Since white band disease was first reported in the 1970s, the disease has led to the devastation of approximately 95% of the elkhorn and staghorn corals in the Caribbean region. This resulted in both affected species being listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act and as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The decline in these corals has a lasting effect on both humans and the environment. Coral reefs protect coastlines from ocean currents, waves, and storms, and the death of these corals only increases the loss of coastlines in affected regions. Elkhorn and staghorn corals are two of the major reef-building corals, the foundation on which the rest of the coral reef is formed. Its loss means the loss of a habitat for many coral reef dwelling species such as lobsters, parrot-fish, snapper shrimps, and many other reef species, causing a sharp decline in the biodiversity of an affected region. Coral reefs are also home to more than twenty-five percent of all marine fish species, making them extremely biologically diverse. The loss of this coral would be particularly damaging to people living on the coast in terms of the food supply, coastal protection, economic security and more. Nearly 500 million people directly depend on coral reefs for food and income (through tourism or otherwise).