Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease

There is a growing crisis in our oceans as rates of infectious disease outbreaks are on the rise. A warmer world is a sicker world for humans and wild biota. Marine epidemics have caused mass die-offs of wildlife from the bottom to the top of the food chains, impacting the health of ocean ecosystems as well as lives on land. Fueled by a warming ocean and accelerated by sewage dumping, unregulated aquaculture, and drifting plastic, ocean outbreaks are sentinels of impending global environmental disaster.

Ocean Outbreak follows renowned scientist Drew Harvell and her colleagues as they investigate how four iconic marine animals - corals, abalone, salmon, and starfish - have been devastated by disease. Based on over twenty years of research, this firsthand account of the sometimes creeping, sometimes exploding impact of disease on our ocean’s biodiversity ends with a hopeful message. Through policy changes and the implementation of innovative solutions from nature, such as the super powers of some marine habitats to detoxify water, we can reduce major outbreaks, save some ocean ecosystems, and protect our fragile environment.

©2019 Princeton University Press (P)2020 Drew Harvell