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Marine life activists are thrilled to hear that Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, the world

Lemon sharks have the ability to learn from each other’s behaviour, scientists have found.

The team compared the performance of inexperienced juvenile sharks working with both trained and untrained partners.

The results showed that sharks working with trained partners could complete tasks more quickly and successfully.

The study is thought to be the first to demonstrate social learning in any cartilaginous fish.

“I think it’s a really cool finding,” said lead author Dr Tristan Guttridge, director of the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas, whose paper was published in the Journal of Animal Cognition.

The results are a significant breakthrough, according to Dr Guttridge.

“It’s a pretty exciting finding that these little lemon sharks are able to pick up social cues from each othe...

Plans for a marine reserve in the Ross Sea could be in jeopardy after New Zealand pulled out of a joint proposal with the United States, environment coalition Antarctic Ocean Alliance New Zealand (AOA) says.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully today announced New Zealand would submit its own proposal for the Marine Protection Area (MPA) in the Ross Sea region.

The submission would enable the toothfish fishery to continue in the areas outside New Zealand’s proposed MPA.

It will be handed to the Commission for the Conservation of Antartica Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) tomorrow.

But AOA coordinator Geoff Keey said New Zealand’s proposal was “weak” as it was designed to have zero impact on the fishing industry.

“The US one was more conservation focused,” he said.

The United States had ...

Reef-building coral communities in the Great Barrier Reef –the world’s largest coral reef– may now be calcifying at only about half the rate that they did during the 1970s, although live coral cover may not have changed over the past 40 years, a new study finds.

In recent decades, coral reefs around the world, home to large numbers of fish and other marine species, have been threatened by human activities such as pollution, overfishing, global warming, and ocean acidification. This last process affects ambient water chemistry and availability of calcium ions, which are critical for coral communities to calcify, build, and maintain reefs.

Comparing data from reef surveys during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with present-day (2009) measurements of calcification rates in One Tree Island, a coral...

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake has struck off the eastern Philippine island of Samar, causing tsunami evacuations and power cuts.

The regional tsunami warnings have now been lifted.

The earthquake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) at 20:47 local time (12:47 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was said to be long and violent, with some roads and bridges reported to be damaged.

One woman was reported to have been killed and a young child injured when a house collapsed in Cagayan de Oro city, on the main southern island of Mindanao, officials said.

‘Shaking violently’

Tsunami warnings were initially issued for Indonesia, the Philippines, Palau, Taiwan, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Yap, but they have all now been lifted.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning...

The pilot project to conserve coral reefs at Mentagor Island, near Pangkor, continues to show positive signs of growth.

Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) communication officer Aaron Tam said the coral nubbins were still alive and were in good condition.

The Arctic has lost more sea ice this year than at any time since satellite records began in 1979, Nasa says.

Scientists involved in the calculations say it is part of a fundamental change.

What is more, sea ice normally reaches its low point in September so it is thought likely that this year’s melt will continue to grow.

Nasa says the extent of sea ice was 1.58m sq miles (4.1m sq km) compared with a previous low of 1.61m sq miles (4.17m sq km) on 18 September 2007.

The sea ice cap grows during the cold Arctic winters and shrinks when temperatures climb again, but over the last three decades, satellites have observed a 13% decline per decade in the summertime minimum.

The thickness of the sea ice is also declining, so overall the ice volume has fallen far – although estimates vary about ...

The proposal, in a paper published today, also includes using low-voltage electrical currents to stimulate coral growth and defend against the worsening impact of heat stress.

The paper, in the journal Nature Climate Change, says the pace of global warming is unparalleled in 300 million years and has led to temperature rises of at least 2 degrees Celsius and a 60-per-cent increase in surface ocean acidity over the past three centuries.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of Queensland University, Australia, writing with Greg Rau from the University of California and Elizabeth McLeod from The Nature Conservancy, calls for “unconventional, non-passive methods to conserve marine ecosystems”.

“A much broader approach to marine management and mitigation options, including shade cloth, electrical curre...

Scottish scientists are developing a swarm of intelligent robots to save coral reefs.

A team of

A surfing robot is being used to track great white sharks off the coast of California, US, by marine scientists.

The mobile transmitter is the latest addition to an extensive programme of electronic tagging.

Researchers aim to fine-tune 12 years of results with the self-propelled craft and raise public awareness of the area’s diverse wildlife.

Shark fans are able to follow the animals’ movements via a free app for smartphones and tablet computers.

The project is led by shark expert Professor Barbara Block from Stanford University, who describes the area off the coast of San Francisco as the “blue Serengeti”, comparing its underwater highways to the migratory routes in Africa.

Her latest project follows on from a 10-year programme dedicated to tracking predators in the Pacific Ocean using ...