State says striped bass may carry skin disease

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State says striped bass may carry skin disease
Monday, 24 April 2006

Following an outbreak of a skin disease in striped bass from Chesapeake Bay that can also affect humans, state officials are asking local anglers to keep an eye out as the popular game fish approaches local waters in the next few weeks.

Following an outbreak of a skin disease in striped bass from Chesapeake Bay that can also affect humans, state officials are asking local anglers to keep an eye out as the popular game fish approaches local waters in the next few weeks.

Recent reports that nearly three quarters of the striped bass in Chesapeake Bay are infected with a bacteria that can cause severe skin infections in humans has the state Division of Marine Fisheries also urging anglers to handle their catches with care.

The disease has yet to show up in fish in local waters, but that doesn't mean it won't, said Gary Nelson, an aquatic biologist with the agency.

''We would recommend to anglers to always have gloves when they handle these fish," he said. ''We have been aware of this disease for a while and we haven't seen any evidence of it up here, but there are still a lot of questions that are unanswered."

Among them is whether the fish that have made their way up the Merrimack River were exposed to the disease at all. Many of the striped bass that head up the Merrimack in late spring come from the Chesapeake, but it's not understood why none are sick when they get to this region, Nelson said. ''Being in that bay," he said, ''there are a lot of water-quality issues."

Nelson said it's possible that when the fish go from Maryland's Chesapeake Bay into the Atlantic the cold saltwater helps them recover from the infection. Still, with so many of the Chesapeake Bay striped bass affected, Nelson said, he is asking anglers who find fish that appear sick or with unusual lesions to contact him at 978-282-0308.