Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Disease Effects On Lobster Fisheries, Ecology, And Culture: Overview Of Dao Special 6, Donald C. Behringer, Mark J. Butler Iv, Grant D. Stentiford

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Lobsters are prized by commercial and recreational fishermen worldwide, and their populations are therefore buffeted by fishery practices. But lobsters also remain integral members of their benthic communities where predator-prey relationships, competitive interactions, and host-pathogen dynamics push and pull at their population dynamics. Although lobsters have few reported pathogens and parasites relative to other decapod crustaceans, the rise of diseases with consequences for lobster fisheries and aquaculture has spotlighted the importance of disease for lobster biology, population dynamics and ecology. Researchers, managers, and fishers thus increasingly recognize the need to understand lobster pathogens and parasites so they can be managed …