coral nation

Pink dolphin appears in US lake

2009-03-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

The world's only pink Bottlenose dolphin which was discovered in an inland lake in Louisiana, USA, has become such an attraction that conservationists have warned tourists to leave it alone.
Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

"It was absolutely stunningly pink.

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Protect this jewel in the Indian Ocean's crown

2009-01-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

Frank Pope

Coral reefs, the colourful rainforests of the ocean and home to a quarter of fish in the sea, seem doomed. Yet in the remote heart of the Indian Ocean lies a tiny group of islands that chance and biology have conspired to preserve in pristine, primal condition. They are as biologically significant as the Galápagos Islands or the Great Barrier Reef, bathed in seawater thought to be purer than any on the planet. The Chagos Islands offer a glimmer of hope for an ocean choking from man's impact. Best of all, they are administered by Britain. We have the golden opportunity to protect them.

The environmental elixir of the islands - otherwise known as the British Indian Ocean Territories - is lack of humans. A controversial resettlement 40 years ago to make way for a military base has spared them the tightening catastrophe that threatens life in the oceans. Absence of entrenched economic interests makes them relatively easy to protect.

In one of his last acts as President, George W. Bush used the US Antiquities Act to set aside 195,000 square miles of the Pacific as marine monuments, winning surprised gratitude from conservationists. In 2006 he did the same with 140,000 square miles around the northwest Hawaiian islands. His turnaround is largely thanks to a new scientific consensus that marine protected areas have near-miraculous powers for restoring the health of the seas.

more on this story

Coral Reefs in Crisis

2008-12-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

Reporting by Roddy Scheer

A new report issued last week by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network found that if current trends regarding emissions of carbon dioxide continue, a majority of the world’s remaining coral reefs could be lost within just four decades. So far, some 19 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been “bleached out” as a result of global warming and related environmental maladies. Still, the group believes that 45 percent of the world’s reefs remain healthy. Also, research has shown that some reefs are able to recover after major bleaching events and even adapt to climate change threats. But if emissions continue unabated, the world’s reefs may not get the chance to recover, affecting more than 500 million people—not to mention countless marine organisms—who depend on them for their livelihoods.

“The report details the strong scientific consensus that climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum,” said Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network Coordinator Clive Wilkinson. “If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinctions.”

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Scales of justice for smaller fish

2008-05-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

BRISBANE - Fish diet to avoid being attacked and shunned by their own species and eaten by predators, research has found.

The study by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University found the subordinate coral reef gobie fish deliberately diet to avoid posing a treat to their larger rivals.

Dr Philip Munday said the research, published in the journal Current Biology, found that in gobies, where only the largest male and female had mating rights within the group, all subordinate fish were 5 to 10 per cent smaller than its next largest rival.

The researchers tried to fatten up the subordinate gobies but the fish refused to eat the extra food.

- AAP

source

Filipino scientist monitors coral reef restoration, remediation project at Luke’s Reef

2008-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

The head of a working group that is studying ways on the restoration of impacted coral reefs and how to come up with cost effective measures has just completed a five-day monitoring assignment here in Palau, where one of the two sites of an experimental project is located.

Marine Biologist Iris Bollozos released on Tuesday Jan. 29 the progress report of the first year (Sept. 2006-August 2007) of the three-year project located in two sites, one in Bolinao town, Province of Pangasinan in Northern Philippines and another at the Luke’s Reef here in Palau.

Luke’s Reef, where 24 pallet balls were deployed by Surangel and Sons in January last year, is located somewhere between Short Drop Off and Ngel Channel. The site is outside the Rock Islands but not on the outer reef.

The pallet balls (limestone and cement) are artificial materials used for experimenting the growth of coals which scientists call as substreet component.

Bollozos said these had been proven to be efficient for restoration of coral reefs.

It was the second time that Bollozos visited the project site in Luke’s Reef since she headed the project titled " How efficacious and cost-effective are restoration interventions on reefs subject to a range of anthropogenic pressures? (Standardized Module Intervention and Monitoring Program - SMIMP): Palau/Bolinao.

The Project is under "Long-term efficacy and cost-effectiveness of restoration interventions of the Restoration and Remediation Working Group -- Coral Reef Targeted Research (CRTR) & Capacity Building for Management.

Dr. Alasdair Edwards (project chair) and Dr. Ronald Villanueva started this program last year in Palau.

