NOAA press release: November 30, 2012 In compliance with a federal court ordered deadline, and consistent with existing international protections, NOAA Fisheries announced today that it is proposing Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings for 66 coral species, including 59 in the Pacific and seven in the Caribbean. This science-based proposal is more limited than the […]
13 December 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk The Cook Islands has approved a shark sanctuary in its waters, making for the largest such sanctuary in the world. The South Pacific island chain declared a 1.9 million-sq-km sanctuary, contiguous with one established last week by neighbouring French Polynesia. That sees a ban on shark fishing and possession or sale […]
Science Daily Dec. 10, 2012 — Renewable energy could fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030 at costs comparable to today's electricity expenses, according to new research by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College. A well-designed combination of wind power, solar power and storage in batteries […]
Michael Zhang · Dec 08, 2012. http://www.petapixel.com/ The Pacific Trash Vortex, also known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” is an area the size of Texas in the Pacific ocean in which there’s 6 times the amount of plastic as there is natural plankton. Photographer Kim Preston wanted to draw attention to this growing problem, […]
November 13, 2012. http://www.redorbit.com/ ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Big fish that have grown up in marine reserves don’t seem to know enough to avoid fishers armed with spear guns waiting outside the reserve. The latest research by an Australian team working in the Philippines into the effects of marine reserves […]
By Pete Spotts, Staff writer / October 25, 2012. http://www.csmonitor.com/ Efforts to set aside conservation zones in the world’s oceans are picking up steam, putting countries on a path to reach an international goal of setting aside 10 percent of coastal and marine waters as marine-protected areas by 2020. That’s the assessment of a report prepared […]
New guide for lionfish control and management edited by James A. Morris Jr. is available at http://lionfish.gcfi.org/manual/ or click Invasive Lionfish: A Guide to Control and Management
By ClimateWire , Evan Lehmann and Christa Marshall. October 15, 2012 More than 120 Florida officials and scientists sent a letter to the campaigns of President Obama and Mitt Romney last week, urging the candidates to address sea-level rise in their final debate and during tours of the state. The action comes at a time […]
Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 October 2012 08.52 EDT Norway is to double carbon tax on its North Sea oil industry and set up a £1bn fund to help combat the damaging impacts of climate change in the developing world. In one of the most radical climate programmes yet by an oil-producing nation, […]
ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2012) — Coral reefs — ecosystems of incredible environmental and economic value — are showing evidence of significant degradation, but do not have to be doomed. We can make a difference. Once plentiful, coral reefs worldwide and locally have been ravaged by a number of stresses, including global threats like rising sea […]