Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Isolation And Characterization Of Serine Protease Gene(S) From Perkinsus Marinus, Gd Brown, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

This study reports the first serine protease gene(s) isolated from Perkinsus marinus. Using universal primers, a 518 bp subtilisin-like serine protease gene fragment was amplified from P, marinus genomic DNA and used as a probe to screen a lambda-phage P. marinus genomic library; 2 different gamma-phage clones hybridized to the digoxigenin(DIG)-labeled subtilisin-like gene fragment. Following subcloning and sequencing of the larger DNA fragment, a 1254 bp open reading frame was identified and later confirmed, by 5' and 3' random amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and northern blot analysis, to contain the entire coding-region sequence. Sequence analysis of the 3' RACE …

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia, Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 1999-2003 Annual Report, 1 August 2002 - 31 August 2003, Philip W. Sadler, Robert J. Latour, Robert E. Harris, Julia Ellis, John E. Olney

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Marone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 August 2002 through 31 August 2003. It includes an assessment ofthe biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2003 spring spawning run, estimates of annual survival based on annual spring tagging, and the results ofthe fall2002 directed mortality study that is cooperative with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The information contained in this report is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is used to implement a coordinated management plan for striped bass in Virginia, and …

Estimation Of Relative Abundance Of Recreationally Important Juvenile Finfish In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay Projects Rf02- L L And Rf03-07 June 2002 - July 2003, Marcel M. Montaine, Herbert M. Austin, Patrick J. Geer, Wendy A. Lowery

Reports

No abstract provided.

Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 35, No. 2, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin

In This Issue

Surfacing for Science By Katherine Mansfield 2

Where Rail and Water Meet: A Look Back in Time at the Town of West Point By Billy Mills 9

High Stakes, High Hopes By Pauli Hayes 12

Master of the Reef By Charlie Petrocci 15

Education Corner 18

News from the Point 20

Form And Function Of The Bulbus Arteriosus In Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus Albacares): Dynamic Properties, M. H. Braun, Richard Brill, J. M. Gosline, D. R. Jones

VIMS Articles

The bulbus arteriosus of the teleost heart possesses a static inflation curve that is r-shaped over the in vivo pressure range. To examine the possible significance of this in living animals, we recorded arterial blood pressure from anaesthetized yellowfin tuna and utilized a video dimensional analyser to simultaneously record changes in bulbar diameter. By plotting the changes in pressure against the changes in diameter, it was possible to create dynamic pressure-diameter (P-D) loops as well as calculate the instantaneous volume changes within the bulbus. The dynamic P-D loops showed the same features exhibited by static inflation. When nearly empty, a …

Form And Function Of The Bulbus Arteriosus In Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus Albacares), Bigeye Tuna (Thunnus Obesus) And Blue Marlin (Makaira Nigricans): Static Properties, M H. Braun, Richard Brill, J M. Gosline, D R. Jones

VIMS Articles

The juxtaposition of heart and gills in teleost fish means that the Windkessel function characteristic of the whole mammalian arterial tree has to be subserved by the extremely short ventral aorta and bulbus arteriosus. Over the functional pressure range, arteries from blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) have J-shaped pressure-volume (P-V) loops, while bulbi from the same species have r-shaped P-V loops, with a steep initial rise followed by a compliant plateau phase. The steep initial rise in pressure is due to the geometry of the lumen. The interactions between radius, pressure and tension require a large …

The Crest, Fall 2003, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Table of Contents:

• VIMS hires new Dean and Director
• Hurricane Isabel hinders research
• VIMS acquires unique new vessel
• Pair pursue promise of proteomics
• Research questions environmental safety of flame retardant
• VIMS scientists quantify Isabel's impact on Bay
• Schaffner Elected ERF President
• ABC continues oyster work with Academy validation
• Newman wins SETAC Founders Award
• Faculty help bring minorities to marine science
• Sea Grant sponsors seafood education programs
• VIMS hosts international sediment conference
• Students chosen as Knauss Fellows
• Aquanauts visit inner space
• Study highlights link between biodiversity and ecosystem function
• CCRM kicks off trans-Atlantic collaboration

Biodiversity Of Bear Seamount, New England Seamount Chain: Results Of Exploratory Trawling, Ja Moore, M Vecchione, R Gibbons, Jk Galbraith, M Turnipseed, M Southworth, E Watkins

VIMS Articles

Bear Seamount (39°55′N 67°30′W) is an extinct undersea volcano located inside the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone south of Georges Bank. The fauna associated with the seamount was little known until twenty trawl stations were made 2-7 December 2000, by the NOAA ship R/V Delaware II. The objective of the survey was to begin to document the biodiversity on and over the seamount, particularly of fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Representatives of most species were preserved as vouchers and for subsequent definitive identification. This report presents a description of the biodiversity. A total of at least 274 species were collected. Preliminary identifications …

