ARQ - Life and Marine Sciences
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- Applied Aspects of Marine Parasitology : Proceedings of the International Workshop on Marine ParasitologyPublication . Afonso-Dias, Isabel, ed.; Menezes, Gui M., ed.; Mackenzie, Ken, ed.; Eiras, Jorge C., ed.Marine parasites are of immense ecological and economic importance. Almost all (if not all) groups of marine animals including the various invertebrates and, among the vertebrates, fish, marine birds and reptiles, are hosts to parasites, often with high prevalence’s and intensities of infection. Total global (marine and freshwater) aquaculture in 2004 was estimated to be worth more than US$ 55 billion. The commercial value of cultured salmonid fishes alone in 2001 was around US$ 3.84 billion (7.44 billion for all finfish). Disease, and much of it due to parasites, is the single most important factor threatening the aquaculture industry. Parasites led to the collapse of European flat oyster aquaculture in the years following 1979 and to devastating effects on oyster culture on the North American east coast over many years. Mass mortalities caused by parasites in the wild have not been well documented for marine vertebrates and invertebrates, due to the large spaces in the oceans involved and the difficulties in monitoring such effects, but there can be no doubt that parasites are responsible for mass mortalities of natural fish populations, and there is evidence for the involvement of parasites in beaching’s of whales. Introduction of a monogenean ectoparasite into the Aral Sea led to the total collapse of sturgeon and caviar fisheries there in the thirties. Economic losses may be via effects on the human psyche: reports on herring worms on German television some years ago induced many people to change their dietary habits away from fish, causing considerable losses to fishermen. Fish are routinely screened for parasite infections (many of them only of aesthetic significance), which causes considerable costs. However, the useful role of parasites must not be forgotten. They can be used in the study of host populations and migrations, and in pollution monitoring, because pollution affects the composition of parasite communities, and because some parasites store certain pollutants to a higher degree than their hosts. For all these reasons, a workshop dealing with applied aspects of marine parasites is important. At such a workshop, experts from around the world can meet, exchange ideas and communicate recent findings to younger participants, that is, to the future of the discipline. The list of speakers and participants shows that both these objectives have been achieved at this workshop, which concentrated on fish parasites. Speakers included outstanding experts from Portugal, Canada, the United States, Germany, Britain, Norway, and Chile. Particularly welcome: the conference photo shows many young faces. Seminars at the symposium ranged from disease trends in natural marine communities, the use of parasites in fish population studies, deep-sea parasites, parasites as indicators of environmental change, to parasites in mariculture, to mention only some. Of particular interest also: several seminars dealt with parasites in Azores and other Portuguese waters, and included a visit to the local fish market. There can be no doubt that a seminar on how to prepare whole mounts of parasites was welcomed especially by the younger participants. The Proceedings of this workshop will be useful not only to people involved in local fisheries and parasite work, but also to the international community of parasitologists and to people associated with the fishing industry.