Little is known about coral diseases in the Indian Ocean region, especially in the Republic of Maldives. This study aimed at documenting the presence of coral diseases in the archipelago of the Maldives. Surveys for lesions in scleractinians conducted at 8 sites around Magoodhoo Island (Faafu Atoll) in October and November 2010 led to the identification of 5 coral diseases and 1 anomalous pigmentation response affecting 8 hard coral genera. White syndrome, skeleton-eroding band disease, black band disease, and Porites dark discoloration response were the most commonly observed conditions. In contrast with several reports of other reef systems, the overall observed prevalence of coral diseases was rather low (<2%), with individual prevalence ranging from 0.7% for skeleton-eroding band to 0.18% for Porites dark discoloration response. These data represent the first report of coral diseases for the Republic of Maldives.

In light of the recent marine oil spill that occurred off the coast of Mauritius (Indian Ocean), we comment here the incident, the containment method used by the local population, the biological impact of oil spill on two sensitive tropical marine ecosystems (coral reefs and mangrove forests), and we suggest monitoring and restoration techniques of the impacted ecosystems based on recent research advancements.

Coral diseases are one of the most important causes of coral reef decline worldwide. Although they are well investigated in some areas of the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef, they have been poorly studied in the Indian Ocean, and particularly in the Maldives, where the presence of coral pathologies has been reported only recently. In order to fill this gap, we investigated the prevalence, local host range and distribution of five coral diseases, namely brown band disease, skeleton eroding band, black band disease (BBD), ulcerative white spot and white syndrome (WS), in the central part of the Maldivian Archipelago, focussing, in particular, on the dominant coral genus Acropora. We estimated an overall disease prevalence of approximately 1.51%. Malè North Atoll was the most affected area; however, coral diseases were present at all study sites. WS was the most widespread disease, whereas BBD affected the highest number of scleractinian genera. We found symptoms of disease on 18 genera belonging to eight families. Acropora was the most affected genus in terms of pathogen diversity. These results provide baseline disease levels for the Maldives and can therefore serve as gauge for monitoring future change.