A Novel Tag-Recovery Model With Two Size Classes For Estimating Fishing And Natural Mortality, With Implications For The Southern Rock Lobster (Jasus Edwardsii) In Tasmania, Australia, Rj Latour, Jm Hoenig, Da Hepworth, Sd Frusher

VIMS Articles

Multi-year tag-recovery models can be used to derive estimates of age- and year-specific annual survival rates and year-specific instantaneous fishing and natural mortality rates. The latter, which are often of interest to fisheries managers, usually can only be estimated when the tag-reporting rate (lambda) and the short-term tag-induced mortality and tag-shedding rate (phi) are known a priori. We present a new multi-year tagging model that permits estimation of instantaneous mortality rates independently of philambda provided tagged animals from two adjacent size groups are released simultaneously. If the two size groups comprise animals just above and below the minimum harvestable size …

The Effect Of Circle And Square Escape Vents On Discard Reduction In The Black Sea Bass, Centropristis Striata, Trap Fishery, Robert A. Fisher, David Rudders

Reports

No abstract provided.

Systematic Evaluation Of Factors Controlling Perkinsus Marinus Transmission Dynamics In Lower Chesapeake Bay, Lm Ragone Calvo, Cf Dungan, Bs Roberson, Em Burreson

VIMS Articles

The transmission of Perkinsus marinus in eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica in relation to water temperature, host oyster mortality, and water-column abundance of anti-P. marinus antibody-labeled cells was systematically examined for 20 mo at a site in the lower York River, Virginia, USA. Uninfected sentinel oysters were naturally exposed to the parasite at 2 wk intervals throughout the course of the study to determine the periodicity and rates of parasite transmission. The timing and magnitude of disease-associated oyster mortalities in a local P. marinus-infected oyster population were estimated by monitoring a captive subset of the local oyster population. Flow cytometric immunodetection …

Detection Of The Oyster Parasite Bonamia Ostreae By Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization, Ryan Carnegie, Bj Barber, Dl Distel

VIMS Articles

Bonamia ostreae is an economically significant protistan parasite of the flat oyster Ostrea edulis in Europe and North America. Management of this parasite depends partly upon its reliable identification in wild and aquacultured oyster populations, but B. ostreae is small and difficult to detect by traditional microscopic methods. We designed a fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assay to sensitively detect B. ostreae in standard histopathological sections of B. ostreae-infected oysters using fluorescently labeled DNA oligonucleotide probes. Hybridization using a cocktail of 3 presumptively B. ostreae-specific, fluorescein iso(thio)cyanate (FITC)-labeled oligonucleotides produced an unambiguous staining pattern of small green rings inside infected …

The Crest, Summer 2003, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Table of Contents:

• TBT or not TBT: Collaborators Search for a Solution to Pollution
• VIMS research helps protect Navy ships from mines
• Switch to Circle Hooks Would Benefit White Marlin
• Do Tags Put a Drag on Marine Organisms?
• Video Technology Links VIMS to the World
• For-hire Fishing Captains Drawn to Regional Workshops
• Teachers Gain Hands-On Research Experience
• Pair Use Neural Network to Predict Hurricane Waves
• Seamount Census Reveals New and Poorly Known Marine Life
• VIMS Helps Local Students Aid Oyster Restoration Effort
• From Counting Fish to Implementing Energy Policy

Categorization Of Shellfish Tmdl Sites Final Report, Julie Herman, Carl Hershner, Howard Kator

Reports

There were two important goals for this project, including the assembly and compilation of digital data for the Coastal Plain and tidal waters of Virginia, and the categorization of the Division of Shellfish Sanitation (DSS) shellfish growing areas to determine if some are similar enough for water quality models to be effectively transferred from the modeled growing areas to other areas. This report summarizes the data and statistical analyses and discusses the results. Note: The digital data has a very fine resolution. The maps displayed in this report cannot convey this information on 8.5x11" paper. All digital data layers (shape …

Evaluating Recruitment Of American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, To The Potomac River Spring 2003, Marcel M. Montane, M. Todd Mathes, Hank Brooks

Reports

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the American eel in November 1999. The FMP focuses on increasing the states’ efforts to collect data on the resource and the fishery it supports through both fishery dependent and fishery independent studies. To this end, member jurisdictions (including the PRFC) agreed to implement an annual abundance survey for young of year (YOY) American eels. The survey is intended to “…characterize trends in annual recruitment of young of year eels over time [to produce a] qualitative appraisal of the annual recruitment of American eel to …

Managing Virginia's Marine Fisheries : A Guide To The Process, United States. National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration., Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

No abstract provided.

