Blog Archives

Plastics are abundant in our oceans. Now scientists have found that corals — which already faces numerous threats and have declined on a staggering scale  — may be feeding on it not because it resembles prey, but because it actually tastes good to them.

Corals are living organisms. Coral reefs are collections of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of tiny creatures called polyps which attach themselves to a rock or the skeletons of dead corals. The beautiful colours you may be familiar with are caused by microscopic algae that live inside their tissue.

And while we may appreciate their beauty, corals are an important feature in our oceans, providing food and shelter for millions of marine creatures.

But there’s also something else in abundance in our waters: plastic...

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed a bill Wednesday that prohibits the sale of single-use plastic bags in 102 coastal villages and towns in a bid to stop the build-up of ocean plastic and to “[take] care of our marine ecosystems.”

An estimated eight million tons of plastic trash gets dumped into our oceans each year, literally choking marine life, harming ocean ecosystems and threatening the larger food chain.

Businesses found using and distributing plastic bags could face a US$300 fine, Telesur reported about the legislation.

In addition to banning plastic bags, the Chilean government plans to create 1.6 million square kilometers of marine conservation areas by 2018, AFP reported...

As Graham Edgar entered his third decade of field research, he gradually arrived at a realization: “There was never going to be enough financial support to examine the big questions about human impacts on marine life at a scale that would be relevant for management decision-making.”

So he enlisted divers.

Edgar, a professor at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in his 25th or so year of field research, organized 250 divers into the Reef Life Survey, a global network of volunteers trained to the standards necessary for conducting scientific surveys of ocean life.

A new study based largely on data collected by the Reef Life Survey speaks not only to the possible future of the ocean but to the possible future of marine research.

“Increasingly...

Sealife Scuba Diving Centre is located down at the pool area of the VidaMar Hotel. It welcomes anybody who is interested in discovering the wonder and beauty of Madeira underwater.

Direct access to 3 infinity pools and to the ocean takes away all the hassle of transporting equipment. We also have specially trained life guards that have experience in SCUBA Diving that improves safety of all divers that use our centre.

For those who are new to scuba diving, there are professionals there to guide you and teach you the basics by doing a try dive which consists of a short session in the pool before exploring the house reef, which is the underwater area in front of the hotel.

Our house reef also provides an exciting dive for the certified diver without the need to travel by boat...

As if the devastation in Texas wasn’t enough, Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath has also brought a real threat to the Gulf of Mexico. A massive freshwater plume has poured runoff into the Gulf, temporarily altering the surrounding water’s salinity – and threatening coral reefs.

Harvey dumped some 20 trillion gallons of rain on the Lone Star State, and that record rainfall had to go somewhere. That somewhere is the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists estimate an incredible 13 trillion gallons entered the Gulf in the days immediately following the storm.

The possible negative effects of that much freshwater entering the saltwater ecosystem became apparent on September 28...

During the period of global warming at the close of the last ice age, Earth’s sea level did not rise steadily but rather in sharp, punctuated bursts when the planet’s glaciers melted, researchers report.

The researchers found fossil evidence in drowned reefs offshore Texas that showed sea level rose in several bursts ranging in length from a few decades to one century.

“What these fossil reefs show is that the last time Earth warmed like it is today, sea level did not rise steadily,” says coauthor André Droxler, a marine geologist from Rice University. “Instead, sea level rose quite fast, paused, and then shot up again in another burst and so on.

“This has profound implications for the future study of sea-level rise,” he says.

Because scientists did not previously have speci...

In the first of two articles on the BBC’s natural history blockbuster sequel Blue Planet 2, Will Strauss details the filming techniques and camera technology used to capture elements of the world’s oceans that have never been seen before.

Back in 2001, the original The Blue Planet series took viewers to parts of the ocean that had never previously been shown on TV. Winning countless awards, it cemented the BBC Natural History Unit’s reputation for excellence in underwater filming.

Fast forward 16 years and the sequel achieves that same feat (and will doubtless win more awards), but it goes deeper still, using innovative technology to reveal more marine worlds and aquatic habits from the depths of Antarctica to the vibrancy of a Coral Reef.

“The ocean is the most exciting place for us...

A colony of more than 18,000 pairs of Adelie penguins in Antarctica suffered a catastrophic breeding season with just two chicks surviving, experts have said. The disaster for the colony in Terre Adelie in East Antarctica was down to unusually extensive sea ice late in the summer – despite low ice early in the season – which meant penguins had to travel further for food and the chicks starved.

In the wake of the “devastating” event, conservation group WWF is is calling for greater protection for the waters off East Antarctica to ensure penguins do not face added pressure of competition from fishing fleets for their main food source of krill.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), made up 25 member states and the EU, are meeting on Monday to consi...

A global conference to better protect marine life has raised more than $7 billion and won commitments to protect huge swathes of the Earth’s oceans. The European Union, which organized the Our Ocean conference in the Maltese capital of Valletta, its 28 member states and its EIB investment bank gave almost half those financial commitments, about $3.4 billion.

Representatives from businesses, almost 100 countries and others pushed the total up to the unprecedented level.

The conference focused on funding and leading projects as varied as combating plastics pollution to countering illegal fishing and looking at the effects of climate change.

The Our Ocean conference has accumulated some 8.7 billion euros ($10.2 billion) since it started in 2014 but the efforts in 2017 exceeded expectations.

The parks protect a combined area in the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Germany. The countries of Chile and Niue just made a huge splash in the world of ocean conservation. Niue, a tiny South Pacific island nation with a population of roughly 1,600, has turned 40 percent of its exclusive economic zone into a marine park, and Chile added two new marine parks where fishing and all other extractive activities are banned. Together, the three new parks protect some 290,000 square miles of ocean—an area more than twice the size of Germany.

Together, the three new parks protect some 290,000 square miles of ocean—an area more than twice the size of Germany.

The two countries will announce their new marine protected areas (MPAs) at the Our Ocean conference, which runs in Malta on T...