Evidence to support numerical or statistical estimates of 

 pollution effects on morbidity or mortality of fish and 

 crustaceans in the New York Bight is primarily inferential, since 

 weak or diseased animals are subject to predation, or rapid 

 bacterial decomposition after death. Indirect evidence is 

 available, however, since attempts to maintain animals in 

 laboratory tanks or aquaria lead to mortalities or manifestations 

 of disease conditions. Dead and moribund crabs and lobsters in 

 New York Bight apex waters have been reported on several 

 occasions by divers, and dissolved oxygen concentrations near the 

 bottom have often approached zero during summer (Pearce, 1972; 

 Young, 1973). Low oxygen stress, combined with gill disease 

 could probably lead to mortality (Thomas, 1954) . 



The severity of the problem of pollution in the New York 

 Bight apex is no longer a matter of speculation. Valuable 

 shellfish beds have been replaced and affected by fine silty 

 sediments and muds that smother sessile infauna. Numbers of 

 enteric bacteria are present, some, in sediments, in excess of 

 those considered to be safe for commercial harvests; enteric 

 viruses survive in contaminated sediments; and the prevalence of 

 visible signs of disease in the biota is significantly higher 

 than in specimens captured from areas that are remote from 

 excessive pollution. For those species of economic importance, 

 it appears that reproduction and recruitment of young year 

 classes is sufficient to offset losses due to disease, predation, 

 and commercial fishing activities. Such losses do not appear to 

 have affected annual crustacean commercial landings. 



Studies on crustacean populations near the 106 Mile Site, 

 using parameters similar to those employed for nearshore 

 population studies, are needed before the severity of pollution 

 effects in deepwater crustaceans may be assessed. 



2 . 1 Shell Disease in Lobsters 



Estimates of the prevalence and severity of shell disease in 

 lobsters in offshore waters have not been made on the basis of 

 sound scientific studies. Most reports on the gross, or visible 

 appearance of animals have been made by commercial fishermen who 

 have expressed concern over the "unappetizing" appearance of 

 lobster catches that would otherwise be marketable as live 

 lobsters (Fig, 3). Estrella (1984), however, has conducted 

 extensive surveys on shell disease in bays and coastal waters of 

 Massachusetts. Shell disease was found to affect large numbers 

 of commercial-sized animals that molt 1-2 times each year, and 

 small and more frequently molting juveniles to a lesser extent 

 (Table 1). Water quality data, and estimates of the numbers of 

 sewage-associated bacteria from bays and harbors, have provided 

 good information about correlations between pollution and the 

 prevalence of shell disease (Table 2). 



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