Report On The Shrimp Virus Peer Review And Risk Assessment Workshop: Developing A Qualitative Ecological Risk Assessment (Workshop Report, 1998)
EPA is making available a draft report from the peer review and risk assessment workshop on shrimp viruses, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), on behalf of the Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture (JSA), National Science and Technology Council, held January 7-8, 1998. The report, completed under contract to the EPA, develops a qualitative ecological risk assessment describing the potential risks of nonindigenous pathogenic shrimp viruses on wild shrimp populations in U.S. coastal waters. Expert conclusions and recommendations contained in the report are currently undergoing an independent scientific review.
Publication of this report is another in a series of related activities initiated out of increasing public concerns over the potential introduction and spread of nonindigenous pathogenic shrimp viruses to the wild shrimp fishery and shrimp aquaculture industry in the U.S. 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 JSA to take action. In response, the JSA tasked a Federal interagency Shrimp Virus Work Group with assessing the shrimp virus problem. This group developed a preliminary report (entitled, An Evaluation of Potential Shrimp Virus Impacts on Cultured Shrimp and on Wild Shrimp Populations in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern U.S. Atlantic Coastal Waters (JSA Shrimp Virus Report)) structured according to the problem formulation phase of an ecological risk assessment, that includes a proposed conceptual model, management goal, and assessment endpoints, and discusses potentail virus effects and shrimp biology.
To obtain public comment on the document, EPA sponsored (on behalf of the JSA) a series of stakeholder meetings during July 1997, including the shrimp industry (fisheries, aquaculture, and processing), state and Federal agencies, environmental organizations, and the public. At the January 1998, EPA-sponsored peer review and risk assessment workshop, scientific and technical experts developed a qualitative ecological risk assessment. The workshop report concludes that viruses could survive in pathways leading to coastal environments, and that there is potential for viruses to affect native shrimp in localized areas, such as an estuary or bay. However, it notes that local populations of shrimp would recover rapidly as a result of reintroduction of shrimp or increases in reproduction. Although there was high uncertainty, the report concludes that the risks from viral introductions to the entire population of native shrimp in U.S. coastal waters is relatively low. While qualitative evaluations such as these are valuable, the report concludes that they are associated with a great deal of uncertainty.
Publication of this report is another in a series of related activities initiated out of increasing public concerns over the potential introduction and spread of nonindigenous pathogenic shrimp viruses to the wild shrimp fishery and shrimp aquaculture industry in the U.S. 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 JSA to take action. In response, the JSA tasked a Federal interagency Shrimp Virus Work Group with assessing the shrimp virus problem. This group developed a preliminary report (entitled, An Evaluation of Potential Shrimp Virus Impacts on Cultured Shrimp and on Wild Shrimp Populations in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern U.S. Atlantic Coastal Waters (JSA Shrimp Virus Report)) structured according to the problem formulation phase of an ecological risk assessment, that includes a proposed conceptual model, management goal, and assessment endpoints, and discusses potentail virus effects and shrimp biology.
To obtain public comment on the document, EPA sponsored (on behalf of the JSA) a series of stakeholder meetings during July 1997, including the shrimp industry (fisheries, aquaculture, and processing), state and Federal agencies, environmental organizations, and the public. At the January 1998, EPA-sponsored peer review and risk assessment workshop, scientific and technical experts developed a qualitative ecological risk assessment. The workshop report concludes that viruses could survive in pathways leading to coastal environments, and that there is potential for viruses to affect native shrimp in localized areas, such as an estuary or bay. However, it notes that local populations of shrimp would recover rapidly as a result of reintroduction of shrimp or increases in reproduction. Although there was high uncertainty, the report concludes that the risks from viral introductions to the entire population of native shrimp in U.S. coastal waters is relatively low. While qualitative evaluations such as these are valuable, the report concludes that they are associated with a great deal of uncertainty.
Citation
U.S. EPA. Report On The Shrimp Virus Peer Review And Risk Assessment Workshop: Developing A Qualitative Ecological Risk Assessment (Workshop Report, 1998). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington Office, Washington, DC, EPA/630/R-98/001A, 1999.
This download(s) is distributed solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. It has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency determination or policy.