When the medicine stops working, a fish farmer has very few places left to turn. That is the quiet crisis behind a new £2.4 million research project from Scotland: the University of Stirling will spend the next four years studying antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Vietnam’s pangasius catfish industry — one of the world’s most important freshwater aquaculture industries — and working with farmers to find practical alternatives to antibiotics.
Images in this post are illustrations, not photographs of the project or its researchers.
Project at a Glance
| Item | Detail (verified 29 October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Project | Antimicrobial resistance in Vietnam’s pangasius aquaculture |
| Lead institution | University of Stirling, Institute of Aquaculture (Scotland) |
| Lead researcher | Professor Margaret Crumlish |
| Funding | £2.4 million (about US $3.2 million), UK government funding |
| Duration | 48 months (four years) |
| Partners | University of Glasgow, University of Sydney, Can Tho University, Vietnam National University |
| Wider programme | Part of a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) investment of more than £54 million across 18 research and innovation projects |
| What it will produce | A research roadmap and practical framework for antibiotic stewardship in freshwater aquaculture, co-created with farmers, policymakers and industry |
| Application window for farmers | None announced — this is a research project, not a grant scheme or training call. No deadline is claimed in this post. |
What Is Antimicrobial Resistance — and Why Should Fish Farmers Care?
Antimicrobial resistance happens when microorganisms, including bacteria, develop resistance to the medicines used to treat infections. In aquaculture, that means bacterial diseases become harder to control, treatments fail more often, and production suffers. Professor Crumlish describes AMR as one of the most pressing global challenges facing society, categorised as a “One Health” issue because it affects human, animal and environmental health together.
The freshwater angle matters. As Crumlish puts it, aquatic environments play an important role in the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance, and aquaculture both depends on and interacts with those ecosystems. A pond is not a closed box: water, sediment, feed, waste and neighbouring farms are all connected, so resistance that builds up in one place does not necessarily stay there.
For farmers, the trap is painfully familiar. As Crumlish notes, when antibiotics stop working effectively in aquaculture — particularly in freshwater systems in South East Asia — farmers often have few alternatives, but they trust antibiotic products even if they are not effective. That cycle — more use, less effect, more use — is exactly what this project is trying to break.
Why Pangasius, Why Vietnam?
Pangasius is farmed at enormous scale in Vietnam, principally in the Mekong Delta, and exported all over the world. The Fish Site calls it one of the world’s most important freshwater aquaculture industries, and Crumlish says that scale makes it an ideal place to understand how AMR develops, how it impacts production, and how more sustainable disease management can be achieved.
The choice is also practical. Vietnam’s pangasius sector already has hatcheries, grow-out ponds, processing plants and export chains that other countries watch closely. If a workable alternative to routine antibiotic use can be demonstrated there — with farmers, not just for them — the lessons travel. The project team says it aims to make its approach adaptable to other countries facing similar challenges.
For Indian readers, the parallel is direct. India farms pangasius and other catfish species, and Indian farmers face the same disease pressures: bacterial infections in warm, densely stocked ponds, seasonal stress, and the temptation to reach for antibiotics first. Vietnam’s experience is therefore not a distant story; it is a preview of the choices Indian aquaculture will keep facing.
What the Project Will Actually Do
The study is deliberately transdisciplinary — a word worth unpacking, because it explains why the team looks so broad. Alongside aquaculture and veterinary specialists, it brings in microbiology, environmental science, social sciences and humanities, plus computing, communication and business expertise from Stirling. The point is that AMR is not only a biology problem: it is also a behaviour problem, an economics problem and a communication problem.
Over 48 months, the team will:
- Study how AMR develops in freshwater environments used for aquaculture, and how it affects production.
- Work with farmers to identify practical alternatives to antibiotics, rather than handing down a solution from a laboratory.
- Examine the barriers that stop farmers adopting alternatives — cost, availability, trust, habit, or simply not knowing what works.
- Co-create a roadmap for future research with farmers, policymakers, industry leaders and other stakeholders, so interventions are, in Crumlish’s words, both scientifically robust and practical to implement.
- Build a practical framework for antibiotic stewardship in freshwater aquaculture — in plain terms, a shared way of deciding when antibiotics are genuinely needed and when they are not.
The project also builds on previous fish vaccine research, including a recent trial at Stirling’s National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub. Vaccines are one of the most promising alternatives in the toolkit: prevent the disease in the first place, and the antibiotic question never arises. Data from those studies will inform the stakeholder work on viable solutions and better stewardship.
The Wider £54 Million Programme
The Stirling grant is one piece of a larger UK investment: more than £54 million across 18 research and innovation projects coordinated through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The programme aims to prepare for future epidemics, tackle AMR, and support next-generation animal vaccines, with co-funding from government departments including Defra, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Department of Health and Social Care.
