treatments replacing antibiotics. The authorities concerned should look to other national country models for monitoring and regulation of antibiotics use in aquaculture and identify constituent parts which can be appropriate, relevant and implementable in the context of Vietnamese aquaculture.