Blog Archives

Did you know coral reefs pump more than $3.4 billion into the U.S. economy each year? And that’s a conservative estimate! Healthy coral reef ecosystems do everything from supporting millions of jobs to protecting lives and coastal infrastructure. Despite all they do for us, our coral reef ecosystems are threatened. Climate change, pollution from the land, and harmful fishing practices top the list of threats. Fortunately, it’s not too late to protect these resources. Watch our fast-draw video to learn more.

The 5 Gyres Institute’s pilot program takes high school students on ocean expeditions to show them how to collect and analyze plastic trash – with the goal of inspiring careers as scientists, policymakers and advocates.

On a bright, clear morning last week, the water was calm and flat at the Newport Beach marina in Southern California. It was the perfect day for seeing marine life in the Pacific Ocean – and for collecting plastic, according to Marcus Eriksen, cofounder and research director of the 5 Gyres Institute, a Los Angeles-based ocean conservation nonprofit.

As Eriksen stood on the top deck of the Newport Legacy, a whale watching boat, 50 students and a few teachers from Animo Venice Charter High School climbed on board the lower deck...

As residents of Florida continue to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Irma, scientists analyzing the hurricane’s stronger-than-usual storm surges are pointing the finger at the weakened state of coral barriers along the Florida coast. Had there been a more robust coral reef structure in the Caribbean and along the Florida Reef Tract, the severity of Irma’s coastal flooding and wave run-up could have been greatly diminished. According to one 2014 analysis conducted by researchers from Stanford, the US Geological Survey, and the University of Bologna, coral reefs can take 97% of the energy out of incoming waves.

None of this is surprising...

New reports from UN Environment will help environmental planners, conservationists, and policy makers make decisions about managing and protecting coral reefs, which are increasingly under threat in many parts of the world. Important for fishing, tourism, and biodiversity, they are being harmed by pollution as well as climate change, in particular coral bleaching caused by increasing temperature. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but bleaching often causes widespread coral death, according to the agency.

UN Environment and partners, including Small Island Developing States, recognize the need for urgent action to protect coral reefs and enhance their resilience, and the agency reports a new approach laid out in “Coral Bleaching Futures” gives a much more detailed picture of vulnerabili...

The giant berg A-68 looks finally to be on the move. Recent weeks have seen it shuffle back and forth next to the Antarctic ice shelf from which it broke away. But the latest satellite imagery now indicates the near-6,000 sq km block is swinging out into the Weddell Sea.

A wide stretch of clear water has opened up between the berg’s southern end and the remaining Larsen shelf structure, suggesting A-68 is set to swing around and head north.

This is the direction the Weddell currents should take the iceberg.

Polar experts expect the trillion-tonne block to essentially bump along the shelf edge until it reaches the great eastward movement of ocean water known as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

This would then export what is one of the largest bergs ever recorded out into the South Atlan...

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is slowly diminishing to death. The coral reef is constantly being attacked by the crown-of-thorns starfish, one of the biggest natural threats to coral reefs. Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) has an incredible appetite and can damage coral reefs to the point of extinction. These starfish, Acanthaster planci, feed on live corals only. This animal has several biological attributes that contribute to its ability to undergo massive population fluctuations through time.

Mike Hall, Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, explained how the rarity of the giant triton sea snail may be one reason why the crown-of-thorns is now such a threat to the survival of the Great Barrier Reef.

The scientists from University of the Sunshine Coa...

Octopus gardens get all the attention from songwriters, but maybe it’s time someone wrote a ditty about parrotfish algae farms. According to new research, the fascinating fish—also responsible for pooping out Hawaii’s white-sand beaches—actually “farms” its food in coral reefs.

A pair of research papers have stated that some species of parrotfish, colorful creatures with fused teeth that form a bird-like beak, revisit the same feeding spots at regular intervals, according to a story on Futurity. Like farmers on land, they seem to spread out their feedings in such a way that new crops of algae can grow in their favored spots, and even go so far as to defend the spots from other sea creatures that might try to steal a crop before its harvest time.

The studies also took note of t...

As we begin to piece together the damage from Hurricane Irma in Florida, scientists are pointing to an environmental factor that may have made the storm’s impact worse: the ongoing loss of coral on the state’s increasingly threatened barrier reef.

At 360 miles long, the Florida Reef Tract is the third-largest barrier reef in the world, stretching from the Florida Keys up to Martin County. But as The Washington Post reported just a few months ago, the reef is in big trouble — scientists estimate that less than 10 percent of it is covered with living coral, the result of a long history of damage that, most recently, includes warming waters and back-to-back bleaching events in recent years.

Now, scientists say these losses may have weakened the reef’s storm buffer.

Research demo...

Every family has an overachiever. For fish, that title goes to manta rays. They’re giant, charismatic and basically geniuses. Mantas have huge brains — the biggest of any fish — with especially developed areas for learning, problem solving and communicating. The giant rays are playful, curious and might even recognize themselves in mirrors, a sign of self-awareness.

“In the water with these guys, you get the sense there’s a lot more going on in there than your average fish,” said ecologist Josh Stewart, associate director of the conservation charity Manta Trust. “Mantas will go out of their way to come interact. They’re much more like a mammal.”

Ahead in school

A manta’s brain can be ten times larger than a whale shark’s...

Marine biologist Ruth Gates sat down in an oversized wooden rocking chair at an oceanside resort here last week to talk about the next frontier in coral science and a new hope for saving coral reefs reeling from climate change: genetic technology.

“There are hundreds of species of coral, all with complex biologies and physiological traits that vary based on their DNA and environment,” Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said while seated on a sprawling lanai overlooking acres of coral reefs awash in turquoise waters.

“Using genetic technology to identify corals resilient to environmental stressors may allow us to save corals – which are some of the most threatened organisms on Earth,” added Gates, a leading coral scientist who was featured in the new docume...