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NONINDIGENOUS PATHOGENIC SHRIMP VIRUS INTRODUCTIONS INTO THE UNITED STATES: DEVELOPING A QUALITATIVE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT
Citation:
Austin, W. Vandershalie, C. Menzie, A Fairbrother, J. Gentile, W R. Munns Jr., AND Mcilwain. NONINDIGENOUS PATHOGENIC SHRIMP VIRUS INTRODUCTIONS INTO THE UNITED STATES: DEVELOPING A QUALITATIVE ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT. Presented at National Conference On Marine Bioinvasions, Boston MA, January 24-27, 1999.
Description:
Nonindigenous Pathogenic Shrimp Virus Introductions into the United States: Developing a Qualitative Ecological Risk Assessment. Austin, R.K.; van der Schalie, W.R.; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC; Menzie, C.; Menzie-Cura and Associates, Chelmsford, MA; Fairbrother, A.; ecological planning & toxicology; Gentile, J .R.; University of Miami, FL; Munns, W.R.; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI; and Mcilwain, T.; National Marine Fisheries Service, Pascagoula, AL. Public concerns over the potential introduction and spread of nonindigenous pathogenic shrimp viruses to shrimp aquaculture and to the wild shrimp fishery in the U.S. are increasing. Although these viruses pose no threat to human health, outbreaks on U.S. shrimp farms, the appearance of diseased shrimp in U. S. commerce, and new information on the susceptibility of shrimp and other crustaceans to these viruses prompted the Federal interagency Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture (JSA; National Science and Technology Council) to initiate an ecological risk assessment. The risk assessment process considered both EP A's Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment and the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force's Generic Nonindigenous Aquatic Organisms Risk Analysis Review Process. The JSA presented a preliminary report (Shrimp Virus Report), structured according to the problem formulation phase of a risk assessment, to stakeholders in the shrimp industry, several state and Federal agencies, environmental organizations, and the public, at meetings held around the southeastern U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. Subsequently, under the auspices of the JSA, the EPA sponsored a qualitative ecological risk assessment conducted by a group of scientific and technical experts at a public workshop. Here, we describe workshop conclusions regarding risks associated with shrimp viruses, and preliminary results of a risk management workshop. We also identify lessons learned during the stakeholder process, and the strengths and limitations of the overall approach for assessing the risks of biological stressors over a large geographic region.