What You Can Do

Why should we be concerned?

Diseases of corals and other reef organisms, like those in humans, could be increasing as global and local ecological changes occur and these diseases might serve as indicators of those changes. Loss of reef organisms can lead to reduced storm protection for shorelines and decreases in food resources for humans, and can result in the loss of the economic benefits of reef-based tourism.

You can help expand our knowledge of these diseases when you are snorkeling or diving.

• Record the location where you see these diseases (reef name, latitude and longitude, if known, and depth).

• Record when you see these diseases (date).

• Note which disease occurs on which species of plant or animal. Common names of the plants or animals are useful, but if you can relate them to the genus and species names using a reliable source, it is even more useful to provide both the common and scientific names.

• If the condition of the organism appears to be different from the diseases described here, make careful observations of its appearance and any factors that might be affecting it.

• Most importantly, take photos and record your observations shortly after your dive.

You can send your observations to us, or to the links below. If you have photos, please do NOT send them to us or others unless you ask first. Why? Because either electronically or as hard copy, they can take up much file space and may not be needed if the disease is already well documented in a given area. In addition, the recipient may need them in a particular format in order for them to be useful. Given all the possible file formats for graphics, limitations on file names for some operating systems, and the time it takes to download files attached to messages, it is much better to ask first and send later! Thanks for your understanding. In addition, we do NOT attempt to diagnose problems with corals kept in aquaria.

Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions Global Change Database

Paul Epstein and colleagues, with support from Pew Charitable Trusts, are compiling information on diseases affecting marine organisms into the Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions (HEED) Global Change Database. Their goal is to compare information in several databases to determine whether changes in climate and environmental conditions in ecosystems are related to morbidity and mortality found in marine organisms. You can view the information on their web page and file reports on event data entry forms found at HEED.

Dr. Epstein can also be reached by e-mail at: pepstein@igc.apc.org

Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP)

This program, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and maintained by Jim Hendee, provides information on factors affecting the health of corals and other reef organisms, literature citations and abstracts, links to related sites, and a directory of scientists who study coral reefs. Here is a link to CHAMP.

The Coral Health and Monitoring List Server

Jim Hendee also maintains NOAA's Coral Health and Monitoring List Server, which is an e-mail list to which you can post messages, including reports of diseases of corals and other reef organisms, that will be distributed to subscribers around the world. To subscribe to this list server, send an e-mail message with:

subscribe coral-list

as the message body to:   majordomo@coral.aoml.noaa.gov

The Marine Pathology List Server

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) maintains another list server dealing with marine pathology issues. To subscribe to this list server, send an e-mail message with:

subscribe marine_pathol

as the message body to:   majordomo@vims.edu

Feedback

If you know of any other links that would be useful, have any comments on our page, or wish to report a disease outbreak, let us know.