Mr. Wise introduced Drs. Alistair Dove and Bassem Allam, scientists at the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory of the Marine Sciences Research Center (MSRC), Stony Brook University.   He noted that disease issues have long affected wild stocks of living marine resources in New York as well as stocks of cultured fish and shellfish, whether maintained by commercial or municipal aquaculture operations.   In 2000, the New York State Legislature provided funds to DEC and Stony Brook University to create the Marine Disease Research and Pathology Consortium at Stony Brook University and a capability in New York to conduct investigations into the causes and impacts of marine animal disease in New York.   This initiative is a cooperative one involving MSRC, DEC, New York Sea Grant, Cornell University, and Southampton College of Long Island University.   Since the consortium was founded, funds have been spent to create the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory at MSRC and to hire Dr. Dove and Dr. Allam.   Dr. Dove is a member of the faculty of Cornell University who is in residence at Stony Brook; Dr. Allam is a member of the MSRC faculty.   Dr. Dove and Dr. Allam briefed the Council on their recent investigations and other activities.

Dr. Allam's Work with Molluscan Shellfish

Dr. Allam described his investigations into the disease of hard clams known as QPX ("Quahog Parasite Unknown").   QPX first surfaced in New York in 2002, in clams from the waters in Raritan Bay south of Staten Island.   This resulted in the cancellation of the 2003 hard clam transplant program involving Raritan Bay clams.   DEC established a hard clam QPX monitoring program, with Dr. Allam doing the analysis of clams sampled from a variety of waters in New York's Marine District.   This program indicates that the presence of QPX is more widespread than originally thought.   The distribution appears to be patchy; in addition to Raritan Bay, the disease has been found in clams from the Peconic Bays and Oyster Bay, on Long Island's North Shore.   Dr. Allam noted that QPX can acclimate to different water temperatures and it is not likely that extreme waters temperatures will deter its spread or infectiousness.  

Councilor Dean Yaxa expressed concern that shellfish imported from other areas into New York and then placed into local waters could infect local clams with QPX.   Professor Allam responded that, while QPX has been detected in clams as far south as Virginia, it appears to be more prevalent in areas north of Long Island.   The disease was first recorded from Massachusetts.

Dr. Dove's Work with Crustaceans and Finfish

The main emphasis of Dr. Dove's work has been with the Long Island Sound lobster mortality problem. His research into sick and dead lobsters from the Sound revealed that the animals were depositing calcium in tissues where it shouldn't have been deposited, and in their gills as well.   This condition (termed, "calcinosis") can be compared to kidney stones in people.   Dr. Dove's research indicates that this condition was not the result of an infectious agent (i.e., parasite, microorganism), but rather was attributable to problem with the lobsters' metabolism; the lobsters were responding to something in their environment.   Dr. Dove collaborated with chemists and oceanographers at MSRC, pursuing the possibility that the disease was somehow related to the unusually warm winters and elevated summertime Long Island Sound water temperatures recorded in recent years.   Lobsters cannot tolerate warm water and usually retreat from warm waters into deeper waters where the temperature is lower.   When all the water is warm (in recent years, bottom water temperatures throughout much of the Sound have been high), they are forced to remain in the warmer waters, which causes calcinosis.   Dr. Dove described the following sequence as the most likely explanation of onset of this disease.   Lobsters are cold- blooded and their internal metabolism is driven by the prevailing water temperatures.   In warm water years, their metabolism runs very fast and they burn through their fuel quickly.   As they continue to metabolize, they produce high levels of carbon dioxide in their blood, which causes a drop in their blood pH (increased acidity).   Low blood pH results in a dissolution of calcium from the shell and the calcium enters their blood.   The kidneys and the gills of lobsters are organs that regulate blood pH and it is in these organs that the calcium precipitates from the blood, forming calcium nodules.   Dr. Dove has conducted laboratory experiments exposing lobsters to water temperatures similar to those recently occurring in Long Island Sound and the experimental organisms routinely developed calcinosis.   Calcinosis did not develop in experimental animals held at lower temperatures.  

