Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals

Three Sides of the Same Coin: Aquatic Animals–One Health–Ecosystem Health

Mohamed Faisal

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874387.ch60

In the wake of several animal-borne infections of humans, health professionals, managers, and politicians tried to explain the factors that may have led to the increased emergence of zoonotic diseases. Undoubtedly, human health is linked to ecosystem health, terrestrial animal health, and aquatic animal health. However, there is no universally accepted benchmark for a healthy ecosystem; frequently, the gauge of an ecosystem’s apparent health status depends on which societal aspirations are driving the assessment. For example, physicians claim that human health is the best metric to assess ecosystem health. If this were true, then habitat degradation of forests, for example, would lead to a decline in wild canines, which will reduce rabies prevalence in humans, a sign of a healthy ecosystem according to the definition.