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Popular with whale watchers and divers, the Kerama Islands and surrounding waters in Okinawa Prefecture were designated a national park on March 5, the first such selection since Kushiro Marsh in Hokkaido in 1987. The designation of Japan’s 31st national park, straddling Zamami and Tokashiki villages, was announced in a government gazette.

The 30 islands and reefs of various sizes, lying 40 kilometers west of the prefectural capital, Naha, are well known as a breeding ground for whales. Many humpback whales migrate to the tropical waters near the Kerama Islands for mating between December and April every year.

The number of humpbacks confirmed in the waters rose from 26 in 1992 to 269 in 2012, thanks in part to efforts to protect the sea mammals by a whale watching association establish...

Three new marine reserves, covering 435,000 hectares of ocean, have been set up in the subantarctic today.

Conservation Minister Nick Smith said the reserves would be formally established in sea surrounding the Antipodes, Bounty and Campbell Islands from Perseverance Harbour, Campbell Island.

“The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands are one of the most pristine places on earth and these marine reserves are about keeping them that way,” he said.

“The marine reserve status that takes effect today means there can be no fishing, no mining, no petroleum exploration and no marine farming in these waters.”

The reserves will ensure the protection of an “incredible diversity of wildlife”, he said.

The islands and surrounding waters contain the most important breeding site in the world for albatross, s...

The rehabilitation of Indonesia’s coral reefs will receive more than US$62 million of additional funding from the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program – Coral Triangle Initiative project.

Washington DC – infoZine – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved US$47.38 million in financing for the project – the conclusion of a three-phase program which began in 1998. The Project is also supported by a US$10 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Government of Indonesia has pledged US$5.74 million for the 5-year project.

Almost two-thirds of Indonesia’s coral reefs are considered threatened from overfishing, and almost half are considered threatened specifically from destructive fishing practices...

Lying in a hot bath may be a pleasant experience, because you can always get out when you’ve had enough. For some of the fish that swim in equatorial seas, though, that is not an option: climate change threatens to make the water not just uncomfortable, but unendurable.

An international team of researchers based in Australia reports in Global Change Biology that the rapid pace of climate change is threatening the future of some of the fish which live near the Equator.

Over a 14-day period the team tested four species of damsel fish and two of cardinal fish. They say: “Our results indicate that low-latitude reef fish populations are living close to their thermal optima and may be more sensitive to ocean warming than higher-latitude populations.”

“Our studies found that one species ...

Coral reefs worldwide suffer damage due to pollution and overuse, but scientific research reveals another damaging factor: an ingredient in the sunscreen used by swimmers and sunbathers. National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science researchers and their partners have discovered that a sunscreen chemical commonly used in many soaps, cosmetics and body fragrances is highly toxic to corals. The team’s data show that even very low concentrations of benzophenone-2, or BP-2, can quickly kill juvenile corals.

BP-2 is an additive used in personal-care products since the 1960s to protect against the damaging effects of ultraviolet light.

The team also found that BP-2 causes colorful corals to bleach and can potentially induce or increase mutation in corals by causing damage to their DNA, the genetic...

A chemical found in many soaps, laundry detergents and cosmetics is killing young coral reefs at concentrations commonly found in the environment, according to a new study. Corals, which provide habitat for a rich array of fish and other marine life, are threatened worldwide. The new study is the first to find that benzophenone-2 (BP-2) is toxic to coral reefs, although it builds upon previous studies that reported that corals are harmed by other chemicals in wastewater and runoff.

Researchers exposed baby corals in a laboratory to different concentrations of BP-2, which is found in hundreds of personal care products. Increased BP-2 exposure caused increased rates of coral death, DNA damage and bleaching, which is when corals turn white, are stressed and more likely to die.

The levels of...

However, members of conservation group the Animal Rescue Team, who looked on from their vessel, said it took about 20 minutes for the animal to be released.

“It didn’t look good. By the time it was released it looked like it sunk to the bottom,” Animal Rescue Team spokeswoman Amy-Lea Wilkins said.

“We were a bit shocked actually...

Royal Dutch Shell has delayed plans to drill in Alaska’s Arctic waters as it slashes capital spending and awaits the repercussions of a recent appellate court ruling challenging the validity of the lease sale in the Chukchi Sea.

Shell, which issued earnings Thursday and said that it would be cutting global capital spending by about $9 billion, will not drill in Alaska during 2014, despite having made extensive preparations with upgraded rigs and support vessels.

Shell spokesman Curtis Smith blamed “uncertainty raised by the recent Ninth Circuit Court decision that requires the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to gather and synthesize additional data related to Chukchi Lease Sale 193...

Increasing forest protection in the right areas could increase benefits up to 10.4 percent to coral reef condition, according to a recent study of Fiji’s forests and reefs in Marine Policy. Benefits from protected forests such as improved water quality due to decreased runoff and increased distribution of the vegetation are more closely linked to coral reef health than previously thought.

Researchers from the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society modeled six different scenarios for improving Fiji’s coral reefs through the management of their forests...

Sea Shepherd Australia reports that in the early hours of yesterday morning the fisherman hired to perform what it calls Western Australian premier Colin Barnett’s dirty work of killing protected species, went out to check drum lines as part of the new shark cull program off the Western Australian Coast.

Jeff Hansen, managing director, Sea Shepherd Australia, says:

“As each drum line was checked, it was found to be empty, however on the last drum line the fisherman found a beautiful 3 metre plus female tiger shark. Its difficult to tell how much pain she would have been in for up to 12 hours with Barnett’s brutal hook through her mouth. She was then brought alongside the boat by the fisherman and shot four times in the head before she finally died...