aquaculture — the rearing or cultivation of aquatic organisms using techniques designed to increase the production of those organisms beyond the natural capacity of the environment and where the organisms remain the property of one or more natural or legal persons throughout the rearing or culture stages, up to and including harvesting (a)

aquaculture animal — any aquatic animal at all its life stages, including eggs and sperm/gametes, reared in a farm or mollusc farming area, including any aquatic animal from the wild intended for a farm or mollusc farming area (b)

aquaculture production business — any undertaking, whether for profit or not and whether public or private, carrying out any of the activities related to the rearing, keeping or cultivation of aquaculture animals (c)

aquaculture production business operator — any natural or legal person responsible for ensuring that the requirements of this Directive are met within the aquaculture production business under their control (d)

aquatic animal — fish belonging to the superclass Agnatha and to the classes Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes; mollusc belonging to the Phylum Mollusca; crustacean belonging to the Subphylum Crustacea (e)

authorised processing establishment — any food business approved in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin OJ L 139, 30.4.2004, p. 55. , for processing aquaculture animals for food purposes, and authorised in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 of this Directive (f)

authorised processing establishment operator — any natural or legal person responsible for ensuring that the requirements of this Directive are met within the authorised processing establishment under their control (g)

common biosecurity system — that the same aquatic animal health surveillance, disease prevention, and disease control measures are applied (b)

compartment — one or more farms under a common biosecurity system containing an aquatic animal population with a distinct health status with respect to a specific disease (a)

containment area — an area around an infected farm or mollusc farming area where disease control measures are applied with the purpose of preventing the spread of the disease (c)

disease — a clinical or non-clinical infection with one or more aetiological agents in aquatic animals (d)

disease-free zones or compartments — zones or compartments declared disease-free in accordance with Articles 49 or 50 (e)

emerging disease — a newly identified serious disease, the cause of which may or may not yet be established, that has the potential to be spread within and between populations, such as by way of trade in aquatic animals and/or aquatic animal products. It also means a listed disease identified in a new host species not yet included in Part II of Annex IV as a susceptible species (f)

epidemiological unit — a group of aquatic animals that share approximately the same risk of exposure to a disease agent within a defined location. This risk may be because they share a common aquatic environment, or because management practices make it likely that a disease agent in one group of animals would quickly spread to another group of animals (g)

fallowing — for disease management purposes, an operation where a farm is emptied of aquaculture animals susceptible to the disease of concern or known to be capable of transferring the disease agent, and, where feasible, of the carrying water (h)

farm — any premises, enclosed area, or installation operated by an aquaculture production business in which aquaculture animals are reared with a view to their being placed on the market, with the exception of those where wild aquatic animals harvested or caught for the purpose of human consumption are temporarily kept awaiting slaughter without being fed (h)

farming — the rearing of aquaculture animals in a farm or in a mollusc farming area (i)

further processing — processing of aquaculture animals before human consumption by any type of measures and techniques affecting anatomical wholeness, such as bleeding, gutting/evisceration, heading, slicing and filleting, which produces waste or by-products and could cause a risk of spreading diseases (i)

increased mortality — unexplained mortalities significantly above the level of what is considered to be normal for the farm or mollusc farming area in question under the prevailing conditions. What is considered to be increased mortality shall be decided in cooperation between the farmer and the competent authority (j)

infected zone or compartment — zones or compartments where the infection is known to occur (l)

infection — the presence of a multiplying, or otherwise developing, or latent disease agent in, or on, a host (k)

mollusc farming area — a production area or relaying area in which all aquaculture production businesses operate under a common biosecurity system (j)

ornamental aquatic animal — an aquatic animal which is kept, reared, or placed on the market for ornamental purposes only (k)

placing on the market — the sale, including offering for sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not, and any form of movement of aquaculture animals (l)

production area — any freshwater, sea, estuarine, continental or lagoon area containing natural beds of molluscs or sites used for the cultivation of molluscs, and from which molluscs are taken (m)

put and take fisheries — ponds or other installations where the population is maintained only for recreational fishing by restocking with aquaculture animals (n)

quarantine — maintaining a group of aquatic animals in isolation with no direct or indirect contact with other aquatic animals, in order to undergo observation for a specified length of time and, where appropriate, testing and treatment, including proper treatment of the effluent waters (m)

relaying area — any freshwater, sea, estuarine or lagoon area with boundaries clearly marked and indicated by buoys, posts or any other fixed means, and used exclusively for the natural purification of live molluscs (o)

susceptible species — any species in which infection by a disease agent has been demonstrated by natural cases or by experimental infection that mimics the natural pathways (n)

vector — a species that is not susceptible to a disease but which is capable of spreading infection by conveying pathogens from one host to another (o)

wild aquatic animal — an aquatic animal which is not an aquaculture animal (p)

zone — a precise geographical area with a homogeneous hydrological system comprising part of a water catchment area from the source(s) to a natural or artificial barrier that prevents the upward migration of aquatic animals from lower stretches of the water catchment area, an entire water catchment area from its source(s) to its estuary, or more than one water catchment area, including their estuaries, due to the epidemiological link between the catchment areas through the estuary (p)