Marine Ecosystems

State of the Climate in Asia 2024

The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …

Dredging of Miami Port Badly Damaged Coral Reef, Study Finds

MIAMI — The large-scale dredging of Miami’s port to accommodate the newest generation of freighters, an undertaking that prompted a long-running battle with environmentalists, caused widespread damage to a portion of the area’s fragile and already distressed coral reef, according to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

State of Sustainability Initiatives Review: standards and the blue economy

This report examines market and performance trends of the nine most prevalent seafood certification schemes, including the Marine Stewardship Council, GLOBAL G.A.P. and Friend of the Sea. The report finds that in 2015 demand from big retailers and restaurant chains pushed suppliers to certify a catch valued at $11.5 billion …

Climate change effect: Marine life in danger as oceans lose oxygen!

A new study has warned that oxygen levels in some oceans are beginning to fall and widespread evidence of the trend will likely be evident from 2030 onwards. While the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems are a growing concern, loss of ocean oxygen would leave fish, crabs, squid, …

Great Barrier Reef: Greens call for new tax on mining to pay for damage

A recent study showed almost 93% of the reef was suffering from bleaching. Greens’ leader, Richard di Natale, announced a seven-point plan to tax mining and invest the money in revitalising the reef and in clean energy projects and jobs. Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, announced a seven-point plan that …

Great Barrier Reef bleaching made 175 times likelier by human-caused climate change, say scientists

The hot water temperature that drove the devastating bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef this year was made 175 times more likely by human-caused climate change, and could be normal in just 18 years, according to preliminary findings by leading climate and coral reef scientists. The scientists said they took …

Plankton networks driving carbon export in the oligotrophic ocean

The biological carbon pump is the process by which CO2 is transformed to organic carbon via photosynthesis, exported through sinking particles, and finally sequestered in the deep ocean. While the intensity of the pump correlates with plankton community composition, the underlying ecosystem structure driving the process remains largely uncharacterized.

Emerging threat from climate change: ocean oxygen levels are starting to drop

We are looking on now as warming oceans stress the world's coral reefs, prompting them to turn white, including our Great Barrier Reef. We also know that our oceans have become about 30 per cent more acidic since pre-industrial times as they absorb the billions of tonnes a year of …

Precautionary management of deep sea mining potential in Pacific Island countries

A new World Bank report recommends that Pacific Island countries supporting or considering deep sea mining activities proceed with a high degree of caution to avoid irreversible damage to the ecosystem, and ensure that appropriate social and environmental safeguards are in place as part of strong governance arrangements for this …

Scientists Discover A Massive Coral Reef In Amazon River

Scientists from the United States and Brazil discovered a massive coral reef in the muddy waters at the mouth of the Amazon River. The new coral reef stretches for about 600 miles. It ranges from about 30 to 120 m deep and extends from French Guiana to Brazil's Maranhao state …

Are coral reefs victims of their own past success?

As one of the most prolific and widespread reef builders, the staghorn coral Acropora holds a disproportionately large role in how coral reefs will respond to accelerating anthropogenic change. We show that although Acropora has a diverse history extended over the past 50 million years, it was not a dominant …

Differential climate impacts for policy-relevant limits to global warming: the case of 1.5 ◦C and 2 ◦C

Robust appraisals of climate impacts at different levels of global-mean temperature increase are vital to guide assessments of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The 2015 Paris Agreement includes a two-headed temperature goal: “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 ◦C above pre-industrial levels …

Differential climate impacts for policy-relevant limits to global warming: the case of 1.5 °C and 2 °C

Robust appraisals of climate impacts at different levels of global-mean temperature increase are vital to guide assessments of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The 2015 Paris Agreement includes a two-headed temperature goal: "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels …

Plastic bag ban among recommendations by marine plastic senate inquiry

On a beach in Sydney's Botany Bay, Dave West from the Boomerang Alliance shows the small bits of plastic that get into our food chain. State and territory bans on plastic bags, an immediate ban on microbeads and container deposit schemes across the country by 2020 are among recommendations made …

Indonesia pushes for stronger regulation on marine pollution

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stressed the importance of marine sustainability and called for better and comprehensive international regulations to address marine pollution on Tuesday. Speaking at an International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in London on Tuesday, the President pointed out that offshore oil rig activities also contributed to marine pollution. …

The timescales of global surface-ocean connectivity

Planktonic communities are shaped through a balance of local evolutionary adaptation and ecological succession driven in large part by migration. The timescales over which these processes operate are still largely unresolved. Here we use Lagrangian particle tracking and network theory to quantify the timescale over which surface currents connect different …

Great Barrier Reef risks mass bleaching as coral defences may fail in 40 years

Corals in the Great Barrier Reef currently have a protective mechanism against bleaching. However, a study has found the mechanism is vulnerable to failure as the ocean permanently warms due to climate change. This could lead to mass coral bleaching within 40 years, experts have warned. Corals have a symbiotic …

Sydney's corals now bleaching in 'pretty shocking' sign of warming waters

The giant coral bleaching event that is devastating wide swathes of the Great Barrier Reef has extended all the way south to Sydney Harbour, researchers say. The harbour's surface temperature reached 26 degrees at times during a prolonged marine heatwave in recent months that had also set records for parts …

Africa: UN Environment Programme and Partners Launch Sustainable Diving Guide to Protect Marine Assets

Singapore/Bangkok — Guidance material on how recreational diving can protect fragile marine biodiversity threatened by growing coastal tourism and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be launched tomorrow at Asia's largest and oldest dive expo by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners. The Green Fins Toolbox, …

Japan prepares to release thousands of tonnes of water containing radioactive tritium from the beleaguered Fukushima plant amid fears for impact on Pacific Ocean

Japan is considering releasing thousands of tonnes of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the beleaguered Fukushima plant. The nuclear power station, north of Tokyo, was wrecked by a 50-foot tsunami in March 2011, disabling three of its reactors. To keep the melted-down reactors cool, 300 tonnes of water …

Two-thirds of British public back microbead ban

Almost two-thirds of the British public think plastic microbeads used in exfoliant toiletries should be banned, according to a poll for Greenpeace. The tiny beads are too small to be filtered effectively by water treatment and flow into the oceans, where they harm fish and other sea life. The US …

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