By David Fleshler. Sun Sentinel. Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011
They are whimsical symbols of the beach, appearing on key chains, murals, logos and postcards. They form inseparable, monogamous couples. And they are hauled from the sea in nets, ground into powder for traditional Chinese medicine and dried for sale in souvenir shops.
The world’s four dozen or so species of seahorse have had a rough time of the last few decades, as coastal development, international trade and commercial fishing took their toll. Read the full article
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
The Marshall Islands government has created the world’s largest shark sanctuary, covering nearly two million sq km (750,000 sq miles) of ocean.
The Pacific republic will ban trade in shark products and commercial shark fishing throughout its waters.
Tourism, including diving, is a staple of the Marshall Islands archipelago, which is home to just 68,000 people.
Sharks and their near relatives such as rays are seriously threatened by issues such as habitat loss and fishing.
by Underwatertimes.com News Service – September 22, 2011 16:32 EST
NEW YORK, New York — Leaders from eight countries launched an initiative today to prevent the extinction of sharks, symbolizing the latest development in the growing movement to safeguard the ocean’s top predator. Members of the coalition committed to a declaration supporting the development of sanctuaries that end commercial shark fishing in their national waters. Read the full article
by Underwatertimes.com News Service – September 14, 2011 21:43 EST
DURHAM, North Carolina — The number of sea turtles accidentally caught and killed in fishing gear in United States coastal waters has declined by an estimated 90 percent since 1990, according to a new study by researchers at Duke University Project GloBAL and Conservation International.
The report, published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, credits the dramatic drop to measures that have been put into place over the last 20 years to reduce bycatch in many fisheries, as well as to overall declines in U.S. fishing activity.
Read more: http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=57691001843
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers
CABO PULMO, Mexico — What’s happened at the Cabo Pulmo marine reserve off the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula is fishy — in a good way.
Once severely depleted of fish, the reef system off Cabo Pulmo now teems with marine life, thanks to fishing restrictions imposed more than 10 years ago.
But environmentalists are worried that that ecological advance will be lost if the Mexican government allows a $2 billion development plan to go ahead that would place a “new Cancun” less than three miles north of the Cabo Pulmo marine sanctuary.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/09/14/124121/in-mexicos-baja-worry-that-a-new.html#ixzz1Y26Q7zpo
Cabo Pulmo Marine Reserve from Gulf Program on Vimeo.
September 8, 2011
Contact: Martha Bademan, 850-487-0554
On Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) took final action on a series of proposed changes to its marine life (aquarium species) requirements. The amendments extend state conservation efforts governing the harvest of marine life into federal waters adjacent to state waters.
For octocorals, a group of soft corals like sea plumes and sea whips, the changes also create an annual quota and adopt the federal areas currently closed to harvest by the NOAA Fisheries Service. These conservation efforts take effect Oct. 31.
The federal fishery management councils are in the process of repealing federal regulations for octocorals in federal waters off Florida, which allows Florida to take over management of these species. At the request of the federal councils, Florida agreed to manage the octocoral fishery in both state and federal waters.
Specifically, the octocoral rule amendments extend existing state regulations into federal waters, establish an annual harvest quota and prohibit the use of power-assisted tools. The new rules continue to prohibit all harvest of octocorals in Atlantic federal waters north of Cape Canaveral and in the Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern adjacent to Florida state waters (Stetson-Miami Terrace and Pourtales Terrace). Finally, the rule clarifies that regulations for all marine life species apply in state and adjacent federal waters.
To see the Marine Life Rule Extension: Octocoral, go to MyFWC.com/Commission, select “Commission Meetings” and click on the link to the September meeting agenda.
- Sep 08, 2011 Global Campaign to End Illegal Fishing, Protecting the Deep Sea Contact: Shannon Pao, 202.540.6568
The deep sea, home to some of the world’s most unusual creatures, is teeming with biological diversity, most of which has yet to be scientifically-documented. But in spite of the wonders that exist far below the surface, the deep sea is being destroyed.
While threats to this fragile marine habitat are not new, the blatant failure of high-seas fishing countries to safeguard deep-sea ecosystems can no longer be ignored.
A new report, Unfinished Business: A Review of the Implementation of the Provisions of UNGA Resolutions 61/105 and 64/72 (PDF), reveals that many high-seas fishing countries and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) have failed to implement measures to protect the deep sea. This comes five years after the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) passed the first of several resolutions outlining how vulnerable deep-sea biodiversity should be safeguarded. The study by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition also highlights how bottom fishing in the deep sea continues with few or no constraints.
By KEVIN WADLOW
Florida Keys Keynoter – Saturday, September 03, 2011 10:45 AM
Anglers can catch more sea trout but need to kill fewer sharks, state fishery managers will recommend at this week’s Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Naples.
The state regulatory board also begins reviewing a budget for the next fiscal year that proposes to institute a 10 percent cut ordered by the Florida Legislature.
Possible cuts include the possible elimination of 130 agency law-enforcement officers statewide to save about $7 million, and cutting the lobster and crab trap-retrieval program by $128,400.
Overall, FWC administrators outlined $18.1 million in potential cuts to the agency that manages, regulates and enforces rules for fishing and hunting. Read the full article
The proposed amendment (SJR 90), filed Tuesday by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, matches a House version (HJR 23) filed earlier this year by Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg. It would ask voters to put into the Constitution a ban on exploration, drilling, extraction or production of oil in Florida waters.
“There are people still suffering from the big spill,” Joyner said Wednesday. “Do you want to expose Florida to the possibility of another spill – but closer to our shore? I just can’t believe people want to bring it that close, after seeing what happens when it’s farther out.
“To open up our shoreline to the possibility of oil is ludicrous,” Joyner said. Read the full article
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 August 2011 22.00 BST
Latest bid to count and catalogue the living world is billed as the most accurate yet, but only a tiny proportion is known to science
Humans share the planet with as many as 8.7 million different forms of life, according to what is being billed as the most accurate estimate yet of life on Earth.
Researchers who have analysed the hierarchical categorisation of life on Earth to estimate how many undiscovered species exist say the diversity of life is not equally divided between land and ocean. Three-quarters of the 8.7m species – the majority of which are insects – are on land; only one-quarter, 2.2m, are in the deep, even though 70% of the Earth’s surface is water. Read the full article
