By Wynne Parry, Senior Writer29 July 2010 07:39 am ET One hundred days ago Thursday, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. As profoundly as the leak of millions of barrels of oil is injuring the Gulf ecosystem, it is only one of many threats to the Earth’s oceans […]
By Tony Paterson in BerlinFriday, 23 July 2010 Record summer temperatures, farm fertilisers and a lack of wind have a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn. The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of […]
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can’t survive—have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet’s dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, […]
By DEBORAH ANDERSON12 Jul 2010 The Firth of Clyde has been so heavily fished it risks being emptied of almost all sea life, according to a new report. Researchers at the University of York have set alarm bells ringing with a warning that the Clyde has become “an ecosystem in meltdown.” Once known for its […]
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy NewspapersPosted on Sunday, July 4, 2010 WASHINGTON — A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a “fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation” not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major […]
Low oxygen levels found in Gulf waters By Mike Brantley, Press-Register, video and narration by Ben Raines IN THE GULF OF MEXICO — The Press Register sampled oxygen levels on two natural gas platforms off Alabama and then dove on them to survey the fish and other creatures around the structures. While overall fish populations […]
ScienceDaily (June 28, 2010) — University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” is expected to be larger than average, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a $659 million fishery. The 2010 forecast, released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric […]
Dozens of sharks follow fish fleeing oil spill to Alabama shoreline Thursday, June 24, 2010, 2:30 PM It has easily been the most-watched video ever put on al.com by the Press-Register, with 125,722 starts as of early Thursday afternoon. Video footage shot on June 18 by Ben Raines of the Press-Register and uploaded the following […]
By Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Maggie FoxCHICAGOTue Jun 22, 2010 6:58pm EDT Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are “astonishingly high.” Kessler’s crew took measurements of both surface and deep water […]
By John Flesher of The Associated Press Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 6:46 PM A marine scientist says underwater oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico are reducing oxygen in some areas, but the drop-off isn’t steep enough to endanger marine life just yet. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia said Tuesday that water […]
