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1,136 scientists call for protection of deep-sea corals

Public release date: 15-Feb-2004
SEATTLE At a AAAS press briefing on Sunday at 1:00 PM, marine scientists will release a consensus statement from over a thousand of the world's foremost biologists, calling for governments and the United Nations to protect imperiled deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems. The statement will be released concurrently at the 7th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; in Santiago, Chile; and in Madrid, Spa... [More]

15,589 species threatened

News from The Scientist 2004, 5(1):20041117-03
Published 17 November 2004
More than 15,000 species around the world are at risk of extinction, according to a report released today (November 17) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The organization, whose annual list of endangered species is commonly known as the "Red List," found that one in eight birds, almost half of turtles and tortoises, one in four mammals studied, and one i... [More]

A newly discovered species of living baleen whale

Nature 426, 278-281 (20 November 2003)
A new species of Balaenoptera, which is characterized by its unique cranial morphology, its small number of baleen plates, and by its distant molecular relationships with all of its congeners. Our analyses also separated Balaenoptera brydei (Bryde's whale) and Balaenoptera edeni (Eden's whale) into two distinct species, raising the number of known living Balaenoptera species to eight.

To read this story in full you will need to login or make... [More]

Acid oceans spell doom for coral

August, 2004 - The increasing acidity of the world's oceans could banish all coral by 2065, a leading marine expert has warned.

Professor Katherine Richardson said sea organisms that produced calcareous structures would struggle to function in the coming decades as pH levels fell

The expert, based in Denmark, told the EuroScience Open Forum 2004 that human-produced carbon dioxide was radically changing the marine environment.

Ice cores show current carbon dioxide... [More]

Arctic warming at twice global rate

November 2004, NewScientist.com - Global warming in the Arctic is happening now, warns the most comprehensive scientific report to date. The reports concludes that the northern ice cap is warming at twice the global rate and that this will lead to serious consequences for the planet.

These include substantial rises in sea level and an intensification of global warming via a positive feedback mechanism, although there may also be benefits. The four-year scientific assessment was conduc... [More]

Australia reef's days 'numbered'

February, 2004 - The Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia will be largely destroyed by 2050 because of rising sea temperatures, according to a new report.

Researchers from Queensland University's Centre for Marine Studies said there was little evidence that corals could adapt quickly enough to cope with even the lowest projected temperature rise of 2C.

Over-fishing and water pollution were also contributing to the destruction of coral on the reef.

T... [More]

Big squid breaks record

July, 2000 - The biggest ever complete specimen of a secretive squid has been found in Antarctica.

The cephalopod stretched 230 centimetres (7.5 feet) from the hooks on its hunting tentacles to its tail, and weighed nearly 30 kilograms (66 lbs).

The squid, Kondakovia longimana, was measured and photographed, and its beak was removed.

This hard mouthpiece, similar to parrot's beak, is usually the only evidence found of the squid.

"They live deep un... [More]

Blue marlin in gulf have high mercury levels

9.2004 - As sport fishes go, the blue marlin is a king of sorts - highly prized for its beautiful shape and its ferocious fighting ability when hooked.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that many blue marlin caught in the Gulf of Mexico contain 20 to 30 times the acceptable levels of mercury.

Texas A&M University at Galveston researchers Jay Rooker and Gary Gill are trying to learn why the mercury levels are so high in blue marlin compared to similar fishes an... [More]

By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says

National Geographic News
Updated July 12, 2004

By 2050, rising temperatures exacerbated by human-induced belches of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could send more than a million of Earth's land-dwelling plants and animals down the road to extinction, according to a recent study.

"Climate change now represents at least as great a threat to the number of species surviving on Earth as habitat-destruction and modification," said Chris Thomas, a conserv... [More]

Climate warning from the deep

July, 2004 - Strange things are happening in the North Sea. Cod stocks are slumping faster than over-fishing can account for, and Mediterranean species like red mullet are migrating north.

Several sea birds are also in trouble. Kittiwake numbers are falling fast and guillemots are struggling to breed.

And, earlier this summer, hundreds of fulmar (a relative of the albatross) corpses washed up on the Norfolk coast, having apparently starved to death.

Scientists su... [More]

Cod Stocks Down More Than 90 Percent Since 1850s

March 2, 2005 - Hundreds of years ago, the oceans off the coast of North America teemed with cod. A new analysis highlights just how few of the big fish remain. The findings indicate that the volume of cod on Nova Scotia's Scotian Shelf has dr0pped more than 90 percent since the 1850s.

Using daily fishing logs from the 1850swhich recorded the number of fish caught, their size and their location together with a population modeling program, Andrew A. Rosenberg of the University of New H... [More]

Common household fragrances may be harming aquatic wildlife, study finds

Oct 2004 - Those fragrant soaps and shampoos we casually rinse down the drain may be causing long-term damage to aquatic wildlife downstream by interfering with the animals' natural ability to eliminate toxins from their system, according to a new Stanford University study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Writing in the NIH journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Stanford scientists described the biological damage that occurred when they exposed California muss... [More]

Complete collapse of North Atlantic fishing predicted

February 2002, From New Scientist - The entire North Atlantic is being so severely overfished that it may completely collapse by 2010, reveals the first comprehensive survey of the entire ocean's fishery.

