Just like the altered landscapes around us, the health of our oceans has been significantly affected by global change. Overuse of agricultural fertilizers has led to algal blooms that deplete coastal waters of oxygen, leading to dead zones. Climate change has driven dangerously high sea surface temperatures unprecedented in the last few hundred years, causing regular coral bleaching events. Increased CO2 levels have led to ocean acidification, threatening a range of organisms. Plastic products and other waste dumped into our streams and rivers are clogging up marine ecosystems and wildlife. On top of this, a series of high-impact infectious diseases have emerged that are clearly linked to human activity: these diseases are causing die-offs of marine species and in some cases are threatening public health.
We are combating the crisis in the health of our oceans
Nature.Health.Global. is developing the first ever database of marine emerging infectious diseases, which we will use to analyze their likely origins and causes. Ultimately we aim to produce a global marine EID hotspots map to better target resources to make our oceans healthier.
Recent marine emerging infectious diseases include:
- herpes virus outbreaks in fish linked to global transport of frozen food products for fish farms
- viruses and drug-resistant bacteria due to overuse of antibiotics in shrimp farms
- parasitic diseases linked to fish-farming
- distemper and influenza viruses in marine mammals linked to contact with pet animals
Most concerning is the recent global emergence of high-path H5N1 avian influenza, likely linked to poultry farming, but spreading rapidly to cause near-extinction of some marine bird breeding colonies, spilling over into marine mammals, and now present in cattle in the USA and humans.
