Impact of disease on the survival of three commercially fished species

• Published in: Ecological Applications
• Main Authors: Hoenig, John M., Groner, Maya L., Smith, Matthew W., Vogelbein, Wolfgang K., Taylor, David M., Landers, Donald F. Jr., Swenarton, John T., Gauthier, David T., Sadler, Philip, Matsche, Mark A., Haines, Ashley N., Small, Hamish J., Pradel, Roger, Choquet, Rémi, Shields, Jeffreys D.
• Other Authors: Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research, University of Prince Edward Island, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: CNRS1; disease ecology; epidemiology; epizootic shell disease; fisheries; hematodinium sp; mark; mortality; mycobacteria; recapture; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Chionoecetes opilio; Newfoundland; Snow crab
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01911558; https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1595

International audience Recent increases in emergent infectious diseases have raised concerns about the sustainability of some marine species. The complexity and expense of studying diseases in marine systems often dictate that conservation and management decisions are made without quantitative data on population-level impacts of disease. Mark–recapture is a powerful, underutilized, tool for calculating impacts of disease on population size and structure, even in the absence of etiological information. We applied logistic regression models to mark–recapture data to obtain estimates of disease-associated mortality rates in three commercially important marine species: snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in Newfoundland, Canada, that experience sporadic epizootics of bitter crab disease; striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in the Chesapeake Bay, USA, that experience chronic dermal and visceral mycobacteriosis; and American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the Southern New England stock, that experience chronic epizootic shell disease. All three diseases decreased survival of diseased hosts. Survival of diseased adult male crabs was 1% (0.003–0.022, 95% CI) that of uninfected crabs indicating nearly complete mortality of infected crabs in this life stage. Survival of moderately and severely diseased striped bass (which comprised 15% and 11% of the population, respectively) was 84% (70–100%, 95% CI), and 54% (42–68%, 95% CI) that of healthy striped bass. The disease-adjusted yearly natural mortality rate for striped bass was 0.29, nearly double the previously accepted value, which did not include disease. Survival of moderately and severely diseased lobsters was 30% (15–60%, 95% CI) that of healthy lobsters and survival of mildly diseased lobsters was 45% (27–75%, 95% CI) that of healthy lobsters. High disease mortality in ovigerous females may explain the poor recruitment and rapid declines observed in this population. Stock assessments should account for disease-related mortality when resource management options are ...