Blog Archives

Residents of Hadaba in South Sinai’s Sharm El-Sheikh stood in front of cranes, bulldozers, and backhoes on 30 April, blocking them from resuming what they claim is the destruction of reefs on the Red Sea coastline. The cliff – which runs from Sharm El-Sheikh’s Aida and continues intermittently along the coastline until the Grand Azure Resort – is subject to collapse due to the discovery of cracks in nine sections of the cliff, activists say.

They allege that the governorate hired the Arab Contractors, an Egyptian construction and contracting company, to restore the cliff – but without public consultation or prior notification.

The community which gathered between 28-30 April to obstruct the construction say that the debris falling from heavy machinery will destroy the cliff’s re...

The ocean’s biggest challenge is a quiet menace. It is, like many other forms of pollution, caused by human activities. Its prevention is another challenge that will require major restructuring in lifestyle as well as governmental management. The problem: creating favor for one species over another. The cause: human waste.

“What are those red beards on the coral?” A diver asked when he got back aboard “Starfish Enterprise.” Captain Craig Smart dropped us on one of America’s most beautiful coral reefs situated a mile offshore of Delray Beach, Florida. It is a reef structure that runs parallel to the coast from about Miami to Jupiter. The reef is broken in places, more prolific in others and less defined the further north you go. The red beard is algae...

Shark data collected by citizen scientists may be as reliable as data collected using automated tools, according to results published April 23, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gabriel Vianna from The University of Western Australia and colleagues.

Shark populations are declining globally, and scientists lack data to estimate the conservation status of populations for many shark species. Citizen science may be a useful and cost-effective means to increase knowledge of shark populations on coral reefs, but scientists do not yet know enough about how data collected by untrained observers compares to results from traditional research methods.

To better understand the reliability of datasets collected by citizen science initiatives, researchers in this study compared reef shark s...

Coral reef fishes exposed to acid oceans lose their sense of smell – and their sense of caution – and are more likely to fall prey to natural enemies, according to new research in Nature Climate Change. The finding is based on observations of the behaviour of four species at a reef off the coasts of Papua New Guinea where natural carbon dioxide seeps out of the rock, and confirms a series of other such studies in the last year.

A cool volcanic discharge in the reef has served as a natural laboratory for years: water in the region reaches an average pH of 7.8. This standard measure of acidity is co-incidentally the level predicted for all the world’s oceans by 2100, as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. www...

High ocean temperatures off the West Australian coast are “unprecedented since at least 1795” and pose a significant threat to the state’s coral reefs, scientists say. Core samples taken from coral colonies around the Houtman-Abrolhos Islands, west of Geraldton, have provided scientists with records of ocean temperature and sea levels going back 215 years.

In the way that rings around a tree’s trunk can reveal its age, the rings that form on coral skeletons can reveal centuries’ worth of information about its marine environment.

The study, conducted by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) and others, shows that the period after 1980 “was very likely the warmest period with highest sea levels” off the WA coast since 1795, as far back as the coral records show.

Th...

The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that the Japanese government must halt its whaling programme in the Antarctic. It agreed with Australia, which brought the case in May 2010, that the programme was not for scientific research as claimed by Tokyo. Japan said it would abide by the decision but added it “regrets and is deeply disappointed by the decision”. Australia argued that the programme was commercial whaling in disguise. The court’s decision is considered legally binding. Japan had argued that the suit brought by Australia was an attempt to impose its cultural norms on Japan.

Science ‘myth’

Reading out the judgement on Monday, Presiding Judge Peter Tomka said the court had decided, by 12 votes to four, that Japan should withdraw all permits and licenses for wh...

UK-based Silvergate Media’s preschool adventure IP Octonauts has formed a partnership with Marine Conservation Society (MCS), one of the top charities for protecting UK seas, shores and wildlife. Kicking off this month, the initiative will see Octonauts featured in the MCS magazine, on MCS membership pack materials and across all MCS digital platforms.

An Octonauts presence will also complement a number of key MCS events in 2014 including M&S Big Beach Clean Up, the Beachwatch Big Weekend and the Ecover Blue Mile.

The new partnership further bolsters the Octonauts’ core message of exploring, rescuing and protecting and comes on the heels of its partnership with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in November 2013.

The Octonauts CGI series, which was just ...

Blue whales and dolphins spending summers off the coast of southern Chile will be shielded by a new marine protected area (MPA), the largest ever established in the South American nation. The Chilean government recently announced the approval for the Tic-Toc MPA, a 90,000 hectare reserve along the country’s southern coast. The MPA encompasses one of the most biodiverse areas of the Chilean coast, and its establishment will increase Chile’s protected sea surface by 100 percent.

The announcement of the MPA is the culmination of nearly 15 years of work, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which was involved in the effort to create the reserve.

According to the WWF, MPAs are beneficial to maintaining species biodiversity and providing refuge, protecting marine habitats from destructive fis...

They’re creatures of the sea that always look happy. But for these Beluga whales their lives are far from it. Every year in Nilmoguba, a small village on the north of Russia, near the Polar Circle, hundreds are rounded up to begin a sad journey into captivity from which only half survive.

A team of specialists are issued with licenses to catch the Beulgas there and then train them for a life entertaining humans. It takes around six months and – if they live – they will then be transferred to a circus or aquapark somewhere else in Russia where they are expected to perform.

• Hundreds are rounded up every year in Nilmoguba, a small village on the north of Russia
• A team of specialists are licensed to catch and train them for a life entertaining humans
• The whales are then sent to aquapark...

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has donated a $3 million (£1.8m) grant to the marine conservation charity Oceana, describing the plight of our oceans as “one of the most pressing sustainability crises”. The considerable sum – provided by the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation – will go towards efforts to promote sustainable fishing practices, protect vulnerable ocean habitats and threatened marine species such as sharks.

Oceana, the largest international advocacy group to work on behalf of the world’s oceans, also campaigns to stop pollution and lobbies for the uptake of renewable energy.

“The foundation and Leo’s support for campaigns like our efforts to ban the drift gillnets in California will help Oceana win more protections for countless sharks and other marine animals and for oc...