International

Male Deep-Sea Squid are Bisexual, Prefer Mating in Dark: Report

21 September 2011   International Business Times

A recent footage from remote-controlled submersibles reveals that rare deep-sea male squid of Pacific Ocean are bisexual and prefer to mate in the dark.     For complete article, please visit here.

Clothing Sheds Microplastics Into Sea

19 September 2011   Chemical & Engineering News

Washing a fleece jacket may add to the fog of microscopic plastic floating in the oceans, according to a new study. Researchers report that the majority of these plastic particles probably washed off synthetic fabrics.   For complete article, please visit here.

NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revise loggerhead sea turtle listing

16 September 2011   NOAA

NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule today changing the listing of loggerhead sea turtles under the Endangered Species Act from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments listed as either threatened or endangered.   For complete article, please visit here.

From gyre to laundry room: Method's sea trash recycling scheme

16 September 2011     Mother Nature Network: Matt Hickmann

Just in time for International Coastal Cleanup Day, Method announces a new recycled plastic laundry detergent bottle that will be partially composed of plastic waste collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.      For complete article, please visit here.

European Fisheries Commissioner, NOAA sign IUU agreement

8 September 2011     Fish Information and Services

European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki is currently visiting the US to strengthen co-operation between the US and the European Union (EU) on various sectors of maritime and fisheries policy.     For complete article, please visit here.

An Index for Ocean Health

15 August 2011     By Dylan Walsh, NYTimes Blog: Green

What is billed as the “Dow Jones of ocean health” is six months from release, and Ben Halpern is feeling the pressure. “We’re frantically wrapping up analyses,” Dr. Halpern, a research biologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said in a telephone interview. For complete article, please visit here.

10 million viruses in one drop of seawater

15 August 2011     George Foulsham, Futurity

Viruses fill the ocean and have a significant effect on ocean biology, according to a new study that reveals striking recurring patterns of marine virioplankton dynamics in the open sea.     For complete article, please visit here.

Hydrogen highway in the deep sea

10 August 2011     By Max Planck Gesellschaft , Eurek Alert  

Researchers discover hydrogen-powered symbiotic bacteria in deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels.     For complete article, please visit here. 

Scientists name world's most important marine conservation hotspots

1 August 2011     By Alok Jha, The Guardian

Study reveals 20 sites that are key to ensuring the survival of marine mammals.     For complete article please visit here.

Warnings: hagfish at 'high risk of extinction

1 August 2011    By Fish Information & Services

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN) estimates that 20 per cent of hagfish (sea slugs or sea lampreys) are at "high" risk of extinction.     For complete article, please visit here.

Ongoing Global Biodiversity Loss Unstoppable with Protected Areas Alone: Study

28 July 2011   United Nations University   Science Newsline Nature

Continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as "protected areas" is insufficient to stem global biodiversity loss, according to a comprehensive assessment published today in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.     For complete article, please visit here.

Scientists look at drilling sea floor to study "silent" quakes

29 July 2011     The Philippine Star

Scientists from around the world will gather on the east coast of New Zealand next week to discuss proposals to study "silent" earthquakes by drilling into the seabed.     For complete article, please visit here.

Ancient sea level rise studied

28 July 2011     United Press International

Sea levels were higher during Earth's last prolonged warming than they are now, with much of the water coming from Antarctica, a U.S. scientist says. "The implication of our results is that West Antarctica likely was much smaller than it is today," and responsible for much more of the sea level rise than many scientists have thought, he said. "If West Antarctica collapsed, that means it's more unstable than we expected, which is quite scary."     For complete article, please visit here.

South Africa to join global marine science research effort

19 July 2011     By Tamar Kahn, Business Day

SA is set to join a global network of marine scientists sharing resources to learn more about the migration patterns of fish and other ocean inhabitants.  For complete article, please visit here.

Loss of Large Predators Has Caused Widespread Disruption of Ecosystems

14 July 2011    Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The decline of large predators and other "apex consumers" at the top of the food chain has disrupted ecosystems all over the planet, according to a review of recent findings conducted by an international team of scientists and published in the July 15 issue of Science. For complete article, please visit here.

Whitehouse Highlights Threats to the Health of our Oceans

13 July 2011   

In Senate Speech, Whitehouse Discusses International Programme on the State of the Ocean Report.     For full speech, please visit here.

New study shows ocean's carbon catching ability under threat

12 July 2011   European Commission Cordis

The ocean is Earth's biggest tool in managing emissions, soaking up nearly one third of all human carbon emissions. But how long can the planet's largest carbon absorber keep this up for? Now, a team of international EU-funded researchers has analysed how climate change is affecting the ocean's capacity to guzzle up carbon emissions.     For the complete article, please visit here.

New federal policy aims to expand US fish farming

11 July 2011   By Rick Callahan, Associated Press

The federal government is moving to open up large swaths of coastal waters to fish farming for the first time in an effort to decrease Americans' dependence on imports and satisfy their growing appetite for seafood.     For complete article, please visit here.

Jellyfish Invasions Force Shutdowns at 3 Separate Nuclear Plants

7 July 2011   By Natalie Wolchover, MSNBC

A nuclear power plant on the coast of Israel was forced to shut down this week when its seawater cooling system became clogged with jellyfish. A similar incident temporarily disabled two nuclear reactors at the Torness power station on the Scottish coast last week. A week before, a reactor in Shimane, Japan was crippled by yet another jellyfish infiltration.

