According to predictions, climate change will significantly impact disease and parasitism in freshwater and oceanic habitats, which will affect human health and socio-economics. Global warming will immediately impact the spread of parasites and diseases, as well as have an indirect impact on host range and abundance.
Numerous disease outbreaks, particularly in marine creatures, have been linked to climatic occurrences like the El Nio-Southern Oscillation up until now. The El Nio-Southern Oscillation is the term used to describe the warming phase of the sea temperature. In general, rising temperatures are predicted to cause a rise in the rates of parasite and disease transmission.
Recently, Georgia’s shrimpers are experiencing a new problem named “black gill” due to rising sea temperatures. Shrimp numbers are declining due to the parasite black gill, which is getting worse as ocean temperatures rise.
Shrimpers, scientists, and other local stakeholders were invited on board by the University of Georgia’s Skidaway Institute of Oceanography on December 15 to gather samples in the Wassaw Sound and talk about ongoing research on the water observations of black gill.
What is black gill?
A parasite called black gill attaches to shrimp gills and consumes the tissue there. It is a single-celled organism called a ciliate. The shrimp’s gills darken black as part of their immune response to the parasite, which gives the species its name.
Fortunately, according to professor and researcher Marc Frischer of the University of Georgia, black gill is completely edible. It offers no health risks to humans, but its appearance may be difficult for shrimpers who intend to sell the product.
Black gill has the ability to kill shrimp, but it won’t harm people who consume it. A shrimp with the parasite in its gills can’t breathe either, which increases the probability that it will become weaker and more vulnerable to being eaten by a predator. Lucky shrimp with black gills may molt their gills, which shrimp do once every two weeks, and begin a new life without the parasite unless it becomes reinfected. Many of the shrimp with black gills perished.
Effects of black gill parasite on the shrimp business?
Although there is evidence that the rise of black gill contributed to the disappointing 2013 shrimping season in Georgia, the region’s heavy summer rainfall also had a significant impact. The movement of post-larval shrimp returning to their estuary nursery grounds, which is crucial for development, was hampered by heavy rainfall. The scientific attempt to establish the effects of black gills on shrimp populations is made more difficult by the complex relationship between black gill transmission and other environmental factors, such as rainfall amounts.
While black gill is undoubtedly a source of concern for shrimpers, several additional factors have contributed to the overall decline in shrimping along Georgia’s coast. Even if it was significant in 2013, the decline in shrimp harvests is a long-term trend. Georgia’s fisheries had a total value of $10 million in 2004. This value was only worth $5.5 million in 2014.
What are a few critical factors contributing to this decline?
- Fewer trawling licenses are being issued.
- The importation of fish from abroad is a source of competition.
- Increased expenses for shrimpers to operate.
- The costs of maintaining aging vessels go higher.
- Black gills seem to be more frequent in shrimp.
Although black gill isn’t completely destroying the Georgia shrimp industry, it adversely affects the resource.
|There is still more for scientists to discover about the parasite, including how it survives, what it does before it finds a host shrimp, and how to more accurately predict the intensity of a black gill season given environmental signs. However, for the time being, the shareholder party confirms that what must be done to ensure the shrimp fisheries resource is maintained for the future is communicating, observing, and studying the parasite.
Tariq Iqbal
Khulna, Bangladesh
