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Gaffkaemia is a bacterial disease which causes periodic, lethal epizootics in holding facilities for live American (Homarus americanus) and European (Homarus vulgaris) lobsters (Snieszko & Taylor1947, Roskam1957). Gaffkaemia, with the causative agent Aerococcus viridans, has been diagnosed in many countries in Europe and elsewhere. Roskam(1957, 1958) reported the disease in lobsters imported to the Netherlands from Norway. In Norway, however, the disease has never before been reported, though an experiment has shown that gaffkaemia could be induced in lobsters from a Norwegian area with injections of the A.T.C.C. type strain no. 10400 of the causative agent (Møllerud1971).

Due to the increasing importance of disease problems in the fish farming industry and the impact disease may have on both feral and farmed fish in the Nordic countries, monitoring and surveillance on diseases have for many years been considered to be of socioeconomic importance. All the Nordic countries have a national legislation as basis for their surveillance and disease control in aquatic animals and regulations listing notifiable diseases of concern to the countries. The list of diseases vary between the countries. In addition, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are ruled by [3] as regards placing on the market of aquaculture animals and products. The surveillance for viral diseases in all the Nordic countries has mainly been based on the testing procedures given in the EU Commission [2].