Crustaceans, One Health and the changing ocean

• Published in: Journal of invertebrate pathology 2021-11, Vol.186, p.107500, Article 107500
• Main Authors: Behringer, Donald C., Duermit-Moreau, Elizabeth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Aquaculture; Climate; Climate Change; Crustacea - physiology; Disease; Fishery; Human; Oceans and Seas; One Health; Parasite; Pathogen
• ISSN: 0022-2011; 1096-0805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jip.2020.107500

•One Health view highlights connections between crustacean, human, and environmental health.•Crustacean aquaculture and fisheries impact human and environmental health outcomes.•Crustacean fisheries are important for food security and the health of coastal communities.•Environmental change has complex direct and indirect effects on crustacean and human health. Crustaceans permeate every habitat on Earth but are especially impactful in the marine environment. They can be small and extremely abundant like the ubiquitous marine copepods found throughout the world’s oceans, or large and highly prized by fishermen like spiny lobsters found in tropical and temperate seas, globally. The latter are among the decapod crustaceans, a group which includes crabs, shrimps, and lobsters - those targeted most commonly by fishery and aquaculture industries. Hence, crustaceans are ecologically important, but they are also directly linked to the economic and nutritional health of human populations. To most effectively manage and conserve crustacean populations in the face of a changing ocean environment, whether they are harvested or not, requires a One Health approach that underscores the linkages between crustacean, human, and environmental health. Here, we give an overview of the need, benefits, and challenges to taking the One Health approach to crustacean health and argue that when viewed through the One Health lens, there is perhaps no other group of marine animals more worthy of that perspective.