Chiers, K.

De Smet, B.

Decostere, A.

Devriese, L.

Fockedey, N.

Maes, P.

Seys, J.

Vercauteren, M.

Open Marine Archive

164 
Oral presentation Communication Award 
Fishermen help to get to the bottom of fish diseases in a citizen science 
project 
Vercauteren Maaike1, Devriese Lisa2,3, De Smet Bart2, Fockedey Nancy2, Maes Pieter2, Seys Jan2, 
Decostere Annemie1 and Chiers Koen1  
1  
Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 
Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium 
 E-mail: maaike.vercauteren@ugent.be  
2  
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), InnovOcean site, Wandelaarskaai 7, 8400 Ostend, Belgium 
3
  Research institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ankerstraat 1, 8400 Ostend, Belgium 
 
Wild flatfish may develop various lesions or deformities. Searching for a cause of these 
abnormalities often is comparable with finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, it is 
challenging to pinpoint an exact cause of a certain disease. Various environmental factors might 
play a role in the susceptibility of an individual animal to develop a certain lesion or deformity. 
Moreover, characteristics of the fish, such as gender, condition or the activity of the immune 
system might act as predisposing factors. 
 
One important piece of information is the prevalence of a certain disease and its variability in 
space and time. With regard to this, various scientific institutes over the world organize regular 
monitoring studies to measure the prevalence of certain diseases. One of the Belgian institutes 
is the Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) which has already been 
conducting surveys on the occurrence of different diseases in the Belgian part of the North Sea 
for a long time. This information is used for, amongst others, designing the ‘Marine Strategic 
Framework Directive (MSFD)’. From 2015 onwards, the data collection was intensified with a two-
monthly monitoring campaign on board of the RV Simon Stevin at eight fixed sampling locations 
in the Belgian part of the North Sea. This data collection mainly focused on the research 
regarding skin ulcerations of flatfish. 
 
To increase the dataset, we recently launched a citizen science project whereby the sea-going 
communities (professional or recreational fishermen, marine scientists…) are involved in the 
data-gathering process. They can deliver useful information on various diseases and areas that 
are not (intensively) covered in the scientific surveys. The citizen science project is supported by 
a website (www.platvisziekten.be) which contains some general information on various diseases 
and the goal of the scientific surveys. Furthermore, the sea-going community has the 
opportunity to notify scientists through the website if they encounter any flatfish with an 
abnormality by filling in a simple form and send it, along with a picture of the deformity. Using 
observations of these lesions or deformities will considerably strengthen the data collection 
and substantiate the scientific surveys for trends in prevalence and sudden changes of various 
diseases. This data may be used to study the cause of various diseases but also to monitor the 
health of the marine ecosystem in which the fish reside.  
 
The website was constructed at Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). 


Fishermen help to get to the bottom of fish diseases in a citizen science project

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/326181.pdf

Fishermen help to get to the bottom of fish diseases in a citizen science project

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