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Can Cruise Ships and Coral Coexist?

2008-01-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

By Andrew C. Revkin

The cruise ship industry, Mexican government, and Conservation International have announced a plan to try to protect coral reefs and other ecosystems in Cozumel, the world’s most-visited cruise destination.
In a joint news release, the industry, environmental group, and government officials said their goals are to boost environmental education of passengers, cruise operators, and local communities, curb traffic and waste-disposal problems, boost protection of the barrier reef, and work to more effectively enforce environmental laws and regulations.
Could this mean that all cruises will slowly become more like eco-tourism operations, where passengers don’t merely come ashore to buy trinkets and get sunburns, but to learn something about a barrier reef or mangrove forest?
The plan doesn’t have much in the way of specifics (or commitments of money) to limit the direct environmental impacts of having more than 1,000 huge vessels arriving and departing each year, disgorging 10,000 passengers on peak days and streams
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Maui reef expedition reveals new findings

2007-12-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

by The Garden Island

A team of researchers from the Bishop Museum, Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawai‘i and NOAA’s Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center returned last week from a successful 6-day expedition off the coast of Maui. Aboard the university’s research vessel, the team completed five dives using deep-diving submersibles.

The multi-institutional project, funded by two separate NOAA grants — $1.4 million from NOAA’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies and $150,000 from NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program — seeks to characterize the nature of coral reef ecosystems that occur at depths of 50 to 100 meters off Maui. These deep reefs were not known to exist until relatively recently, in large part because they occur at depths below what can safely be accessed using conventional SCUBA gear, states a Bishop Museum press release. Although certain kinds of organisms, such as black coral, have been known to exist at these depths, the new discoveries are of vast expanses of densely-packed hermatypic (reef-building) corals, which have photosynthesizing algae called zooxanthellae in their tissues.

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Parrotfishes a key to reef stability

2007-11-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

New research has revealed that parrotfish may be the key to maintaining the stability of coral reef habitats and preventing them from transforming into a stable macroalgal-dominated condition following disturbance.

The results are published in the most recent issue of the journal Nature by Peter Mumby, Alan Hastings and Helen Edwards.

The authors used a simulation model to predict the effects of various perturbations to the system, including the effects of hurricanes, as well as the removal of herbivorous sea urchin on coral cover and macroalgal abundance on the complex forereef habitats of the Caribbean.

Macroalgae (seaweed) proliferate if dead coral is not sufficiently grazed and are capable of either arresting coral growth or overgrowing living coral.

The authors found that the macroalgae-dominated community is an alternative stable state of the ecosystem and one that is not readily reversible.
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Fishing Ban Protects Largest Coral Reef In The Philippines

2007-10-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Science Daily — Reef fish and other marine species can breathe easier with the introduction of a fishing ban around Apo Reef, the largest coral reef in the Philippines and the second largest contiguous reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef.

Under the ban, all extractive activities, such as fishing, and coral collection and harvesting, will be completely forbidden.

“This ‘no-take’ zone will allow the reef and its residents ample time to recover from years of fishing,” stressed John Manul of WWF-Philippines.

The 27,469-hectare Apo Reef off the coast of Mindoro Island is surrounded by mangrove forest, which serves as a source of food, nursery and spawning ground of several coastal fish and marine species, including sharks, manta rays, sperm whales and several sea turtles.

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Coral Reef Fish Harbor An Unexpectedly High Biodiversity Of Parasites

2007-09-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

Science Daily — IRD researchers showed that Epinephilus maculates, a fairly abundant species of grouper off New Caledonia, was parasitized by 12 species of microscopic monogenean worms. This diversity of parasites has just been confirmed also in the malabar grouper, Epinephilus malabaricus, another the coral reef species. If such a level of parasite diversity prevails in all coral-reef fish, tens of thousands of parasite species are in this ecosystem waiting to be discovered.

In the same way as the tropical rainforest, the coral reefs of warm seas are among the richest ecosystems of the world in terms of their biodiversity. In fact the best conserved areas harbour over 700 species of coral, 600 species of mollusc and nearly 4000 species of fish. These fish have been well studied by reef biodiversity specialists over the past few years, yet still little is known about their parasites. Two studies conducted by IRD researchers of Noumea have brought out evidence of this parasite species richness in two grouper species of the New Caledonian coral reef.

