Beneath the restless shimmer of the ocean, a silent battle unfolds. Coral colonies, once radiant fortresses of life, now show signs of sickness, their skeletal frames whispering with worry. Tiny pathogens drift like unseen marauders, exploiting the warmer ocean temperatures, while scientists, modern-day sentinels, marshal their defenses with genomic maps and oceanic models. In the hum of research stations, hope is heard louder than despair: a hope stitched from data and dreams, from the promise that knowledge and science can outpace contagion.
For every sea star lost to wasting disease, for every herring weakened by invisible foes, there is a story of resilience—a story where human ingenuity and ocean’s ancient rhythms conspire to heal what is broken. Marine disease management is not just science; it is a narrative of guardianship, a testament that even in the deep’s darkest hour, we choose to fight for the light. For the coral gardens that cradled life; for the fisheries that feed billions.
Years in the making, a new special edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B provides a thorough collection of recent studies on marine disease management in wild populations. Building on a Philosophical Transactions edition from 2016 focused more broadly on marine disease ecology, the new publication aims to showcase recent advances and demonstrate the value of combining classical epidemiology approaches with novel technologies to inform disease management.
This new issue is a massive feat, as the articles focus largely on diseases affecting wild populations: work that is logistically, scientifically, and financially difficult. Scientists from around the world collaborated to release these 16 papers covering a large range of species, including snow crab, mud crab, pacific herring, pacific salmonids, corals, and sea stars. Together, these papers explore how to identify drivers of disease, how to quantify their impacts, and what management strategies can be applied.
The studies demonstrate the value of combining classical approaches (e.g., routine disease surveillance, reductionistic pathogen challenge trials, rapid throughput diagnostics) with cutting-edge technologies (e.g., high-resolution regional oceanic modelling system models, Bayesian models, replicated transcriptomic studies), to marine disease management. The shift to a management focus reflects an urgent need for action-oriented strategies to address high impact diseases, and the rapid methodological advances that have resulted.
“Many of the contributions reflect clear collaborations between managers, industry, and academics,” said David Paez, a lead researcher with the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center. “While much more work is needed, there is hope that we are slowly building the required infrastructure to adequately respond to management needs.”
Marine life contributes significantly to the oxygen cycle, regulates climate, and supports human activities such as fisheries, medicine, and tourism. When one part of the ocean ecosystems is out of balance, it is catastrophic to the whole ocean ecosystem. This can be seen with sea star wasting disease. When the sea star population was decimated, it allowed the sea urchin population to grow out of control, which led to the destruction of kelp forests across the Pacific coastline, a key rearing habitat for important salmonids.
The USGS Western Fisheries Research Center works together with partners from across the nation and globally to ensure the health and safety of these critical marine environments and species. This work would not be possible without the support of the National Science Foundation and our partnerships with the Hakai Institute and the Bigelow Institute.