Zoonotic Fish Disease and Adaptive Fishery Management: Considerations for Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) from the Chesapeake Bay
Mycobacteriosis is a widespread, chronic disease of estuarine fishes. Recent studies by scientists at the National Fish Health Research Laboratory, Leetown, West Virginia and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester, have shown infection rates in striped bass (Morone saxatilis) of up to nearly 62% in certain Virginia tributaries to Chesapeake Bay (Bay). Of the several mycobacterial species known to infect striped bass from the Bay, several are known to be zoonotic including M. marinum and M. fortuitum. In this paper we discuss the incidence and prevalence of mycobacterial...