| Summary: | Surveys conducted to evaluate the health of marine-bottom fishes have been conducted in the eastern and western North Atlantic for the past 15 years, usually in conjunction with fish stock assessment cruises. The health of the fish sampled was evaluated using certain integumental and skeletal lesions and anomalies as markers to signify compromised health status. The results of these surveys indicate that fish health is poorer in coastal waters that have been anthropogenically degraded. Monitoring programs to determine the status and trends in levels of inorganic and organic contaminants in fish tissue and sediments have disclosed high levels of chemical contaminants in several coastal areas of the northeastern United States. Histopathological examinations of liver tissues of winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus, from Boston Harbor, one of the more chemically contaminated sites, has revealed a high prevalence of hepatocarcinoma. One of the research activities of the Northeast Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, is the conduct of stock assessment surveys in depth-defined strata of the northeastern continental shelf between Cape Hatteras and Nova Scotia, Canada. On these surveys bottom fishes are collected by otter trawl to acquire information on age, abundance, distribution, growth, fecundity, maturity, food habits, and disease. All of these data are needed to determine stock condition and size for effectively managing the fishery resources. For approximately 15 years the evaluation of manne fish health has been attempted by a number of fishing nations, especially those that are members of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Cruises conducted by ICES countries in the southern
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