Category News

Corals across the Great Barrier Reef could be hit by mass bleaching for the fourth time in just seven years by the end of January, experts warn. By the third week of January, an 800 mile section of the Great Barrier Reef will likely be undergoing a bleaching event, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data shows.

NOAA forecasts also show that by mid-February, areas north of Cairns in Queensland will be at ‘Alert Level 2’ – where both widespread bleaching and significant coral mortality are likely. 

Chances of coral bleaching are higher during the warmer seasons, which is why Australian scientists are on high alert during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer.  

Coral bleaching killed about 30 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral in 2016, according to ...

Coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean are at risk of extinction by 2070 due to warming temperatures and overfishing, according to a new study.

A roughly 12,000 sq km expanse of coral reefs stretching down the eastern coastline of Africa and around Madagascar is facing ecosystem collapse, threatening a range of species and the livelihoods of over a million people who work in the fishing and tourism industries. These reefs make up around 5% of the planet’s total coral reef area.

“When an ecosystem collapses, we might still see individual fish or corals but the whole system is no longer effective in supporting either marine biodiversity or communities who are dependent on it,” said David Obura, a Kenyan marine ecologist at CORDIO East Africa and lead author of the study.

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Scientists have discovered marine animals living on plastic debris in an area of the open ocean dubbed “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. Many of the creatures are coastal species, living miles from their usual habitats, on a patch halfway between the coast of California and Hawaii.

Plants and animals, including anemones, tiny marine bugs, molluscs and crabs, were found on 90% of the debris.

Scientists are concerned that plastic may help transport invasive species.

The study examined plastic items more than 5cm (2in) in diameter gathered from a gyre – an area where circulating currents cause floating debris to accumulate – in the Pacific.

Lead researcher Dr Linsey Haram, who carried out the work at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre, said: “Plastics are more perman...

Harmful to ocean and aquatic life, microplastics make up the nearly three percent toxic pollutants in shallow, tropical waters where corals flourish. These toxic chemicals bring huge detrimental impact on reef health, and a new study reveals 4 million pounds of them may be stored in coral skeletons every year.

After 18 months of exposing corals in the lab to microplastics, researchers were able to put a number on how much of the tiny fragments of plastic are stored in them.

“Our study clearly indicates that microplastics are yet another human-made stress factor for corals and that they are very likely to contribute to further deterioration of coral reefs on our planet,” lead author Jessica Reichert reported.

The study conducted by this team of scientists from the University Giess...

Today the government of Portugal expanded a marine protected area around the Selvagens Islands, creating the largest fully protected marine reserve in Europe at 2,677 square kilometers. The Selvagens Islands are a small archipelago in the North Atlantic located midway between Madeira and the Canary Islands.

National Geographic Pristine Seas studied the Selvagens Islands in September of 2015 in partnership with the Oceano Azul and the Waitt Foundation. During their expedition, the team conducted what was among the first underwater surveys of the ecosystem – from the shallows to the depths – and filmed the biodiversity around the islands...

PADI and National Geographic Pristine Seas have announced a partnership to protect a minimum of 30% of our oceans. The organizations aim to achieve their goals by the year 2030.

The first act of the partnership is a global Dive Industry Economic Evaluation Survey which seeks to quantify the benefits of the dive industry to local economies. The survey will collate data from PADI dive centers, which scientists will then analyze at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Simon Fraser University.

Data and findings from the study will then be used to influence and lobby governments to help protect the environment and to establish and enlarge Marine Protected Areas.

Commenting on the new partnership, Drew Richardson, President and CEO of PADI Worldwide stated:

“PADI Mission Hubs...

The Great Barrier Reef has “given birth” in its annual coral spawn, creating a cacophony of color on the Australian landmark. Scientists working beneath the waves say they witnessed the event, in which coral simultaneously release sperm and eggs en masse, overnight Tuesday off the coast of Cairns, Queensland, hailing it as a positive sign the reef was able to regenerate despite ecological threats.

“Nothing makes people happier than new life – and coral spawning is the world’s biggest proof of that,” Australian marine biologist Gareth Phillips, who had a front row seat to this year’s coral spawn, said in statement via Queensland Tourism and Events. 

Philips, from research center Reef Teach, and his team of marine biologists, divers, students and photographers dived to the bottom of ...

A lethal disease known as stony coral tissue loss is devastating coral colonies across Florida’s coast and much of the northern Caribbean. Likely caused by bacteria or a virus, the disease spreads through water currents and on the bottoms of shipping vessels, reports Douglas Main for National Geographic. It can infect and kill at least 22 coral species, including slow-growing and reef-building corals — which build up massive layers of calcium carbonate and help form fully functioning reef ecosystems. 

“Colonies that took hundreds of years to grow can be wiped out in a matter of weeks,” marine ecologist Craig Dahlgren told National Geographic. 

The stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak could put even more pressure on Caribbean corals, which are already severly threatene...

Scientists and leading climate experts have voiced concerns about the outcomes of the COP26 climate conference, in Glasgow. Those who spoke to the BBC praised the conference for getting countries to agree to meet again next year to pledge deeper emissions cuts. And they welcomed agreements on forests, innovation and especially methane – from fossil fuel extraction and livestock. 

But the scientists fear politicians won’t deliver. And they say the hope of holding temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is far too unambitious anyway.

The experts say that with a temperature rise so far of just 1.1C, the world is already in a state of dangerous heating, with record temperatures, wildfires, floods and droughts.

Prof Sir David King, former UK chief scientist,told me: “...

Coral reefs have been called the “canary in the coalmine” for the devastating impacts of climate change. While these colorful underwater ecosystems cover less than 0.2% of the sea floor, they are critically important: 25% of all marine life depend on them at some point in their life cycle, and nearly 1 billion people rely on them for everything — from food security to tourism and livelihoods, and to protection from storms. 

But they’re dying fast. Coral reefs face the greatest extinction risk of any ecosystem on earth. More than half of them have been lost over the past 50 years. Even if leaders succeed in hitting the 1.5 degree Celsius climate targets, the world is projected to still lose up to 90% of its coral reefs, posing a major disruption of coastal communities.