Posted – Wednesday, February 01, 2012 11:05 AM EST

The superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary has been named the outstanding manager of his federal agency.

Sean Morton, who has overseen the 2,900-square-mile marine area since February 2009, was picked as manager of the year by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, an agency within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Keys sanctuary is one among 15.

Read the full Keynoter story at http://www.keysnet.com/2012/02/01/418264/marine-sanctuary-chief-earns-national.html

The proximity of intended Cuban oil drilling and production puts the U.S. coastal zone at risk from Florida to the Carolinas and northward. Oil from a spill would quickly enter the Gulf Stream and reach Florida’s shores in hours or days with potentially devastating effects on the densely populated South Florida coastline and its coastal ecosystems. South Florida’s accounts for 3.4 million jobs and 45 percent of the $587 billion contribution to Florida’s GDP generated by coastal and ocean economic activity.

Read the full article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130093113.htm

Picture on left shows a trail of dying, white corals on the reef in March 2010. Picture on right shows the same area of the reef in May 2011 with barren rubble where the live corals once were. (Credit: Photos are courtesy of Greta Aeby, University of Hawaii – Manoa.)

ScienceDaily (Jan. 6, 2012) — In March 2010 an outbreak of a disease called acute Montipora White Syndrome (MWS) was discovered affecting coral reefs in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. Follow-up surveys found that the disease left trails of rubble in its wake. It was estimated that over 100 colonies of rice coral (Montipora capitata) died during that initial outbreak. The disease has reappeared and is killing corals in Kaneohe Bay. The current outbreak has already affected 198 colonies and a rapid response team led by Dr. Greta Aeby (HIMB) has been activated to document the outbreak.

Members of the investigative team include scientists from the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), and USGS National Wildlife Health Center. Members of the Eyes of the Reef Network (EOR), a program that trains community members to identify threats to Hawaii’s reefs, are also being asked to report on any signs of disease from other reefs.

Read the full article at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106110700.htm

Where: Salute! On the Beach,
1000 Atlantic Blvd., Key West
When: Saturday March 31^st 6-10pm
Musical Guest: Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24

Tickets: $15 in advance and $20 at the door

Buy tickets by calling Reef Relief at 305-294-3100 or
visit the Reef Relief Environmental Center at 631 Greene, St., Key West, FL

VISIT http://reefrelief.org/reef-relief%E2%80%99s-25th-anniversary-party/  for more details

Fears rose of an environmental disaster from a wrecked cruise ship in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Italy on Tuesday as emergency divers used explosives to breach the hull and try and reach trapped passengers.

“This is an ecological timebomb,” Sergio Ortelli, mayor of the picturesque Tuscan island where the luxury Costa Concordia liner hit underwater rocks and keeled over on Friday with more than 4,200 passengers and crew aboard.

Read the full article at http://news.discovery.com/earth/costa-concordia-marine-sanctuary-timebomb-120117.html

Long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) may be a bioindicator

Florida Keys resident and marine biologist  Martin A. Moe, best known for his work with the long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum), discusses the invisible pollution threatening our marine environment. In the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of CORAL Magazine.

Read the article courtesy of CORAL Magazine | www.coralmagazine-us.com

Digital Edition of that issue of CORAL (Coral Jan/Feb 2012, see pages 30-40). http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=01987090-d3b9-40ca-9c62-559b8278318f

The full report can be downloaded by clicking here or visiting the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website, www.flcoastalandocean.org/blueprint.

The press release can be viewed by clicking here or visiting the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website, www.flcoastalandocean.org/blueprint.

photo: South Florida Dive Journal

The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition is a group of organizations working together to conserve, protect and restore Florida’s coastal and marine environment. The Coalition emphasizes the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to coastal and ocean management, as well as recognition of the important linkage between the health of Florida’s economy and the health of its beaches and dunes, coral reefs, mangroves, sea grasses, wetlands and other natural resources. The Coalition calls on Florida’s Governor, State Agencies, Cabinet, and Legislature for action and leadership to achieve the goal of healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems. Please visit the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website for more information, www.flcoastalandocean.org.

MIAMI, Florida — The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A new scientific paper in Nature Climate Change shows that expanding ‘ocean dead zones’ (areas of low oxygen) driven in part by climate change makes that science even more complex.

Blue marlin, other billfish and tropical tuna are high energy fish that need large amounts of dissolved oxygen. Scientists from the disciplines of oceanography and fisheries biology are sounding an alarm that the expansion of dead zones is shrinking the useable habitat for these highly valuable pelagic fish in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean. And as dead zones shrink habitat by depriving fish of areas with enough dissolved oxygen for them to thrive, they squeeze these species into surface waters where they are more vulnerable to fishing.

Read the full article at http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=74961038210

Dec. 14, 2011.  www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov. PRESS RELEASE
The Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees (Trustees) today released the Deepwater Horizon Draft Phase I Early Restoration Plan & Environmental Assessment (DERP/EA) for formal public comment. It is the first in an anticipated series of plans to begin restoration of the Gulf of Mexico to compensate for natural resource injuries, including the loss of human use of Gulf resources, from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

The DERP/EA describes the initial projects proposed to receive funding from the $1 billion Early Restoration agreement announced by the Trustees and BP on April 21, 2011, called the Framework Agreement. The Trustees will hold 12 public meetings in January and February 2012 throughout Gulf Coast communities and in Washington, D.C. to solicit formal public comment on the DERP/EA.

“Public feedback is of the utmost importance, and we encourage people to submit comments and attend the upcoming public meetings,” said Cooper Shattuck, chair of the Trustee Council Executive Committee, speaking on behalf of the Trustees. “This is the first step in beginning restoration of injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. While continuing to accept project ideas, we will move forward with additional phases of Early Restoration until the entire $1 billion is committed to Gulf Coast restoration.” Read more at http://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/FINALPressRelease-DERP-MultiPage-12.13.2011-1830.pdf

Could one of these species be the next lionfish? Three non-native tropical fish have reappeared off the southeast Florida coast, years after they had last been seen, according to a news release from the U.S. Geological Survey.

A yellow tang, a native of the northwest and central Pacific Ocean, was spotted off the coast of Pompano Beach this year, after previous sightings of Pompano, Delray Beach and Boca Raton. The panther grouper, a spotted fish with large wavy fins native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, appeared off West Palm Beach. And the spotted scat, also native to the Indian and Pacific oceans

Read the full article http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/blogs/green-south-florida/sfl-tropical-fish-from-the-pacific-show-up-off-south-florida-coast-20111130,0,3640536.story