Blog Archives

Its reputation as a romantic island paradise is legendary, but Hawaii is facing an embarrassing problem with its sewage which could cost around $1.75 billion to fix. Surfers and snorkellers have fallen victim to skin infections and the state’s drinking water, its coral reefs and famous beaches are all under threat because of a cesspool crisis.

Cesspools are holes in the ground where untreated human waste is deposited and this waste is entering the drinking water in part of the state — pushing nitrate levels close to the legal limit.

According to the state health department, the state now has 88,000 cesspools across its eight major islands, more than any other state in the US.

As the state’s politicians scramble to find a solution, the report states that the cost of replacing each cess...

The Queen is cracking down on plastic, with palace staff told to ditch straws, eat from china plates and drink from glass bottles. Environmentally friendly strategies have been put in place at Buckingham Palace as a spokesman told of a ‘strong desire’ to tackle the issue of plastic in royal residences. Plastic bottles will no longer be seen in staff canteens or meeting rooms, and plastic straws will also be phased out at public cafes.

Packaging for takeaway food must now be compostable or biodegradable, and cardboard boxes used to shift materials between sites will be re-used many times to avoid waste.

The Queen is thought to have taken a personal interest in plastic since working on a documentary about wildlife conservation with Sir David Attenborough.

The pair, both 91, were pictur...

Citizen science has become something of a buzzword, but it’s nothing new. Before science became professionalised in the 19th century, amateur naturalists were collecting information and helping us understand the natural world. And it wasn’t just country vicars; Mary Anning, the daughter of a poor cabinet-maker, spent decades discovering fossils in the cliffs at Lyme Regis, in Dorset, and advancing human understanding of prehistoric life.

In the UK the RSPB has more than a million members, and a 2009 study found that nearly 50% of UK households feed wild birds. The National Trust has more than 5 million members, and 60,000 active volunteers helping to protect the countryside as well as historic properties...

When coral reefs come in contact with plastic trash in the ocean, their risk of becoming diseased skyrockets, said an international study. Researchers examined 1,20,000 corals on 159 reefs from Indonesia, Australia, Myanmar and Thailand for the study in journal science we found the chance of disease increased from 4% to 89% when corals were in contact with plastic.

Scientists are still trying to figure out why plastics are so dangerous for coral, which cover about 0.2% of ocean floor but provide habitat for million species of young fish.

A scientist sent sound waves into the waters of Cabo Pulmo National Park in Mexico, single-handedly surveying the entire 27-square-mile (71 square km) marine reserve twice in just eight days. By shooting sound through the water column in horizontal transects and analyzing how the sound waves behaved, the researcher gathered data that he and his colleagues later used to calculate an estimate of how many fish were swimming in the preserve off the tip of Baja California – and their size.

By doing the same thing in the ocean outside the reserve, the researchers determined that the density of fish was nearly 300 percent higher inside Cabo Pulmo. The fish were also 52 percent larger.

This new application of hydroacoustic technology could lead to much cheaper ways of keeping tabs on ocean lif...

Last year wasn’t just one of the hottest years on Earth’s surface, as it was the hottest year on record for the global ocean, according to a new study from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP)/Chinese Academy of Science.

Researchers Lijing Cheng and Jiang Zhu found that the top 2,000 meters of ocean waters are hotter than ever recorded, at 19.19 × 10^22 J. Heat energy is measured in Joules (J).

That’s quite the jump from 2015, the previous record-breaking year for ocean heat, which was recorded at 17.68 × 10^22 J.

“For comparison,” the study states, “total electricity generation in China in 2016 was 0.00216 × 10^22 J, which is 699 times smaller than the increase in ocean heat in 2017.”

Ocean heat in 2016 was cooler than both 2015 and 2017 due to a large El Ninõ...

Millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year. And the trash stays there: Whether it’s grocery bags or water bottles or kids’ toys, plastic is practically indestructible. Now marine scientists have discovered that it’s killing coral reefs.

A new study based on four years of diving on 159 reefs in the Pacific shows that reefs in four countries — Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar — are heavily contaminated with plastic. It clings to the coral, especially branching coral. And where it clings, it sickens or kills.

“The likelihood of disease increases from 4 percent to 89 percent when corals are in contact with plastic,” researchers report in the journal Science.

Senior author Drew Harvell at Cornell University says the plastic could be harming coral in at least...

President Donald Trump may be “terrified” of sharks — but, ironically, his wish that “all the sharks die” is inspiring people to give money to shark conservation groups, according to MarketWatch.

Several non-profits have recently received donations that specifically mention Trump as the reason for charity. And many are new donors, including several from outside of the US. For instance, one donation to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society came with the comment “Because Trump.” Another one said: “Contribution to save the Sharks after reading the article ‘Trump hopes sharks die,’” Zorianna Kit, media director for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, tells The Verge.

Trump’s alleged hatred for sharks was revealed last week, when In Touch Weekly released a full interview with...

I have been fortunate to work on fisheries science and policy across the globe, from my home in New England to the opposite end of the earth in Australia, from the rugged and rocky coast of Chile to the warm tranquil waters of Cuba, and beyond. Each place has a unique story of how lives, communities, and history are shaped by the sea. Recently, I’ve had the privilege of joining exciting efforts rising to reform fishery management in the People’s Republic of China.

China plays an outsized – and growing – role in world affairs.  This is certainly the case when it comes to the blue economy, in which China is the dominant actor in the global seafood supply chain, among the top five maritime shipping nations, and poised to see growth in ocean energy development, mining, and tourism.

Wi...

The battle to save the world’s coral reefs is at “make or break point”, and countries that host them have a special responsibility to take a leadership role by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, plastic pollution and impacts from agriculture, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has said.

Speaking to the Guardian after the launch of International Coral Reef Initiative’s international year of the reef, Erik Solheim said he expected governments to take their efforts on reef protection in 2018 beyond symbolic designation.

“We expect governments to step up to concrete actions,” Solheim said.

To kick off ​ that effort, Fiji’s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, has announced new protections ​for large portions of the Great Sea Reef, by nominating it a Ramsar si...