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Coral Reef Fish Need Decades Or Longer To Recover

2007-07-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Science Daily — In the longest running study on how fish populations in coral reef systems recover from heavy exploitation, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and others have found that the fish can recover, but they need lots of time -- decades in some casesWith nearly continuous data spanning some 37 years from four national marine parks off the coast of Kenya which were closed to fishing at different times, the study found that commercially important species such as parrotfish, wrasses, and surgeonfish can take a quarter of a century to recover fully. More importantly, the ecological equilibrium needed for a healthy reef system, which relies on the interplay of many fish, invertebrate, and plant species, take even longer to achieve, and certainly longer than the length of the study. Most fish recovery studies are conducted with small data sets in short durations of time.

"There's a pressing need for long-term studies on how fish communities in reef ecosystems rebuild when fishing is banned," said WCS researcher Dr. Tim McClanahan, the lead author of the study. "This study gives us some important insights in how the different fish species recover and how these communities affect the health of the reef as a whole."

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Deadly tide takes toll on coral

2007-07-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Dani Cooper
ABC Science Online
Tour operators on Australia's Great Barrier Reef may be encouraged to help shade coral from the Sun when the reef is exposed at extremely low tides, a researcher says.

Temporary sunshades for small parts of the reef could help coral fight the effects of a "sun-dried tide", a rare natural event that can devastate coral communities, says Dr Ken Anthony of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

Research by Anthony and colleague Dr Ailsa Kerswell shows extreme low tides on a clear, sunny day with little wind can weaken and kill coral reefs as they prepare for the stressful times of spawning and summer.

But Anthony says their research shows they can predict a sun-dried tide and forecasts of its arrival could become an important tool in managing the reef.

In a paper published recently in the journal Marine Biology, the researchers describe what happened during a September 2005 event at Orpheus Island, off the North Queensland coast.
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Herpes No. 1 Human Disease Impacting, Killing Corals

2007-06-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

By Andrea Thompson

NEW YORK — Corals get cold sores too. Only, for corals, a herpes virus infection isn’t just annoying. It can be lethal, and it and other diseases are possibly a big factor in the deaths of coral reefs that humans are causing throughout the world’s oceans, new research shows.

Scientists have known for years that humans are killing corals indirectly and directly through global warming, overfishing and pollution. Many reefs off populous coasts have been decimated, while those near uninhabited areas are often thriving.

“For some reason, when you put people next to reefs, they die,” said microbiologist Forest Rohwer of San Diego State University at a recent symposium at the American Museum of Natural History here.

source

Global warming could kill off reef fish

2007-06-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

Any rise in sea temperatures due to global warming could decimate fish populations on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, researchers say.

A three-and-a-half year study of fish near Lizard Island at the northern end of the reef, off Queensland, showed that whether they survived from eggs depended not only on their genes but also on their environment.

Monica Gagliano, of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University (JCU), said water temperatures in the summer breeding season of the Ambon Damselfish varied between 25 and 31 degrees, but the upper end of the range was already of concern.

"What we did is to test what would happen if the water started getting warm according to the predictions for climate change," Dr Gagliano said.

"From our experiments, if the temperature was to rise even just a few degrees, it could have quite dramatic consequences on just how many of those eggs do survive.

more on this story

Caribbean's reef-building coral at risk

2007-06-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

By DANICA COTO
The Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Six species of reef-building coral could vanish from the Caribbean due to rising temperatures and toxic runoff from islands' development, according to a study released Thursday.

Nearly two dozen scientists from U.S. and Caribbean universities, as well as nonprofits, identified the threatened species while reviewing studies and scientific data at a March conference in Dominica.

The species — about 10 percent of the 62 varieties capable of forming reefs in the region — include staghorn and elkhorn corals, which were once among the most prominent.

"One of the Atlantic Ocean's most beautiful marine habitats no longer exists in many places because of dramatic increases in coral diseases, mostly caused by climate change and warmer waters," said Michael Smith, director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Initiative at Conservation International, a U.S.-based nonprofit.

Peter Edmunds, a biology professor at California State University-Northridge, said the study provided a broad perspective that is "terribly important" but does not indicate how close a particular species is to dying off in the region.story continued

The 'Reef Doctor' retiring after 50 years

2007-05-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

BY CAMMY CLARK
THE MIAMI HERALD

MIAMI - Harold Hudson has logged more time underwater than many fish. Most of those thousands of hours in diving gear have been at the world's reefs, conducting groundbreaking research.

