ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2010) — Global fisheries, a vital source of food and revenue throughout the world, contribute between US$225-$240 billion per year to the worldwide economy, according to four new studies. Researchers also concluded that healthier fisheries could have prevented malnourishment in nearly 20 million people in poorer countries. Read the full article
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2010) — A report issued September 3 by key environmental and scientific federal agencies assesses the increasing prevalence of low-oxygen “dead zones” in U.S. coastal waters and outlines a series of research and policy steps that could help reverse the decades-long trendead. Read the full article
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2010) — Scientists have for the first time estimated the physical footprint of human activities on the deep seafloor of the North East Atlantic. The findings, published in the journal PLoS ONE, reveal that the area disturbed by bottom trawling commercial fishing fleets exceeds the combined physical footprint of other major human […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2010) — Leading international marine scientists are proposing radical changes in the governance of the world’s oceans to rescue them from overfishing, pollution and other human impacts. Read the full article
September 10, 2010 Scientists on a research vessel in the Gulf of Mexico are finding a substantial layer of oily sediment stretching for dozens of miles in all directions. Their discovery suggests that a lot of oil from the Deepwater Horizon didn’t simply evaporate or dissipate into the water — it has settled to the […]
(Reuters) – The world should safeguard coral reefs with networks of small no-fishing zones to confront threats such as climate change, and shift from favoring single, big protected areas, a U.N. study showed. Read the full article
ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2010) — The first genetic study to compare nuclear DNA of endangered Antillean manatees in Belize with Florida manatees confirmed their designation as separate subspecies. Belize’s manatees, however, were found to have extremely low genetic diversity, raising questions about their long-term genetic viability. Read the full article
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, September 7, 2010 (ENS) – In Louisiana alone, there have been 399 reports of health complaints related to exposure to pollutants from the BP oil spill, according to the latest weekly report from the Louisiana Office of Public Health, issued Saturday. Read the full article
ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2010) — A distinct decline in horseshoe crab numbers has occurred that parallels climate change associated with the end of the last Ice Age, according to a study that used genomics to assess historical trends in population sizes.
JUST 600 metres away from the Great Barrier Reef, the jewel in Australia’s crown, a less spectacular but more ancient reef has been discovered. Read the August 19, 2010 NewScientist article