UKRI’s Executive Champion for Tackling Infections, Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, frames the logic plainly: by pooling expertise across the research and innovation ecosystem in the UK and globally, the programme aims to tackle infectious disease challenges in a more coordinated way, get ahead of emerging biological threats, and protect people, animals, plants and the environment. For aquaculture, that framing matters — fish health is being treated as part of the same system as human and animal health, not as a side issue.
What Good Antibiotic Stewardship Looks Like on a Real Farm
The Stirling project has not yet published its framework — that is what the four years are for. But the stewardship principles it is built around are already clear from the project’s own description, and they translate into a checklist any catfish or carp farmer can use today. This section is general best practice drawn from the project’s aims, not a claim about the project’s unpublished findings:
- Diagnose before you dose. If fish are dying, find out what is killing them — bacterial, parasitic, viral, or water quality — before reaching for an antibiotic. Antibiotics do nothing against viruses or poor water, and every unnecessary dose adds selection pressure for resistance.
- Use the right product, dose and duration — and finish the course. Under-dosing and stopping early are classic ways to leave the toughest bacteria alive.
- Keep records. What was used, when, at what dose, and what happened next. Without records, neither the farmer nor any veterinarian can tell what is working.
- Fix the pond before the pharmacy. Stocking density, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, feed quality and handling stress decide how often disease strikes. Prevention — including vaccination where available — beats treatment every time.
- Quarantine and hygiene. New seed, shared nets and untreated water movements carry pathogens between ponds and farms. Simple biosecurity steps cost little and prevent much.
- Ask for help early. A fisheries extension officer, veterinarian or university diagnostic lab can confirm a diagnosis while treatment still has a chance to work.
None of this replaces professional veterinary advice for a specific outbreak. But it is the direction the evidence points: fewer, better-targeted antibiotic uses, surrounded by prevention.
What This Means for India
India’s aquaculture sector does not need to wait four years for the Stirling roadmap to start learning from it. Three lessons stand out:
- Farmer trust is the bottleneck, not just science. If farmers trust an antibiotic product even when it is no longer effective, then a technically better alternative will fail unless it is demonstrated on real farms, with real farmers, at a price they can afford. Co-creation — the project’s core method — is the answer to that trust gap.
- Data beats anecdote. Recording treatments, mortalities and water quality turns a farm from guesswork into evidence. That evidence is what lets a farmer, a buyer or a regulator distinguish a farm managing disease well from one masking it with drugs.
- Export markets are watching. Pangasius exports from Vietnam already move through buyers who ask about residues and stewardship. Indian exporters face the same scrutiny. Farms that can show responsible antibiotic use will have an easier time in premium markets than farms that cannot.
Related reading on Fisheries India: our coverage of Vietnam’s 7.9-million-tonne fish boom and its $12 billion export chase sets the scale of the industry this project sits inside; Australia’s A$10 million bet on AI and drones for fish farms shows another country investing in data-driven aquaculture; and Alaska’s community-built aquaculture map shows what happens when farmers and local communities shape aquaculture planning from the start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a grant or training course farmers can apply for? No. The announcements describe a research project, not an open call. No application window, eligibility list or closing date has been published for farmers, and this post invents none.
Does the project ban antibiotics? No. Its aim is to reduce antibiotic use and improve stewardship — using antibiotics when genuinely needed, with practical alternatives where they work — not to remove a tool farmers still need for real bacterial disease.
Why does a Scottish university lead a Vietnam project? Because Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture works internationally, and the project is a partnership: Glasgow and Sydney universities alongside Can Tho University and Vietnam National University in Vietnam. The research happens with Vietnamese farmers and institutions, not at a distance.
Will the results help Indian farmers? The team says it aims to make its approach adaptable to other countries. Indian catfish and carp farmers face similar warm-water bacterial disease pressures, so the stewardship framework — when published — will be worth reading closely. We will cover it when it appears.
What is pangasius? Pangasius is a freshwater catfish farmed mainly in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and sold worldwide, often as basa or swai fillets. It is one of the world’s largest farmed freshwater fish industries.
Sources and Honest Limits
This post is fact-checked against The Fish Site (7 October 2026), the Global Seafood Alliance’s Responsible Seafood Advocate (14 October 2026) and Fish Farmer Magazine (7 October 2026), all reporting the same core facts: £2.4 million, 48 months, Professor Margaret Crumlish leading, the four partner universities, and the wider £54 million UKRI programme across 18 projects. Where sources differ in presentation — for example, the US-dollar equivalent is given as approximately $3.2 million — this post says “about” and keeps the sterling figure primary. No application window, per-farmer benefit or unpublished research finding is claimed. Official links: The Fish Site, Responsible Seafood Advocate, Fish Farmer Magazine.