But the 71-year-old biologist is best known for his pioneering work in reef restoration: repairing corals damaged by grounded ships, careless tourists, global warming, marine pollution and nature's wrath.

"The one thing Harold used to say to me, in his crackly voice: 'Well, Billy, I can build that reef back better than God made it,'�" said Billy Causey, a regional director of the National Marine Sanctuary program.

This summer, Hudson - the man known worldwide as the Reef Doctor - is retiring after 50 years of federal service.

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Coral disease linked to warming

2007-05-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

An international team of scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has found a clear link between coral disease and warmer ocean temperatures.

Worldfirst research at 48 reefs spread along 1500 kilometres of the GBR combined with 6 years of satellite data on sea temperatures has revealed “a highly significant relationship” between ocean warming and the emergence of a disease known as white syndrome.

White syndrome is one of a number of unexplained coral diseases which scientists have observed to be on the increase globally in recent years.

The team led by Dr John Bruno of the University of North Carolina, Dr Bette Willis of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University and Dr Hugh Sweatman of the Australian Institute of Marine Science has published an open access report on their findings in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology on the internet.

“Coral reefs have been decimated over the last several decades on a global scale. Infectious diseases are thought to contribute to this mass coral mortality in reef regions like the Caribbean, and many reef ecologists suspected that high ocean temperatures were a key factor in the increased incidence and severity of disease outbreaks, Dr Willis says.

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Researchers Find Large-Scale Death of Coral in Indonesia

2007-04-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
23 April 2007

Scientists have discovered that an earthquake two years ago in Indonesia lifted hundreds of kilometers of sea floor out of the water, causing the largest death of coral reefs ever recorded. As Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta, this is only one of several threats facing Indonesia's fragile marine ecosystems.

During a recent survey of Indonesia's Simeulue Island, off the northwest coast of Sumatra, scientists discovered that an earthquake in 2005 had lifted part of the sea floor by more than a meter. The upheaval killed off a massive ring of coral along the island's shores.

Andrew Baird is a scientist with the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. He says the effects of the earthquake were totally unexpected.

"I thought I was ready for what we saw, but the scale of the uplift was quite incredible," he said. "You know every day, every site we went to, there was more reef which had been completely thrust out of the water. The entire perimeter of an island - about 400 kilometers of reef - had been thrust out of the water, literally overnight."

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WWF objects to gas project on coral reef

2007-04-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

CONSERVATION group WWF Australia says the development of a gas project on a coral reef off the Western Australian coast will spark global outrage.

Woodside Petroleum is considering building a processing plant on Scott Reef for its $12 billion Browse gas project.

The company said yesterday it might build a lagoon-based plant on the reef, halfway between Indonesia and the Kimberley coast rather than a facility on the environmentally-sensitive coast.

But WWF Australia chief executive Greg Bourne said his organisation did not believe there was any place for a gas plant in such a sensitive area.

"We do not believe that everywhere can be up for grabs ... some places are indeed off limits," Mr Bourne told the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference.
"Coral reef systems such as this represent an important and increasingly threatened marine ecosystem.

"To construct a facility there would attract global attention, generate global outrage."

Mr Bourne said he wanted Australian oil and gas operators to be known for their legacy of sensible development and environmental leadership.
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WWF: Harmful starfish threatening RP corals again

2007-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

COTS or crown-of-thorns starfish (ancanthaster planci), which can decimate entire sections of coral reef in weeks, are back in the Philippines and in greater numbers.

This was the warning aired Wednesday by environmental group World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which said outbreaks have been reported in coastal areas in Luzon and Mindanao.

"This year the COTS have returned – in ever greater numbers. Yesterday, outbreaks were reported in Mabini, Batangas., WWF said in a statement on its website.

WWF said a check through its sites throughout the country revealed that COTS outbreaks had also hit Apo Reef and Puerto Galera in Mindoro, Roxas in Palawan, Bolinao in Lingayen Gulf, Kiamba and Glan in Sarangani Bay.

WWF said "it is possible that many other coastal areas have been affected as well,"

A single COTS can totally consume six meters of healthy reef yearly, it said.

