The record-breaking, 73-pound rockfish caught by a Chesapeake resident off Cape Henry in Virginia Beach this week apparently managed to avoid an epidemic afflicting more than half the Chesapeake Bay’s resident striped bass.
Myco, as fishermen have truncated the mycobacteriosis infection, is a wasting disease that leaves rockfish with ugly red lesions and seems to eventually kill them.
Scientists are in the middle of a three-year study of the myco phenomenon, according to Wolfgang K. Vogelbein, a fish pathology expert at Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
He said they have found some previously unknown strains of mycobacteria in infected rockfish. A much smaller percentage of sick stripers have a better-known bug that can cause something known as fish handler’s disease in humans, Vogelbein said. It’s largely a skin problem, but can be more serious if left untreated or if someone has a compromised immune system, he said.
Scientists don’t know for sure where the bacteria are coming from: Are the fish picking them up in the Bay’s shallow waters? From mucky bottoms? Or is there some transfer from other species underway?
Every spring and fall researchers working on the problem go out on the Rappahannock River and tag stripers. They’re close to 10,000 fish now, Vogelbein said.
By offering a $20 reward to fishermen who return tagged fish, they’ve gotten about 800 back to study. Comparing the fish to digital photos taken when the fish were tagged, scientists can tell that once infected, most fish tend to slowly get worse.
Volgelbein said the institute is trying to get funding for a grant to track where the myco originates using new tests that can quickly search for the bacteria in the water.
In the interim, he said, it is safe to order striped bass because thorough cooking kills the bacteria.
“I eat rockfish,” he said. “If you cook it properly, you’ll be fine.”
But, he added, “I wouldn’t eat it as sushi.”
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