"We'll all be eating jellyfish sandwiches," says Reg Watson, a fisheries scientist at the University of British Columbia. Putting new ocean-wide management plans into place is the only way to reverse the trend, Watson and his colleagues say.

North Atlantic catche... [More]

Deep fish 'trawled to oblivion'

February, 2002 - Deep-sea trawlers are destroying populations of fish and other creatures in the ocean at an alarming rate, according to research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston.

Fishermen are now using military sonar to hunt in the deep ocean, but the slow life cycles of the species that live hundreds of metres below the surface mean their populations will collapse if they are exposed to industrial-scale exploitation.
[More]

Dolphin 'bycatch' death evidence

February 2004 - Plymouth, United Kingdom — Our ship Esperanza has been monitoring UK fisheries for evidence of dolphin deaths in trawler nets. Yesterday we found what we had hoped not to: five dead dolphins, floating in the vicinity of two sets of pair trawlers.

The five adult dolphins had obviously been trapped in the net and drowned in the struggle to escape. All of the animals had cuts to their beaks, fins and flippers. A piece of net was also discovered near the carcasses.<... [More]

Dolphin deaths still on increase

A dolphin washed up on a Guernsey beach is believed to have died because of controversial fishing methods.

La Societe Guernesiaise has teamed up with Greenpeace to monitor pair trawling activity around the island.

The organisations say this is the second dead dolphin they have found in less than a month and the figures are rising each year.

The groups hope to collect enough evidence to get some aspects of the fishing method banned.

La Societe Guernesia... [More]

Experts say that attention to ecosystem services is needed to achieve global development goals

March 30, 2005 | London, UK - A landmark study released today reveals that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth – such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional climate, natural hazards and pests – are being degraded or used unsustainably. Scientists warn that the harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next 50 years.

“Any progress achieve... [More]

Extreme mercury levels revealed in whalemeat

June 2002, Exclusive from New Scientist - Tests on whalemeat on sale in Japan have revealed astonishing levels of mercury. While it has long been known that the animals accumulate heavy metals such as mercury in their tissues, the levels discovered have surprised even the experts.

Two of the 26 liver samples examined contained over 1970 micrograms of mercury per gram of liver. That is nearly 5000 times the Japanese government's limit for mercury contamination, 0.4 micrograms per gram.... [More]

Fin trade fingerprinted

August 2002 | Nature - DNA test could help police shark fishing. By Kendall Powell

World shark populations are at risk because of increased demand for shark-fin soup. A new genetic test may help to pinpoint the species that are most at risk and to enforce fishing regulations...

Fish suffer from mangrove losses

February, 2004 - The world's threatened mangrove forests provide important nurseries for coral-reef fish, according to a new study conducted around Belize and Mexico.

These partially submerged trees act to protect juvenile fish from predation, says UK marine biologist Peter Mumby.

His team tracked more than 100,000 fish from 64 species in coral reefs with and without adjoining mangrove habitats.

They told the scientific journal Nature that fish species were more ... [More]

Fishing for a solution

March, 2005 - Modern fishing methods have come under repeated attack this week over the impact they have on marine and bird life, even drawing royalty into the row. So is there an environmentally-friendly way to catch a fish?

Prince Charles said the plight of the endangered albatross is the "ultimate test" of whether or not the human race is serious about conservation, on a visit to a bird colony in New Zealand.

The legendary protector of seafarers is fighting for... [More]

Four-armed jellyfish found

Published online 9 February 2004 | Nature
Researchers have discovered a new species of jellyfish so different from its fellow creatures that it merits a new subfamily. The diaphanous beast, which dwells in deep waters off California, has a bell-shaped body and four fleshy arms.

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Frightening Report Released On Bay Water Pollution

September 9, 2004 - SAN FRANCISCO Scientists from the state Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that seabird eggs from the San Francisco Bay Area contain the world's highest levels of chemical flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ether found in wildlife.

Scientists from Cal/EPA's Department of Toxic Substance Control made the announcement at an international Dioxin 2004 Conference in Berlin, Germany.

The chemicals, also called PBDEs, are used as flame-ret... [More]

Gene study reveals 'missing' whales

July 2003, NewScientist.com - Whales in the North Atlantic ocean were once far more abundant than scientists previously supposed, according to a new analysis of the genetic variety in existing populations.

The findings "suggest the need for a fundamental revision of our conception of the natural state of the oceans," say the authors. They may also undermine the claims of whaling nations that existing populations are now big enough for a resumption of some commercial hunting ... [More]

Global warming good news for coral reefs: research

Dec-2004 - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Coral reefs around the world could expand in size by up to a third in response to increased ocean warming and the greenhouse effect, according to Australian scientists.

"Our analysis suggests that ocean warming will foster considerably faster future rates of coral reef growth that will eventually exceed pre-industrial rates by as much as 35 per cent by 2100," says Dr Ben McNeil, an oceanographer from the University of News South Wales.

[More]

Total: 79 Displaying: 1 - 25 Pages: 1 2 3 4 >