Auburn University

The Purpose of This Project Is to Provide Additional Capacity and Infrastructure for Fish Disease Diagnostics, Fish Health Research, Environmental Dna (EDNA) Studies, and Natural Resource Management-based Genetic Studies in the Southeastern United States. Demand for Fish Disease Diagnostics Clearly Exceeds Existing Infrastructure at the Southeastern Cooperative Fish Parasite and Disease Lab (SCFPDL) (aka the Bullard Lab, Auburn, Al) and Us Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Health Center (usfws-fhc). These Funds Will Directly Benefit the State Fisheries Agencies Already in Cooperation With Scfpdl (i.e., Al, Ga, SC, NC, TN, WV, Mo) While Also Providing a Supporting Role to the Usfws-fhc. These Funds Will Hasten Further University-federal Entity Partnerships in Fish Health, Including the Mission Critical Focus Areas of State and Federal Hatchery System Biosecurity, Surveillance of Wild Fish Populations for New and Emerging Pathogens (including Exotic Invasive Species and Aquatic Nuisance Species), and In-service Training and Cross-fertilization of Methodologies and Approaches Between the Scfpdl and Usfws-fhc. Personnel From Both Labs Will Routinely Interact and Cooperate on Disease Diagnostics to Assist State and Federal Partners. We Also Propose Developing Edna Tools for Aquatic Conservation and Establishing a New Edna Program in the Southeast. Usfws Labs Are Currently Unable to Take on All Edna Projects That Are Requested of Them, Including Emergent Projects for Pathogen Management. for This Reason, We Propose Establishing an Edna Lab in the Southeast, Which Would Increase Capabilities of a Nation-wide Program. the Edna Lab Will Be a Cooperative Project Between Auburn University and the Warm Springs FTC Southeast Conservation Genetics Lab. There Will Be Additional Benefit After Life of This Project as the Edna Lab Will Be Able to Do Ais, At-risk, and T E Species Monitoring. This Lab Will Follow Usfws Best Practices, Which Are Essential as Many Non-usfws Labs Do Not Follow Best-practices.