Empty nets and tropical fish in Tasmania as climate change hits Southern Ocean

Sea surface temperatures off the coast of Tasmania on November 23, 2010-2017. Data: Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). Graphic: The Sydney Morning Herald

February 2, 2020

Empty nets and tropical fish in Tasmania as climate change hits Southern Ocean

By Royce Millar and Chris Vedelago 31 January 2020 (The Sydney Morning Herald) – Rising temperatures and climate change have been blamed for the failure of stocks of some of the most popular eating fish in Australia’s Southern Ocean to recover from declines despite more than a decade of protection. The troubling findings come as […]

Muriel E. Bowser, Mayor of Washington, D.C. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press

February 2, 2020

Opioid deaths are surging again in Washington, D.C., reversing previous year’s decline – 2019 was second-deadliest year for drug users since the District’s opioid crisis began in 2015

By Peter Jamison 31 January 2020 (The Washington Post) – Fatal opioid overdoses are on the rise again in the nation’s capital, an alarming development for public health officials who had celebrated what previously appeared to be a downward trend in the city’s drug deaths. Preliminary data indicates that 220 people died of opioid overdoses […]

External carapace and pereopod exoskeleton of the Dungeness crab megalopae (a) in its undamaged form (b, c) and with dissolution presence ranging from mild (Stage 1; d) to severe (Stage 2; e, f) patterns showing similarity in the structural damages (g) or exposed crystals (h). Indicated is the scale of the measurements (μm). The undamaged megalopae originated from the offshore or northwards habitats characterized by low ∆Ωcal,60 vertical gradients, while the most severely affected megalopae came from the nearshore or coastal habitats with steep ∆Ωcal,60 conditions. Photo: Bednaršek, et al., 2020 / Science of The Total Environment

February 2, 2020

Dungeness crab larvae already showing effects of coastal acidification – “We found dissolution impacts to the crab larvae that were not expected to occur until much later in this century”

23 January 2020 (NOAA) – A new NOAA-funded study has documented for the first time that ocean acidification along the US Pacific Northwest coast is impacting the shells and sensory organs of some young Dungeness crab, a prized crustacean that supports the most valuable fishery on the West Coast. Analysis of samples collected during a […]

Desdemona Despair

Month: February 2020