the report presents a METHODOLOGY for assessing conditions in the coastal marine environment, using diseases as biological indicators ...HUMANS FACE INCREASING HEALTH RISKS associated with seafood consumption and recreation. Of deepest concern, INFECTIONS appear to be spreading among seagrass meadows and coral reefs ... Disease outbreaks can lead to significant ECONOMIC LOSSES ... Monitoring and supporting communication networks for HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS, and combining disease and environmental surveillance,can generate HEALTH EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS. (excerpt from executive summary: full report online)
Epstein, P.R., Sherman, B.H., Siegfried, E.S., Langston, A., Prasad, S. and Mckay, B.,(eds.). 1998. Marine ecosystems: Emerging diseases as indicators of change. Health of the oceans from Labrador to Venezuela. Year of the Ocean Special Report. NOAA- OGP and NASA Grant number NA56GP 0623. The Center for Conservation Medicine and CHGE Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 85p.