Integrated Coastal Management & Sustainable Aquaculture Development In The Adriatic Sea, Republic Of Croatia, Anamarija Frankic

Reports

This report discusses development of responsible aquaculture in the Republic of Croatia as part of the integrated coastal zone management and sustainable development of marine, coastal and islands natural and human resources. Based on literature review examples of aquaculture development and its constraints are presented, as well as possible solutions and recommendations. In addition, one attachment document provides brief summary information regarding Mediterranean lessons in aquaculture practices, while second document provides draft guidelines for sustainable aquaculture development in Croatia. Report is a contribution to the project ‘The Integrated Coastal Zone Management for Croatia with special focus on aquaculture’, administered by …

Influence Of Habitat On Diet And Distribution Of Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) In A Temperate Estuary, Jm Harding, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Articles

Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) are recreationally and commercially valuable finfish along the Atlantic seaboard of North America including the Chesapeake Bay estuary. Habitat use patterns for striped bass in relation to biogenic habitat types in Chesapeake Bay tributaries are poorly described although it is widely acknowledged that these piscivorous fishes use estuarine habitat for nursery and feeding grounds during development. Striped bass diet and distribution patterns were examined in relation to a gradient of biogenic habitats ranging from complex three-dimensional oyster reef through flat oyster bar to sand bottom habitat in the Piankatank River, Virginia. Striped bass were more abundant …

Monitoring Relative Abundance Of American Shad In Virginia’S Rivers 2002 Annual Report, John E. Olney

Reports

Concern about the decline in landings of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) along the Atlantic coast prompted the development of an interstate fisheries management plan (FMP) under the auspices of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Management Program (ASMFC 1999). Legislation enables imposition of federal sanctions on fishing in those states that fail to comply with the FMP. To be in compliance, coastal states are required to implement and maintain fishery-dependent and fisheryindependent monitoring programs as specified by the FMP. For Virginia, these requirements include spawning stock assessments, the collection of biological data on the spawning run (e.g., age-structure, sex ratio, spawning …

Molecular Detection Of The Oyster Parasite Mikrocytos Mackini, And A Preliminary Phylogenetic Analysis, Ryan Carnegie, Gr Meyer, Et Al

VIMS Articles

The protistan parasite Mikrocytos mackini, the causative agent of Denman Island disease in the oyster Crassostrea gigas in British Columbia, Canada, is of wide concern because it can infect other oyster species and because its life cycle, mode of transmission, and origins are unknown. PCR and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assays were developed for M mackini, the PCR assay was validated against standard histopathological diagnosis, and a preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the M mackini small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) was undertaken. A PCR designed specifically not to amplify host DNA generated a 544 bp SSU rDNA fragment from …

Mikrocytos Roughleyi Taxonomic Affiliation Leads To The Genus Bonamia (Haplosporidia), N Cochennec-Laureau, Kimberly S. Reece, Fcj Berthe, Pm Hine

VIMS Articles

Microcell-type parasites of oysters are associated with a complex of diseases in different oyster species around the world. The etiological agents are protists of very small size that are very difficult to characterize taxonomically. Associated lesions may vary according to the host species, and their occurrence may be related to variations in tissue structure. Lesion morphology cannot be used to distinguish the different agents involved. Ultrastructural observations on Mikrocytos roughleyi revealed similarities with Bonamia spp., particularly in regard to the presence of electron-dense haplosporosomes and mitochondria, whose absence from M mackini also indicate that M roughleyi and M mackini are …

Exploratory Study Of Hook Release Mortality In Speckled Trout In Virginia's Recreational Fishery, Jon A. Lucy, Charles E. Machen

Reports

No abstract provided.

Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 35, No. 1, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin

In This Issue

Terraforming Chesapeake Bay By Standish K. Allen, Jr., Robert Brumbaugh, & David Schulte

An Outpost for Hunting & Fishing By Charlie Petrocci

Vanishing Dunes of the Chesapeake By C. Scott Hardaway, Jr.

