Warming ocean drives cod from North Sea

By Lewis Smith20 September 2011 Changes in the water temperature have put an end to hopes that the North Sea cod population can return to the levels it enjoyed in the 1970s. Warmer conditions have altered the availability of prey species and driven the cold-loving cod northwards so even if the fishery is managed perfectly […]

Extinction looms for last resident killer whale pod in Scottish waters

By Niamh Anderson18 September 2011 FOR at least three decades they have made the waters off the west of Scotland their own, delighting visitors and residents alike. But now it seems the country’s only resident pod of killer whales is doomed to extinction and pollution could be to blame. The nine whales have failed to […]

Peter Ward: We’ve entered the Age of Mass Extinction – Goodbye fish and a whole lot more

By Scott Thill8 August 2011 Mass extinction is finally fighting its way back into the news cycle, thanks to recent scary reports on climate change from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean, the United Nations Environment Program and the July issue of Science. But University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward has been […]

An ocean miracle in the Gulf of California – Fish biomass increases 460 percent in Cabo Pulmo no-take reserve

[About ten years ago, Desdemona snorkled at Cabo Pulmo and was not overly impressed by the abundance of marine wildlife, so this is welcome news.] By Enric Sala of National Geographic 12 August 2011 Cabo Pulmo National Park in Baja California, Mexico, was protected in 1995 to safeguard the largest coral community in the Gulf […]

EU and fish quotas: Who will protect these fish from our feeding frenzy?

By George Monbiot, www.guardian.co.uk 8 August 2011 Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a year, after which no one will ever eat fish again. Almost everywhere fish stocks are collapsing through catastrophic mismanagement. But no one in the rich […]

Third of freshwater fish threatened with extinction

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent30 July 2011 Freshwater fish are the most endangered group of animals on the planet, with more than a third threatened with extinction, according to a report being compiled by British scientists. Among those at the greatest risk of dying out are several species from UK rivers and lakes including the […]

Loss of large predators caused widespread disruption of ecosystems – ‘Humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world’

Media contactsCheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.govTim Stephens, UCSC (831) 459-2495, stephens@ucsc.edu July 14 (NSF) – The decline of large predators and other “apex consumers” at the top of the food chain has disrupted ecosystems across the planet. The finding is reported by an international team of scientists in a paper in this week’s issue […]

Island off Alabama coast bursting with birds after oil spill, fishing ban credited

By Verna Gates; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Ellen Wulfhorst10 July 2011 BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) – Thousands of baby pelicans grunt and hiss at their parents in tightly packed nests on Gaillard Island, a feathered paradise situated off the coast of Alabama. The 1,300-acre, man-made island is hosting more than 50,000 birds this summer as […]

IUCN: Tuna species urgently need protection – Southern bluefin tuna ‘critically endangered’

Paris (AFP) July 7, 2011 – The reference organisation for the conservation status of Earth’s animals and plants said for the first time Thursday that most species of tuna are urgently in need of protection. Five of eight tuna species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction due to overfishing, according to the Red […]

Oceans ‘dying very quickly’: Canada’s most experienced solo yachtsman

By Chris Morris, Times & Transcript Staff2 July 2011 Derek Hatfield has always known about the loneliness of the long-distance sailor, but he’s never felt as alone as he does these days when racing over the vast, empty expanses of our dying oceans. Hatfield recently completed his second successful race around the world, sprinting to […]

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