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Aquatic Mortality Tracking

OBJECTIVE: Implement a standard Gulf-wide reporting system to track diseases and mortalities of aquatic organisms as an indicator of changing environmental conditions.

RATIONALE: Anthropogenic pollutants and natural factors, alone and combined, affect the living organisms of the Gulf of Mexico and other coastal areas of the U.S. Tracking disease and mortality of multiple species over a broad region such as the Gulf of Mexico can provide insights into spatial patterns and temporal trends that might be associated with measured natural and/or anthropogenic stressors. Over a period of years, measures of disease and mortality will assist in assessing the ecological condition and trends (improving/deteriorating) of water and habitat in estuarine and near-coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 		Aquatic Mortality emblem

RESEARCH APPROACH: Develop and implement a standard approach, procedures, and data base for reporting disease and mortality in the Gulf of Mexico and a website to communicate disease/mortality observations. Enhance opportunities for epizootiological interpretation of aquatic mortality events, their prediction, and relationship to environmental conditions. Mortality data across the gulf of Mexico will be compared with available environmental data to detect patterns and associations with environmental conditions. If associations are significant and predictable, disease and mortality will prove useful indicators of condition and trends. Expand the disease and mortality network from the Gulf of Mexico States to other coastal states of the U.S. through workshops and demonstration of the value of the Gulf of Mexico Disease and Mortality Network (GMNET). The Gulf of Mexico Program has been a valuable partner in this endeavor.


                            SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH PRODUCTS  

                    		 
Gulf of Mexico regional mortality database...................................................................... 2003
Mortality reporting networks established in North and South Atlantic................................ 2004
Report on the National Coastal Event Monitoring Program............................................... 2005
Ecological Indicator of environmental condition report...................................................... 2007

Supports ORD GOAL 4 COMMUNITIES & ECOSYSTEMS; Ecological Research Multi-Year Research Plan, Long-Term Goal (1)

PRINCIPAL CONTACT: Dr. William S. Fisher (850) 934-9394 or fisher.william@epa.gov.

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