FiRe: Reproductive disorders in Baltic fish - a presentation of a new Swedish EPA research program

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:37391

Bengtsson, B E ^[1]

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1. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Inst. of Applied Environmental Research

In 1974 a considerable increase in mortality of newly hatched fry of salmon (Salmo salar) was discovered at one of the Swedish hatcheries at the Baltic Sea coast. A series of symptoms was identified towards the end of the yolk sac resorption stage and was followed by a rapidly occurring and often high mortality shortly after the first symptoms were seen. The condition was given the name M74, where M depicts ``Miljoe``, i.e. ``Environment`` in Swedish and 74 stands for the first year of official registration, i.e. 1974. Since then the mortality in M74 has fluctuated considerably, but has increased n recent years. In 1992, M74 caused mortalities of up to 90% in newly hatched fry. In 1993 the situation was considered very serious and the number of surviving fry was insufficient to produce the stipulated number of compensation salmon for some Swedish rivers. The similarity with documented reproductive disturbances in salmonids in the Great Lakes is striking and also supports a possible connection to environmental pollution. However, hard data to support this theory are still lacking. With the present level of knowledge the research project is attempting to clarify the extent of fish reproduction disturbances in the Baltic Sea, the reasons and, if possible, to suggest how to mitigate the problem. Multinational research cooperation will be encouraged.

• OSTI ID: 37391
• Report Number(s): CONF-9410273--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
BALTIC SEA
POLLUTANTS
SALMON
SENSITIVITY
TOXICITY
WATER POLLUTION