Volcanic vents show how ocean acidification threatens marine life

By Craig Welch15 September 2013 NORMANBY ISLAND, Papua New Guinea (Seattle Times) — Katharina Fabricius plunged from a dive boat into the Pacific Ocean of tomorrow. She kicked through blue water until she spotted a ceramic tile attached to the bottom of a reef. A year earlier, the ecologist from the Australian Institute of Marine […]

The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years. How worried should we be?

By Brad Plumer31 August 2013 (Washington Post) – The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what’s likely the fastest pace in 300 million years. Scientists tend to think this is a troubling development. But just how worried should we be, exactly? It’s a question marine experts have been racing to get a handle on in […]

Blast fishing rampant in 5 Philippine towns – ‘We cannot totally eradicate the illegal fishing activities in these areas’

By Roel Catoto 21 July 2013 SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews) – Five towns in Surigao del Norte are under tight watch by the Philippine National Police Maritime Office Caraga for alleged rampant dynamite fishing. Edgard Cuanan, regional director of PNP Maritime Caraga named the five towns as Tagana-an, Placer, Claver, Socorro and General Luna. Cuanan admitted […]

In Caribbean, push to create no-take reserves – ‘If we keep destroying areas with thousands of baby and juvenile fish, where will the big fish come from tomorrow?’

David Mcfadden12 July 2013 BLUEFIELDS BAY, Jamaica (AP) – Young fish leap in the wake of a warden’s patrol boat as it motors through waters off Jamaica’s southwest coast that are a brilliant palette of blues. Beneath the surface, reefs bristle with spiny lobsters, and rainbow-colored parrotfish graze on algae and seaweed. After rampant destruction […]

Great Barrier Reef condition declined from moderate to poor in 2011 – ‘Extreme weather events significantly impacted the overall condition of the marine environment’

By Oliver Laughland    10 July 2013 (The Guardian) – An alarming set of reports on the condition of the Great Barrier Reef published on Wednesday say its overall condition in 2011 declined from moderate to poor, and highlights that reef-wide coral cover has declined by 50% since 1985. The series of reports blame part of […]

Officials in the Florida Keys stop debating sea level rise, start adjusting infrastructure – ‘The rate’s doubled. It would be disingenuous and sloppy and irresponsible not to respond to it.’

KEY WEST, Florida, 2 July 2013 (Associated Press) – Hurricane storm surge can inundate the narrow, low-lying Florida Keys, but that is far from the only water worry for officials. A tidal gauge operating since before the Civil War has documented a sea level rise of 9 inches in the last century, and officials expect […]

Up to half of all birds threatened by climate change – ‘The magnitude of the conservation program we need to put in place is mind-boggling’

By Michael Marshall 13 June 2013 (New Scientist) – Between a quarter and a half of all birds, along with around a third of amphibians and a quarter of corals, are highly vulnerable to climate change. These findings have emerged from the most comprehensive assessment to date of the impact of global warming on life. […]

10 places President Obama should visit to see climate change in action

By Brenda Ekwurzel15 May 2013 (UCS) – November, President Obama suggested that we needed a wide-ranging national discussion about climate change. But where to have that conversation? There are so many stories from communities that are on the front lines of climate change, grappling with ways to cope and looking for options. Here are ten […]

UN plans to list Great Barrier Reef as endangered – ‘Australia would be the only developed country in the world to have a world heritage site on the endangered list’

By Cameron Atfield4 May 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – The United Nations has put the Queensland and federal governments on notice that the Great Barrier Reef could be added to a list of endangered world heritage sites. In a draft decision released Friday night, expected to be adopted when UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meets in […]

Dead dolphins and shrimp with no eyes found after BP clean-up – Chemicals used to disperse Gulf of Mexico spill blamed for marine deaths and human illness

By Emily Dugan14 April 2013 (Independent) – Hundreds of beached dolphin carcasses, shrimp with no eyes, contaminated fish, ancient corals caked in oil and some seriously unwell people are among the legacies that scientists are still uncovering in the wake of BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill. This week it will be three years since the first […]

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