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Use of the Facebook social media network to establish the distribution and prevalence of dusky grouper dermatitis (DGD) in Libyan waters

Jamila Rizgalla1*, Andrew P. Shinn1, 2, Hugh W. Ferguson1, 3, Giuseppe Paladini1, Tharangani Herath1, 4, Nilantha Jayasuyira1, John Taggart1, Jacqueline Ireland1 and James E. Bron1
  • 1 University of Stirling, Institute of Aquaculture, United Kingdom
  • 2 Fish Vet Group Asia Limited, Thailand
  • 3 St. George’s University,, Marine Medicine Programme, School of Veterinary Medicine, Grenada
  • 4 Harper Adams University, United Kingdom

Dusky grouper, Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1934), is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and displays an extensive distribution (Heemstra & Randall, 1993). Female sexual maturity is attained at ~5-6 years at sizes ranging from 47-62cm total length (TL) (Chauvet 1988; Fennessy 2006). Males, however, reach sexual maturity at around 12 years of age at 68cm TL (Rocha and Costa, 1999). Dusky grouper has a high market value (Kasem et al., 2009) and although it is listed as endangered by the IUCN (Cornish and Harmelin-Vivien 2004) it nevertheless continues to be captured in artisanal fisheries and by spearfishing (Kasem et al., 2009). From 2013-2015, wild dusky grouper landed from fishing grounds around Tripoli / Libya with sizes ranging from 42- >60cm TL were seen to be affected by a disease described as dusky grouper dermatitis (DGD) and comprising a multifocal unilateral or bilateral dermatitis affecting various parts of the body including the caudal peduncle (Fig. 1). The disease can be classified in terms of a mild, moderate or severe dermatitis, with the inflammatory process involving both the dermis and epidermis, with no evidence for a systemic involvement. Ulcers are formed during the severe stage, which is followed by healing of lesions (Rizgalla et al., 2016). As attempts to further investigate the epidemiology, prevalence and distribution of the skin lesions in the wild dusky grouper population along the almost 1700 km coastline of Libya proved impractical, social media networks were used to investigate the distribution and presence of the lesions. FacebookTM (FB) has ~1.44 billion active users, who upload 350 million new images every day (Protalinski 2015; Henschen 2013). This social media network provided a suitable environment for searching for entries on spearfishing activity, by which means the presence of lesions on dusky grouper might indirectly be established through observation of online image posts. Pictures and video footage, largely of spearfished dusky grouper and dating from December 2011 to February 2016, were posted in the timelines of numerous personal FB members and several FB spearfishing groups, with members predominantly being located in Libya but also in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. These images, which were mostly displayed to show the catch (Figure. 1), clearly indicated that skin lesions resembling those associated with DGD could be observed affecting dusky grouper with sizes ranging from 40->60cm TL. Images mostly showed dusky grouper captured from waters in the vicinity of 19 Libyan coastal cities. Attempts to encourage FB members to take part in a more detailed survey failed to gain sufficient participants, with only 5/25 FB members contacted agreeing to take part. Presented data were therefore largely collected from open access personal FB timelines and FB groups. The successful use of social media to investigate the retrospective and present epidemiology of lesions affecting a wild fish population is a novel approach and to our knowledge has not been previously employed. Accordingly, the potential of social media networks to assist future monitoring programs warrants further investigation.

Figure 1
Image

Acknowledgements

This work was done with funds from the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Special thanks go to Mr Maklofi for allowing the use of the Facebook pictures of the dusky grouper. And to Mr. Abdalah, Mr. Mgawshi, and Mr Gashot.

References

Chauvet, C. (1988). Etude de la croissance du mérou Epinephelus guaza (Linné, 1758) des côtes Tunisiennes. Aquat. Living Resour .1, 277-288.
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Fennessy, S. T. (2006). Reproductive biology and growth of the yellowbelly rockcod Epinephelus marginatus (Serranidae) from South-East Africa. Afri. Jour.Mari. Sci.28, 1-11
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Protalinski, E. Data from: Facebook passes 1.44B monthly active users and 1.25B mobile users; 65% are now daily users. (2015) http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/22/facebook-passes-1-44b-monthly-active-users-1-25b-mobile-users-and-936-million-daily-users/). [Accessed 20 April 2016]
Rizgalla, J., Bron, J.E., Shinn, A. P., Herath, T. K., Paladini, G., Ferguson, H. W. (Accepted 2016). Ulcerative dermatitis in wild dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe) from Libyan waters Jour.Fis.Dis.

Keywords: facebook, dusky grouper dermatitis, dgd, Libya, mediteranean

Conference: AquaEpi I - 2016, Oslo, Norway, 20 Sep - 22 Sep, 2016.

Presentation Type: Oral

Topic: Aquatic Animal Epidemiology

Citation: Rizgalla J, Shinn AP, Ferguson HW, Paladini G, Herath T, Jayasuyira N, Taggart J, Ireland J and Bron JE (2016). Use of the Facebook social media network to establish the distribution and prevalence of dusky grouper dermatitis (DGD) in Libyan waters. Front. Vet. Sci. Conference Abstract: AquaEpi I - 2016. doi: 10.3389/conf.FVETS.2016.02.00004

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Received: 20 Apr 2016; Published Online: 14 Sep 2016.

* Correspondence: Ms. Jamila Rizgalla, University of Stirling, Institute of Aquaculture, Stirling,, Scotland, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom, jamilarizgalla@gmail.com