SAPRO-BAL: Shared Approaches and Platform with Resources for Oomycetes diagnostics and surveillance in the Baltic Sea region

Saprolegnia pathogens are causing severe outbreaks and mass mortality in wild and farmed salmon and sea trout in the Baltic Sea region. With recurring outbreaks and no effective treatment, saprolegniosis remains one of the largest infectious threats to fish populations, particularly in a changing climate.

SAPRO-BAL aims to strengthen national and regional surveillance by building a platform with shared resources for improved diagnostics of Saprolegnia pathogens. This will be achieved through close collaboration among experts from five partner organizations in Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Poland. Together, the partners will develop standardized laboratory protocols and create collections of samples and data resources. Camera monitoring of selected rivers will be applied to assess prevalence of saprolegniosis symptoms in wild fish populations. Pathogen samples will be collected across the partnership region and utilized for targeted next-generation sequencing to generate extensive and comparable data on Saprolegnia outbreaks. Sequencing data will further enhance development of diagnostic tools and contribute to better surveillance of Saprolegnia infections in salmonid fish species in the Baltic Sea region.