Reducing Discards in the Black Sea Bass Trap Fishery By Robert Fisher

News from the Point

Spatial Dynamics And Value Of A Marine Protected Area And Corridor For The Blue Crab Spawning Stock In Chesapeake Bay, Rom Lipcius, Wt Stockhausen, Rochelle D. Seitz, Pj Geer

VIMS Articles

In lower Chesapeake Bay, a 172,235 ha marine protected area and corridor (MPAC) was recently established to protect blue crab adult females either en route to or at the spawning grounds during the reproductive period. The MPAC was justified due to a recent substantial decline in spawning stock biomass. It was situated in waters deeper than 10 in throughout the lower bay due to the high abundances of adult females in this zone, and it was an expansion of a historical spawning sanctuary near the bay mouth to include northward extensions (upper and lower MPACs). We examined spatial dynamics of …

Research Priorities For Diseases Of The Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus, Jeffrey D. Shields

VIMS Articles

The diseases of blue crabs have received relatively little attention compared to those of the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica, or the penaeid shrimps, Penaeus spp. This is primarily due to differences in resource management (fishery vs. aquaculture), and the magnitude of financial losses suffered by the industries from protozoal diseases in oysters and viral diseases in shrimp, respectively. Nonetheless, several agents including Vibrio spp., Hematodinium perezi, Paramoeba perniciosa, Ameson michaelis and Loxothylacus texanus are highly pathogenic in blue crabs, and have the capacity to severely damage certain segments of the crab population. This paper is meant to highlight priorities for …

Summary Of Session: Ecology Of Early Benthic Juveniles, Rom Lipcius

VIMS Articles

The unifying theme of the presentations in the session on the ecology of early benthic juveniles reflected a general research thrust in marine ecology and a major emphasis in blue crab ecology, specifically that the roles of dispersal and mortality in determining habitat-specific distribution patterns of young juveniles remain largely unknown. As a consequence, presentations on the ecology of postlarvae and early benthic juveniles focused on four major processes—recruitment, predation, movements, and habitat relationships, with most of the presentations integrating two or more of these processes. Two of the presentations examined recruitment and habitat relationships of young juveniles (Spitzer et …

Potential Bottom-Up Control Of Blue Crab Distribution At Various Spatial Scales, Rochelle D. Seitz, R. Lipcius, Wt Stockhausen, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Top-down (i.e., predation), bottom-up (i.e., food availability), and physical factors may influence blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) distribution. To assess the role of bottom-up and physical process in blue crab distributions, we concurrently measured density of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), density of its principal prey, the Baltic clam (Macoma balthica), and physical characteristics in mud and sand habitats spanning various spatial scales (1-10 km and 10-50 km) in the York River, Chesapeake Bay. Clam and crab densities were intermediate in mud, low in downriver sand, and high in upriver sand. Clam and crab densities were not correlated in mud. whereas …

Simulated Effects Of Seagrass Loss And Restoration On Settlement And Recruitment Of Blue Crab Postlarvae And Juveniles In The York River, Chesapeake Bay, Wt Stockhausen, Rom Lipcius

VIMS Articles

Seagrass meadows provide important settlement habitat, food and refuge for postlarvae and young juveniles of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. In the York River, Chesapeake Bay, area] cover and distribution of seagrass beds has declined historically. Beds which existed 12-25 km upriver from the mouth disappeared and have not recovered. A model for planktonic postlarval behavior, coupled with a 3-dimensional hydrodynamic transport model for the York River, was used to investigate potential effects of the decline in seagrass abundance, and hypothetical restoration, on blue crab settlement and recruitment to the benthos, both in seagrass and to unvegetated bottom. Effects of …

Aspects Of The Pathophysiology Of Blue Crabs, Callinectes Sapidus, Infected With The Parasitic Dinoflagellate Hematodinium Perezi, Jeffrey D. Shields, C Scanlon, A Volety

VIMS Articles

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, infected with Hematodinium perezi frequently show signs of weakness and lethargy and die when stressed by handling or capture. Radical changes to the hemolymph of heavily infected crabs are obvious by reduced clotting ability, discoloration. and a 50% to 70% decline in total hemocyte density. Few other signs of infection are associated with infections and the resulting mortalities of blue crabs. To assay physiological changes in infected crabs, we measured serum proteins, hemocyanin, serum acid phosphatase, various hemolymph enzymes, hernagglutination activity, and tissue glycogen levels in relation to intensity of infection with H. perezi. Serum proteins …

Bioenergetic Modeling Of The Blue Crab (Callinectes Sapidus) Using The Fish Bioenergetics (3.0) Computer Program, Bj Brylawski, Tj Miller

VIMS Articles

To understand better the ecology and growth dynamics of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus). we developed a bioenergetic model based upon the Fish Bioenergetics 3.0 computer program. We summarized and analyzed existing data from published studies on the ecology and physiology of both blue crab and closely related species to parameterize the model. The respiration and excretion components were estimated directly from published studies. Parts of the consumption component were estimated indirectly. The resulting model was evaluated for applicability against known growth trajectories from field and laboratory studies. The model predicted observed growth and consumption to a first approximation. Inspection …