Wednesday December 3, 2025
USGS —
The Need for AquaDePTH: The Need for Collaboration
Infectious disease poses a significant threat to commercially important and ecologically relevant fish and other aquatic animals. Federal entities, state agencies and universities invest millions of dollars annually to monitor and control diseases in aquatic animals, including finfish and invertebrates. These efforts are critical for protecting ecosystems, supporting aquaculture, and maintaining compliance with international trade regulations.
However, these entities often conduct their work in isolation: performing their own sampling and analysis and housing their data internally. No robust infrastructure has existed to facilitate the tracking and sharing of this surveillance data on regional and national scales. AquaDePTH seeks to fill this void.