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The Baltic Sea: Spring Algae Blooms

Posted by ep-admin on Saturday, 24 July 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

Record summer temperatures, farm fertilizers and a lack of wind have created a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn. The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of Germany,...

Islands are 'natural nets' for plastic-choked seas

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

By Marcus Eriksen, Marcus Eriksen is an environmentalist and co-founder of the 5 Gyres Project. Here he gives his view on how to clear the oceans of plastic waste. I stood on the shore in Waveland, Mississippi, pointing to the streams where I caught catfish and blue crabs when I was a kid. My ste...

Oceans' fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 without fundamental restructuring of the fishing industry, UN experts said Monday. "If the various estimates we have received... come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are o...

Oceans' fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

Posted by davebishop on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 without fundamental restructuring of the fishing industry, UN experts said Monday. "If the various estimates we have received... come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are o...

Scientists Cruise Deep into Coral Ecosystems

Posted by ep-admin on Tuesday, 16 February 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

By Matthew Cimitile, Amanda Demopoulos, and Christina Kellogg Above: Some of the team members from the third 2009 DISCOVRE cruise. The science crew contains an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Kneeling (left to right): Mi...

Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Growth: Historical Perspectives from Core-Based Studies

Posted by GreenDog on Tuesday, 16 February 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

By Ryan P. Moyer November 2009 Coral reefs are uniquely complex ecosystems in that they are defined by the underlying geologic structures ("reefs") that are constructed primarily by calcifying organisms (mostly coral and algae). Coral-reef habit...

Suit Will Be Filed To Protect 83 Corals Threatened By Ocean Acidification

Posted by ep-admin on Sunday, 14 February 2010 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- The Center for has formally notified the National Marine Fisheries Service of its intent to sue the agency for its failure to respond to a petition seeking to protect 83 imperiled coral species under the Endangered Species Act. These corals, all of which occur in ...

A Nation of Trash

Posted by ep-admin on Wednesday, 21 October 2009 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

A NATION OF TRASH IN THE PACIFIC Scientists have recently discovered what they call a "plastic soup" of floating waste in the Pacific Ocean that is growing at an alarming rate, and currently covers an area twice the size of the continental United States. This massive, floating plastic garbage dump...

Scientist in the Pacific Gyre Study

Posted by davebishop on Monday, 31 August 2009 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

The Scripps research vessel (R/V) New Horizon left its San Diego homeport on Aug. 2 for the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, roughly a thousand miles off California's coast. With collaborators from Project Kaisei, the team is surveying plastic distribution and abundance, collecting samples for analysis in ...

Ocean & Climate Change Film Hits US TV Sept. 26: A Sea Change News

Posted by ep-admin on Sunday, 02 August 2009 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

So much great news to report about A Sea Change. In June, the film received the Grand Prize, Feature Documentary, at the FICA International Environmental Film Festival in Brazil. We are honored, and delighted that this story of a Norwegian-American is meaningful around the world and across the lang...

Critical protection sought for Australia’s big blue backyard

Posted by ep-admin on Friday, 27 February 2009 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

February 23, 2009 09:00 AM - WWF Perth, Australia - Nine out of 10 marine species found off Australia’s south-west coast are found nowhere else on earth but less than one per cent of this globally significant region is protected. A new report found a series of globally significant “hotspots” for m...

Salazar puts expanded offshore drilling on hold

Posted by plantitfilm on Tuesday, 10 February 2009 in Ocean/Seas/Coastlines

By Jim Tankersley Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration put the brakes on a push to expand oil and gas drilling off America's coasts Tuesday and promised to speed development of offshore wind farms. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he will extend public comments for six mon...