Amid speculation that warm waters and ocean acidification — both driven by climate change — are boosting jellyfish populations, are these three incidents signs of a growing trend?     For complete article, please visit here.

Open call for Go Blue Award nominations recognizing leaders in ocean conservation

1 July 2011   By Brittnany Miller, TCPalm

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) is now accepting nominations for the 2011 Go Blue Awards, which are given annually to three individuals and a business that are making extraordinary contributions to promoting marine conservation. Nominations can be made through Aug. 15. A downloadable application is available at marinelife.org/bluefriends.     For complete article. please visit here.

Sharks Caught in the Jaws of Tuna Fisheries

30 June 2011   PRNewswire-USNewswire

Governments will soon have a chance to help conserve populations of oceanic whitetip sharks, which have declined so much in the eastern Pacific that catch numbers have been reduced to almost zero.

Next week, governments will gather in La Jolla, California for the annual meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), a regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) responsible for managing tuna fisheries across an area totaling approximately 68 million square kilometers (26 million square miles).

For complete article, please visit here.

Warming oceans cause largest movement of marine species in two million years

29 July 2011   By Richard Gray, The Telegraph (UK)

Warming ocean waters are causing the largest movement of marine species seen on Earth in more than two million years, according to scientists.

For complete article, please visit here.

Killer Whales' Ears Inspire New Undersea Microphones

28 June 2011   By Charles Q. Choi, TechNewsDaily Contributor, Live Science

By copying the ears of killer whales, scientists have designed underwater microphones that could one day help track migrating whales, guide robots toward leaking undersea oil wells and monitor exotic cosmic particles plunging into the ocean.

For complete article, please visit here.

Iceland-Hong Kong trade deal on aphrodisiac sea cucumbers

28 June 2011   Ice News

The EFTA and Hong Kong have signed a free-trade agreement, which will effectively allow Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to use Hong Kong as a de-facto home market when exporting to other parts of Asia.

For complete article, visit here.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation and other climate patterns play a major role in 2010; 2010 one of the two warmest years on record

27 JUNE 2011   National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Worldwide, 2010 was one of the two warmest years on record according to the State of the Climate which NOAA released today. The peer-reviewed report, issued in coordination with the American Meteorological Society, was compiled by 368 scientists from 45 countries. It provides a detailed, yearly update on global climate indicators, notable climate events and other climate information from every continent.

This year’s report tracks 41 climate indicators ― four more than last year ― including temperature of the lower and upper atmosphere, precipitation, greenhouse gases, humidity, cloud cover, ocean temperature and salinity, sea ice, glaciers, and snow cover. Each indicator includes thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets that allow scientists to identify overall trends.

For complete article and copy of report, please visit here.

Pacific species migrating through warmer Northwest Passage

28 June 2011   By Tristin Hopper, National Post

Set loose by an ice-free Northwest Passage, an invasion force of Pacific sea creatures are moving east to Atlantic waters.

Researchers at the U.K.-based Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science have called the discovery of a microscopic west coast plant on the east coast a “harbinger of an inundation of the North Atlantic with foreign organisms.”

“The Arctic is getting easier to navigate … organisms that don’t even swim are getting through,” says Eric Solomon, director of conservation strategy at the Vancouver Aquarium.

This week, British researchers announced that the plant, extinct along the East Coast for more than 800,000 years, has begun to reappear there after migrating through the Arctic Ocean. It marks the first time an organism has completed a trans-Arctic crossing in modern times without a set of fins.

For complete article, please visit here.

Multiple ocean stresses threaten "globally significant" marine extinction

21 June 2011  International Programme on the State of the Oceans

A high-level international workshop convened by IPSO met at the University of Oxford earlier this year. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing.

The 3 day workshop, co-sponsored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at the latest science across different disciplines.

The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats — and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.

In Brief: Most, if not all, of the five global mass extinctions in Earth's history carry the fingerprints of the main symptoms of global carbon perturbations (global warming, ocean acidification and anoxia or lack of oxygen; e.g. Veron, 2008).

It is these three factors — the 'deadly trio' — which are present in the ocean today. In fact, the current carbon perturbation is unprecedented in the Earth's history because of the high rate and speed of change. Acidification is occurring faster than in the past 55 million years, and with the added man-made stressors of overfishing and pollution, undermining ocean resilience.

For complete article, please visit here.

Microbes change the chemistry of deep ocean vents

21 June 2011 By Scott Johnson, Ars Technica

Hydrothermal vents on the sea floor have been full of surprises, starting with their unexpected discovery in the late 1970s. Entire communities thrive in the complete absence of sunlight, extracting energy from the unique chemistry of the vents. We’ve also learned that hydrothermal vents play an important role in marine chemical cycles. At times in the past, changes in hydrothermal circulation have even switched the dominant form of carbonate precipitate in the ocean from calcite to a form higher in magnesium called aragonite.

Most of the focus thus far has been on the high-temperature (up to 320°C), focused vents of television documentary fame. But recent research is showing that lower-temperature (10-80°C) sites where discharge is more diffuse are just as interesting, and have a few surprises of their own.

Research at hydrothermal vents has long been limited by the difficulty of obtaining water samples and the constraints of analysis that typically has to be performed in a lab far removed from the sea floor. A team of researchers operating from a submersible has deployed new devices that can measure chemistry and flow rate in situ, and have been able to study the vents along the Juan de Fuca ridge off the coast of Washington in much greater detail.

For complete article, please visit here.