Women Smokers and AneurysmsA study by Manoa’s David Curb shows women who smoke eight times more likely to have an aneurysm. Read more
Winning AnthuriumThe College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Mauna Loa anthurium wins a Red Ribbon. Read moreFish Farming DangersManoa’s Neil Frazer studies the harmful effects of fish farming on wild fish. Read more
Scientific Fellow AwardHilo’s Daniel Brown is selected as a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science. Read more
Honoring a PrincessPrincess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa is awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Read more
Legal Tips for AgingManoa’s James Pietsch and Lenora Lee publish Deciding “Who Cares?”: A Legal Handbook For Hawai'i’s Older Persons, Families and Other Caregivers. Read more
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Fish Farming Dangers
Manoa Professor Neil Frazer’s study on ocean fish farming shows that the practice is harmful to wild fish. The essay was published in Conservation Biology.
The study shows that higher densities of fish promote infection and infection lowers the fitness of the fish. For wild fish, lowered fitness means more difficulty finding food and escaping predators, causing higher death rates. But farmed fish are not only fed, they are also protected from predators by their cage, so infected farm fish live on, shedding pathogen into the water. The higher levels of pathogen in the water cause the death rates of wild fish to rise.
The above paradigm explains recently documented declines of wild fish in areas with sea-cage farm fish.
“Sea lice are an important example of disease transfer in ocean fish farming,” says Frazer. “Sea lice are tiny crabs that attach to marine fishes, eating their skin and sometimes deeper tissue. Skin is important to fish because they need to keep their tissues less salty than the ocean. Also, when lice puncture the skin they create an entry point for other infections. So wild fish weakened by lice have more difficulty finding food and escaping predators.”