A report by the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) earlier this month warned divers and other marine researchers in the Caribbean area to be on the lookout for sites with an unusually high percentage of diseased and recently dead corals.
The report, produced by AGRRA, working in continuing conjunction with The University of the West Indies (UWI) Discovery Bay Marine Lab, stated that sick and decaying corals was first noted offshore of the Miami-Dade County area in September, 2014.
The outbreak area has since progressed 175 km (108 miles) to the northern limit of the Florida reef tract and southwest to Looe Key in the Lower Florida Keys and that numerous coral species have been afflicted, disease prevalence has reached 80 percent of all colonies present at a site, and a number of coral diseases have been observed.
In addition, the prevalence of sick and dying corals on north Jamaican reefs has increased dramatically since this area experienced a severe bleaching event in the autumn of 2017. The species of affected corals and their signs of disease show considerable overlap with the reports from Florida.AGRRA also stated that, on July 3, researchers in Mexico discovered a reef near Puerto Morelos, Mexico to have a severe outbreak of coral disease affecting similar species and exhibiting similar patters as those in Florida.
The Florida Disease Advisory Committee (FDAC) is now referring to all affected Floridian corals as having “tissue-loss disease” and is advising divers and all persons that come into contact with coral or marine life to take the necessary sanitary precautions to ensure that the disease does not spread.
The diseases observed include what appear to be “White Plague”, the unknown white disease “White Blotch”, and other indistinguishable white diseases. In light of this, the FDAC is advising people to rinse their diving gear in chlorine anti-septic and continue to be as distant to the coral reefs as possible and avoid touching the reefs that have become infected.
