A laboratory providing services on aquatic animal disease diagnosis and conducting research on fish health managment was a national requirement to improve the productivity of the aquaculture sector in Sri Lanka.

To fill this vaccum, the Centre for Aquatic Animal Disease Diagnosis and Research was established in 2007 in the faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya in partnership with National Aquaculture Development Authority(NAQDA) Sri Lanka, under the Asian Development Bank funded Aquatic Resource Development and Quality Improvement Project(ARDQIP).

The main objective of CAADDR is to provide services on health managment to the state and commercial aquaculture enterprises as well as home aquaria in order to improve the health,welfare and productivity of aquatic animals.