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The severe loss of coral reefs that is expected to occur over the 21st century may be offset somewhat if corals are able to adapt to the heat stress caused by climate change, a new study suggests. The study has uncovered evidence that corals may already be adapting to temperature changes in the ocean. However, reductions in coral bleaching are only expected to continue if greenhouse gas emissions are significantly reduced. The study was published on October 28, 2013 in Global Change Biology.

Coral bleaching is a process whereby warm water temperatures trigger the release of symbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, living within the coral tissue. The algae supply the coral with valuable nutrients from photosynthesis...

Government ministers gave a dramatic demonstration of their commitment to shark conservation today, by releasing three of the marine animals into the ocean, and then ensuring they swam in the right direction into open water.

“It’s like herding cats,” Conservation Minister Nick Smith said as he waded into the bay on Wellington’s south coastline.

Dr Smith and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy were on the coast to announce details of the draft National Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks.

Banning shark finning was part of that proposal and it was welcomed by conservation groups, but the seafood industry said if the shark was already dead it made sense to harvest some of the carcass rather than throw it all back.

It is already an offence under the Animal Welfare Act t...

A team of researchers says it has identified a new species of humpback dolphin. Physical and genetic evidence suggests that cetaceans found in waters off northern Australia are distinct within the humpback family. This general group grows up to 2.4m in length and inhabits coastal waters from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The evidence for the distinct species in northern Australia is outlined in the academic journal Molecular Ecology.

“Based on the findings of our combined morphological and genetic analyses, we can suggest that the humpback dolphin genus includes at least four member species,” said co-author Martin Mendez, from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Latin America and the Caribbean programme.

Dr Mendez added: “This discovery helps our understanding of the evolutionary history...

It’s crunch time for a New Zealand-backed bid to create the world’s largest marine reserve in Antarctica. The annual meeting of the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources wraps up in Hobart today. Decisions on whether to designate two marine protected areas in the Ross Sea and the East Antarctic will be announced this evening.

The proposals need the consensus of all 25 members. Conservationists are urging negotiators to support two proposed sanctuaries as a lasting tribute to an observer who died in a diving accident during a break from the international talks.

Elyssa Rosen, 48, a US citizen, spent the last eight years of her life fighting to protect wilderness areas and the pristine waters of Antarctica.

An officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, she was amon...

Nearly three percent of the world’s oceans – an area slightly larger than Europe – now lies within designated marine protected areas, according to new data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This is a significant increase from 2010 when the area protected was just 1.2 per cent. However, many of the new protected zones may be of little value in terms of conservation.

The IUCN, which yesterday released the latest official map of marine protected areas (MPAs),defines a protected area as “a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values”...

British engineers have taken inspiration from dolphins for a new type of radar that could help detect roadside bombs more easily. The device sends out two pulses instead of one, mimicking how dolphins pinpoint their prey. The twin inverted pulse radar (TWIPR) can distinguish between the electronics at the heart of an explosive and other “clutter” such as pipes or nails. Experts said the system “showed promise”.

The radar device has been developed by a team led by Prof Tim Leighton, of the University of Southampton, and scientists from University College, London.

Strong signal

Prof Leighton took his inspiration from the way dolphins are able to process their sonar signals to pinpoint prey in bubbly water.

Some dolphins blow bubble nets around schools of fish to force them to cluster toge...

Social media has lit up with earthquake rumours after a giant oarfish washed up on a California beach – the second such discovery in several days. The 4.3m (14ft) dead snake-like fish was found in the city of Oceanside – five days after another and larger specimen (5.5m) had been found. Reports on social media recall an ancient Japanese myth linking extremely rare oarfish sightings to tremors.

But scientists remain sceptical of any link to increased tectonic activity. They remain puzzled, however, by the two discoveries of this rare deepwater fish near the beach. The larger specimen, found on Santa Catalina island, has now been dissected and it appears well-fed, healthy and with little sign of disease.

“It looks good enough to eat – if you have a 13ft pan,” biologist Ruff Zetter said.

Much attention has been focused on the effects of climate change on forests, farms, freshwater sources and the economy. But what about the ocean? Even with its vast capacity to absorb heat and carbon dioxide, the physical impacts of climate change on the ocean are now clear — and dramatic.

As early as 1990, coral reef expert Tom Goreau and I pointed out that mass coral-bleaching events that scientists observed during the 1980s were probably due to anomalously warm temperatures related to climate change. Mass coral bleaching results in the starvation, shrinkage and death of the corals that support the thousands of species that live on coral reefs. In addition, many fish species have moved toward the planet’s poles in response to ocean warming, disrupting fisheries around the world.

Ri...

The oceans are more acidic now than they have been for at least 300m years, due to carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and a mass extinction of key species may already be almost inevitable as a result, leading marine scientists warned on Thursday. An international audit of the health of the oceans has found that overfishing and pollution are also contributing to the crisis, in a deadly combination of destructive forces that are imperilling marine life, on which billions of people depend for their nutrition and livelihood.

In the starkest warning yet of the threat to ocean health, theInternational Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) said: “This [acidification] is unprecedented in the Earth’s known history...