Blog Archives

Tanzanian authorities are in the process of enacting laws that will mete out heavy penalties for fishermen engaged in dynamite fishing which is now rampant in the east African nation, an official said on Friday. Fatma Sobo, the Assistant Director of Fisheries Resource Development, said dynamite fishing in Tanzania’s Indian Ocean Coastal line was out of control.

“Controlling dynamite fishing is difficult because of the involvement of politicians,” Sobo told a two-day workshop for key actors in the marine fisheries sector in Tanzania gathered to identify challenges facing the tuna fishery sub-sector and seek common solutions.

She said the government has formed a task force with members the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), the Ministry of Home Affairs and the government’s environme...

Life is tough if you’re a blundering, buck toothed, bumphead.

You’re far, far bigger than all the rest of the parrotfish in the Pacific. And weighing up to 45kg, you’re very popular at local birthdays and weddings. As the main course. So you console yourself with another chunk of crunchy coral reef! Tasty!

Ramming speed

These hapless hermaphrodites highlight a critical question in conservation. What do you do when an endangered species does things that are bad for the environment?

“They feed directly on these corals,” said Dr Douglas McCauley from the University of California in Santa Barbara who has studied and written about bumpheads extensively.

“They are big enough to ram into them, break off a piece and process this living rock...

The Great Barrier Reef is in the worst state it’s been in since records began and it will be ‘pretty ugly’ within 40 years, Australian scientists say. Experts claim the world’s largest reef is facing threats from coastal development, such as a massive port-related dredging project at Abbot Point, the most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia, situated 25 kilometres north of Bowen, Queensland. Farm run-off and poor water quality are also endangering the reef, scientists say.

A Senate committee is investigating how the Australian and Queensland governments have managed the reef, ahead of a UNESCO decision next year about whether to list it as a World Heritage site in danger.

The Australian Coral Reef Society – the oldest organisation in the world that studies reefs – says coral cover...

Local and international marine experts are joining forces in the ocean around Little Cayman on an important conservation project to try and understand and then save endangered local coral species. The plight of the now critically endangered staghorn coral, which was once one of the most abundant corals on Caribbean reefs, is at the top of the agenda. A mysterious die-off starting in the 1980s resulted in a loss of almost 90% of the population.

As a result both staghorn and elkhorn coral, in the genus Acropora, are listed as criticalely Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species...

For about a decade scientists from around the world have been studying the crucial role large whales play in the health of marine eco systems. They discovered whale faeces and rotting carcasses can return stability to the world’s oceans by keeping plants and marine life fed.

As the plants absorb the liquid faeces and grow, they absorb more carbon turning the oceans into large carbon sinks.

Professor Stephen Nicol from the University of Tasmania is one of ten scientists involved in the new report conducted by the University of Vermont in the USA.

He says the whale poo theory had been around for a long time but people didn’t know what to do about it.

“A group of us in Hobart looked at how much iron there was in whale poo...

earthdive is testing a new iphone app for scuba divers everywhere. The new app is still in development stages but is now ready to receive observational data from divers and snorkellers. earthdive is asking divers to download the free app and help us test it by submitting dive data.

earthdive is a revolutionary concept in citizen science and a global research project for millions of recreational scuba divers, snorkellers and others who can help preserve the health and diversity of our oceans. earthdive along with marine scientists all over the world, have discovered that key indicator species in particular marine eco-regions can tell us a lot about the changing state of the world’s oceans.

At the heart of this unique research project is the earthdive Global Dive Log created and developed...

Colorful parrotfish and spindly sea urchins are the key to saving the Caribbean’s coral reefs, which may disappear in two decades if no action is taken, a report by several international organizations said Wednesday. The report, which analyzed the work of 90 experts over three years, said Caribbean reefs have declined by more than 50 percent since the 1970s. It said that while many experts have blamed climate change for the problem, a drop in the populations of parrotfish and sea urchins is largely responsible.

Parrotfish and sea urchins feed off seaweed, and a drop in their numbers has led to an increase in seaweed, which smothers coral reefs, Jeremy Jackson, lead author of the report, said.

“The situation is truly horrific in the sense that you have all these places that are despera...

Most Caribbean coral reefs will disappear within the next 20 years, primarily due to the decline of grazers such as sea urchins and parrotfish, a new report has warned. A comprehensive analysis by 90 experts of more than 35,000 surveys conducted at nearly 100 Caribbean locations since 1970 shows that the region’s corals have declined by more than 50%. But restoring key fish populations and improving protection from overfishing and pollution could help the reefs recover and make them more resilient to the impacts of climate change, according to the study from the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the United Nations Environment Programme.

While climate change and the resulting ocean acidification and coral bleaching does pose a...

In its mission to outdo itself with its unique attractions, Dubai is opening a new theme park that will be completely under water. The city that is home to the largest building and largest hotel in the world will soon capitalize on the popularity of scuba-diving and snorkeling by opening the largest underwater tourism site in the world. The new theme park will be called Pearl of Dubai, the Daily Mail reports.

The five acre theme park will be location in the shallow waters off The World Islands and has been designed to look like an ancient lost city like Atlantis. It had been designed by teams that were involved in the Hollywood hits “Avatar” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

The park will be open to guests of all ages and will give them an opportunity to explore stunning underwater scen...

Climate change is impacting the world’s coral reefs, threatening the stability of both the oceanic eco-systems where they are found as well as nearby coasts. Now, a recent discovery by Israeli researchers may help pinpoint a way to help protect the massive underwater structures as waters grow warmer and more acidic in the years to come.

“We know the value of reefs, the massive calcium carbonate constructions that act as wave breakers, and protect against floods, erosion, hurricanes, and typhoons,” Yehuda Benayahu, the Israel Cohen Chair in Environmental Zoology at Tel Aviv University, said. “While alive, they provide habitats for thousands of living organisms, from sea urchins to clams, algae to fish. Reefs are also economically important in regions like Eilat or the Caribbean.”