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The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's
National Wild Fish Health Survey And Associated Database: Overview And Status Thomas A. Bell
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of National Fish
Hatcheries, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203 The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wild Fish Health Survey was initiated
in 1996. The purpose of the Survey is
to determine, on a national scale, the distribution of pathogens of concern
within free‑ranging populations of fish.
The ultimate utility of such information being multi-faceted and
dynamic, but always with the underlying objective of generating information to
help make sound, science‑based fishery management decisions. The Service has assembled, documented and
followed a standardized process; whereby fish are collected and analyzed with a
uniform and internationally recognized suite of procedures. The collected samples are analyzed by the
Service’s Fish Health Centers each for their respective regions, and the
associated data generated are in turn entered into a single national
Database. The Database will be made
available to all interested individuals or organizations via a publicly
accessible Internet web site. The
Survey and its associated Database is nearing completion of the first phase of
its development, i.e., its “proof of concept” phase. The Service is currently assembling an outreach plan to
coordinate the initiation of the second or “implementation” phase, i.e., its
public unveiling. Once the Service is
confident that adequate quality control has been applied to the data, and the
Database, this second phase will officially begin. The Database currently houses data generated from over 17,000
fish, for which nearly 10,000 pathogen assays have been completed. These fish were collected from over 500
distinct geographic location within 43 states.
The collected fish represent 132 species, which were collectively
tested for 29 pathogens. Although the
vast majority of states have been sampled, and in at least one location, the 500+
locations represent collections in only about 10% of the 2000+ USGS‑defined
watershed units. The Service plans to
continuously expand the coverage of collected and analyzed samples, not only
spatially but over time as well.
Additionally, the Service intends to expand the capability to overlay
our fish pathogen distribution data with other relevant geographically‑linked
data sets, the ultimate goal being to refine the epidemiological understanding
of fish diseases. Hence, improve our
abilities to control them.
Return to 25th Annual Eastern Fish Health WorkshopReturn to Leetown Science Center Home Page |