Institute of Fisheries Ecology
Herwigstraße 31
27572 Bremerhaven
Phone: + 49 471 94460 201
Fax: + 49 471 94460 199
fi@thuenen.de
Monitoring of abundance, regional distribution, temporal changes and causes of diseases and parasites in ecologically and economically important marine fish stocks, including histopathological changes
Healthy like a fish in water? In order to find out whether this saying is correct, we monitor the occurrence of diseases in a range of fish species from the North Sea and Baltic Sea during our research cruises onboard RV "Walther Herwig III".
Diseases and finess parameters in marine fishes reflect the impact of anthropogenic (e.g., exposure to hazadous substances ) and natural stressors on the health status of fish. They are, thus, important indicators of the quality status of the marine environment. In the framework of the integrated monitoring programme of the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology, we record and assess regional patterns and temporal trends in the prevalence of infectious and non-infectious diseases (including parasites and histopthological changes). We can identify problem areas with sigificantly increased disease prevalences and, in the context of, e.g., contaminant effects, deduce a requirement of measures.
How prevalent and spatially distributed are diseases and parasites in ecologically and economically important fish species of the North Sea and Baltic Sea? This we monitor by means of fish catches during our annual research vessel surveys. We record externally visible diseases and parasites (flatfish and roundfish) as well as pathological liver anomalies (flatfish). The programme is part of the integrated monitoring programme of the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology on contaminants and their biological effects in marine fishes. The programme is standardised at the international level; the methods applied are according to ICES recommendations and OSPAR guidelines for biological effects monitoring.
Data generated within the monitoring programme are submitted to the ICES Environmental Database on an annual basis and are analysed by ICES expert groups. They have regularly been used for the preparation of national and international reports on the status of the marine environment.
Are there regional patterns and trends in the prevalence of fish diseases in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and in reference areas?
Can causes of regional patterns and trends be identified?
Which methods are appropriate for the assessment of results?
Is there a relationship between regional patterns and trends in fish diseases and the dynamics of fish stocks (recruitment, reproduction, mortality)?
ICES Working Groups and Committees analyse and assess the results of the running studies; the results have been utilized for national and international status reports, such as BLMP Status Reports on the quality of the marine environment of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, OSPAR Quality Status Report 2010, HELCOM integrated assessments of hazardous substances.
www.blmp-online.de/Seiten/Berichte.html#Zustandsberichte
www.qsr2010.ospar.org/en/index.html
www.helcom.fi/Lists/Publications/BSEP120B.pdf
Permanent task 1.1987 - 12.2023
Projekt type:
Project status:
ongoing
Results 1 - 5 of 17
Results 1 - 5 of 17