Lake Baikal ‘seriously ill’: World’s deepest lake suffers alien algae, record water-level drop

13 March 2015 (RT) – The shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s largest body of fresh water and popular tourist destination, are covered with rotting algae dangerous to its unique ecosystem. Baikal is getting increasingly contaminated by spirogyra, which could pose a threat to the purity of its waters. Spirogyra is not native […]

CO2 emissions threaten seafood as ocean acidification spreads along U.S. coastlines – ‘We’re the canary in the coal mine for what’s happening with our shellfish industry. Conditions are going to get progressively worse.’

By Maria Gallucci23 February 2015 (IBT) – Taylor Shellfish Company was grappling with a crisis in the summer of 2009. Millions of oyster larvae were dying in its Washington hatcheries, and production had dropped by 80 percent. Down the coast, Oregon’s hatcheries faced the same problem. Highly acidic ocean water, it turned out, was dissolving […]

Image of the Day: Phosphorescent glow from algae bloom near Hong Kong, 22 January 2015

By Nick Kirkpatrick 23 January 2015 (Washington Post) – Along a seashore in Hong Kong yesterday, a vibrant blue glow was seen emanating from the water. Beautiful photographs show the shore glimmering, with the lights of the city sparkling in the background. But this idyllic setting is potentially toxic. The luminescence is an algal bloom […]

Beautiful and sad GIFs show the ongoing destruction of the oceans

By Laura McClure     15 August 2014 (TED) – Scientist Sylvia Earle (TED Talk: My wish: Protect our oceans) has spent the past five decades exploring the seas. During that time, she’s witnessed a steep decline in ocean wildlife numbers — and a sharp incline in the number of ocean deadzones and oil drilling sites. An […]

Thousands of fish dead in Nevada marina mystery – ‘For all intents and purposes, the fishery doesn’t exist anymore’

By Scott Sonner16 January 2014 SPARKS, Nevada (Associated Press) – State wildlife officials are trying to figure out why all the fish have died in a northern Nevada marina where the stocked fishery has flourished since the man-made lake was created nearly 15 years ago. An estimated 100,000 trout, bass and catfish have died over […]

Through the looking glass of the Great Dying: New study finds ocean stratification proceeded rapidly over past 150 years

By Robert Scribbler18 December 2013 (robertscribbler.wordpress.com) – During the terrible mass extinction event at the Permian-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago nearly all life on Earth was snuffed out. The event, which geologists have dubbed “The Great Dying,” occurred during a period of rapid warming on the tail end of a long period of […]

Threat of dead zone developing off Sonoma Coast

By GUY KOVNER5 December 2013 (THE PRESS DEMOCRAT) – Climate change is the likely cause of unprecedented mass of oxygen-poor water off the Sonoma Coast, a phenomenon that could harm the region’s prized Dungeness crab and other marine life. Scientists at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, who were the first to detect the hypoxic (low-oxygen) waters, […]

Health of oceans declining fast, ‘at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history’

By Roger Harrabin, Environment analyst3 October 2013 (BBC News) – The health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating even faster than had previously been thought, a report says. A review from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), warns that the oceans are facing multiple threats. They are being heated by climate […]

Wave of jellyfish shuts down Swedish nuclear reactor

By Gary Peach1 October 2013 (AP) – Marine biologists say that the wave of jellyfish that caused a Swedish nuclear plant to shut down a reactor is going to become a more common occurrence. It wasn’t a tsunami but it had the same effect: A huge cluster of jellyfish forced one of the world’s largest […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie, 26 September 2013

By Holli Riebeek27 September 2013 (NASA) – The waters of Lake Erie seem to glow green in this image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on 26 September 2013. The color comes from a toxic algae bloom, which has been growing in the lake since mid July. The algae […]

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