Project Information

Title: Prince William Sound Herring Disease Program 070819

Project Year and Number: 2007: 070819

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: None

Principal Investigator (PI): Paul Hershberger (NOAA)

Managing Agency: USGS

Assisting Personnel: Diane Elliott, Eveline Emmenegger, John Hansen, Richard Kocan, Gael Kurath, Scott Lapatra, Jim Winton

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Pacific Herring

Abstract: A leading hypothesis accounting for the decline and failed recovery of the herring population in Prince William Sound involves epizootic mortality resulting from infectious and parasitic diseases. Ongoing and past surveillance of herring diseases in PWS, initiated by Dr. Gary Marty and continued by ADF&G through the herring disease index, is extremely valuable and necessary to document changes in disease prevalence, but field surveys are unable to unequivocally demonstrate epidemiological relationships that modulate disease cycles. This proposed multi-year Herring Disease Program (HDP) consists of three components intended to provide predictive metrics that forecast future disease epidemics and offer empirical relationships useful in developing adaptive management policies to mitigate the effects of epizootic and chronic diseases. The first component involves laboratory validation of the ongoing PWS herring disease index. Long-term continuation of the herring disease index, paired with laboratory validation, is necessary to confirm the efficacy of future adaptive disease management strategies. The second component involves empirical studies intended to determine the basic epidemiological relationships between environmental and biological factors influencing infection / disease prevalence. The final component involves development of immunological and molecular tools that will be useful in predicting the potential for future disease epidemics. Combined, this three-tiered approach will provide the basic epidemiological information necessary to develop and validate adaptive management techniques intended to mitigate the effects of future herring disease outbreaks in PWS.


Proposal: View (13,877 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY07: View (143 KB)
Annual Report FY08: View (170 KB)
Annual Report FY09: View (396 KB)
Annual Report FY10: View (305 KB)
Final Report: View (2,098 KB)

Publications from this Project: None Available