This success in inducing physiological effects in experimental animals through temperature manipulation alone that mimic the effects observed in animals sampled from the field is powerful evidence that elevated ambient water temperatures are at the core of the most recent lobster mortality problem in Long Island Sound, which occurred in 2002.   Whether calcinosis was similarly involved in the mortality event of 1999 is unknown.   Dr. Dove has also done studies concerning pesticides and the effect they have on lobsters.   In laboratory studies of lobsters exposed to pesticides, there was clear evidence of toxic effects on both their metabolism and tissue levels.   However, Dr. Dove does not believe that pesticides were not responsible for the high mortalities of 2002.

Dr. Dove responded to a large fish kill in the Hudson River, handling the downstream sampling and analysis while colleagues from Cornell University handled the upstream end.   They found that different pathogens were causing the die-off in downstream and upstream reaches of the river.   Its appears that there was some environmental stress that was making the fish more susceptible to different pathogens at different times and places but there was a common thread that tied them both together and they believe it can be tied to a temperature spike.

Some of the other projects that the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory are:

• diagnosis and management of disease in fish held for research at MSRC
• a parasite that is attacking eels
• effect of a parasite on bluefish reproduction
• providing disease diagnostic services for the state and the aquaculture industry

Dr. Dove stated that he would like to concentrate his future efforts in two areas.   One are is the lobster mortality issues; the other is an emerging disease problem in striped bass, Mycobacteriosis , a naturally-occuring bacterial infection that is a significant problem in the Chesapeake Bay area.   Mycobacteriosis has not yet affected striped bass in New York waters, but he would like to stay one step ahead of the problem and be ready in case it does hit our region. This disease is very intriguing because the parasite turns up almost fully-grown in the ovaries of a female striped bass, just prior to spawning season.   The origin of the parasite is unknown; it has a complex life cycle.   In Dr. Dove's view, understanding the origin and method of infection of this disease could prove beneficial to the striped bass management throughout the East Coast.  

Chairman Wise thanked Drs. Dove and Allam for their presentations.   Mr. Gordon Colvin of DEC explained that the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory, and the work of Drs. Allam and Dove, have been living on the original $1,000,000 appropriation from the State Legislature.   Of this, $500,000 was given to Stony Brook University and $500,000 to DEC.   An Memorandum of Agreement was established between the University and the DEC by which DEC's funds have been made available.   Mr. Colvin stated that DEC is very pleased with the progress the Lab has made and the way in which its work is conducted.   The interaction between DEC marine program staff and the University faculty and graduate students has been consistently excellent.

Chairman Wise continued that, under the MOU mentioned by Mr. Colvin, DEC committed to supporting specific expenses associated with the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory:   equipping and refurbishing the Laboratory itself and specific diagnostic services or research investigations that support DEC's mission.   Of the original $500,000 allotted to DEC, approximately $230,000 is left; this will be spent on the aforementioned diagnostic services and research investigations.   The $500,000 given to the University has been used to pay the basic operating expenses of this new initiative, including staff salaries.    Mr. Wise stated, that, over the coming year, a funding plan will be developed to provide long-term support so that the work of this critically-needed unit can be indefinitely continued.   The sustaining funding will likely come from several sources: state funding that will be available every year that will keep the unit in existence; grants and contracts from agencies for specific projects or activities; and payment for disease diagnostic services provided to industry.  

MSRC Dean and Director Dr. David Conover spoke and reiterated Mr. Colvin's delectation with the working relationship that has been forged between all parties through the Marine Disease and Pathology Research Consortium.   He stressed to the Council the importance of this initiative and said that the dividends from having the program will prove its own worth.   He indicated that he would keep the Council abreast of the work of the Marine Animal Disease Laboratory and asked the Council for its support when the funding plan has been developed and the sources of funding it identifies are being sought.

 

Page last modified Wednesday, February 2, 2005 by George E. Carroll