Effects of Pollutants on Fish

Abstract

The impact of pollution on fish has received considerable attention over the past few years, and this is partly due to the fact that there appears to be circumstantial evidence that certain diseases in marine fish may be associated with anthropogenic factors (Sindermann et al. 1980; Sindermann 1983). Whereas there are unequivocal results from laboratory experiments that certain individual pollutants can induce diseases in fish by virtue of their carcinogenic and toxic potential direct to cells and tissues (Meyers and Hendricks 1982), the fact remains that outbreaks of diseases in free-living marine fish are the result of multifactoral events involving a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors (Sindermann 1984). Despite the upsurge in investigations which, in the main, have involved limited epidemiological studies, only relatively few scientists have tried to qualify their findings with controlled laboratory studies (Couch and Harshbarger 1985). This presentation sets out to describe some of the more important diseases of North Sea fish and their possible association with pollution.