WWF said COTS outbreaks usually occur during summer, when ocean temperatures and nutrient levels increase and give rise to algal blooms.
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Overfished Reefs

2007-03-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

The amount of seafood caught commercially in and around coral reefs pales in comparison to that harvested from the open oceans. Yet coral reef fisheries aren’t small potatoes for millions of people worldwide — both the fishermen who depend on the catch for their livelihood, and coastal communities where the food is an important protein source.

Coral reefs are generally considered to be overfished, however, and a new analysis shows just how bleak the situation is. The study, by Katie Newton of the University of East Anglia in England and colleagues, concludes that the majority of coral reef fisheries are unsustainable; fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being harvested at a faster rate than they are being replenished.

The researchers analyzed data for 49 small island countries and territories from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Bigger countries like Australia were excluded because it was more difficult to differentiate between reef catch and other sources of seafood.

Comparing the data with an estimated maximum sustainable annual yield of 13 metric tons per square mile of reef, the researchers found that 55 percent of the fisheries — including those in the Philippines, Madagascar and Jamaica — were unsustainable. The study will be published April 17 in Current Biology.

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New coral species found

2007-03-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

TUTICORIN: Thirteen new coral species have been identified in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park. But the gulf's existing coral reefs are deteriorating rapidly, with their area shrinking by 30 per cent over the last two decades. These are findings of a survey conducted by the Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute (SDMRI) in the 560-sqkm park over the last four years.

The institute, affiliated to Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, has brought out a comprehensive report on the distribution, diversity and current status of coral reefs in the gulf.

According to the report, 117 species of coral exist in the park.

Moreover, the SDMRI team has found that live coral is present only on a 78 square kilometre area in the park. That is 32 sq km less of the coral cover found 20 years ago.

"The degradation happened mainly because of destructive fishing and sewage disposal," said J. K. Patterson Edward, Director, SDMRI.

The report maps the exact geographical locations of the live coral in the park, surrounding 21 coral reef islands. "This would make monitoring and conservation easier," said V. Naganathan, Eco-Development officer, Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust.

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Toxic runoff poses risk to Reef

2007-02-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

By Leigh Dayton
February 17, 2007 12:00am

SATELLITE images of flooding in the Top End have revealed that runoff from the land is a greater threat to the Great Barrier Reef than experts believed.

Until now, most scientists thought the sediment and pollutants that washed into coastal waters after torrential rain slowly dispersed along the coastline, affecting only coral living on the inner reef.

However, a group headed by remote sensing expert Arnold Dekker of CSIRO Land and Water claimed the images clearly showed that potentially polluting plumes of water quickly travel to the outer regions of the reef, putting coral at risk.

"I was surprised and impressed," Dr Dekker said, recalling his first look at the pictures.

"I knew we had something that needed to be known broadly."

"What these images are showing is that significant rainfall is causing substantial flows into the rivers, estuaries and into the lagoon (between the coast and the Great Barrier Reef).

"The material is going - within days - right out to the outer reef and beyond."

The telltale images were taken between the 9th and 13th of February by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.
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Coral cultivating catches on

2007-02-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer

Monday, February 12, 2007

enlarge
Staff photo by Jim Evans
The Sinularia coral will regenerate after a cutting is taken.

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Staff photo by Jim Evans
A freshly cut soft coral needs to be held in place until it can grow onto the rock and hold itself.
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from the Morning Sentinel

FAIRFIELD -- A maroon clownfish peers from the waving tentacles of a sea anemone, then quickly retreats, disappearing into a shimmer of live coral.
The sight is intoxicating -- a glimpse into the life of a tropical coral reef.

And it is all happening on a snowy back road in rural Maine and, along the way, is helping to save the wild coral reefs of the world.

"That's Nemo's cousin," Penny Harkins, owner of Aqua Corals, Reef Aquariums, said of the 3-inch fish with the gold stripe. "She keeps backing off because you're new. She's a little bit timid of you."

The scene is played out among the splendor of 60 saltwater aquariums at Harkins' business on Nyes Corner Drive, off U.S. Route 201.

Hard corals and soft corals share space in these glass worlds with exotic clams that fan out like iridescent purple flowers, sea horses and invertebrates that include shrimp, starfish and sea mats. Harkins says she has 200 varieties of coral, 70 of which are for sale.

Corals live in the shallow waters of warm tropical seas. They are listed in three classes.

n Soft coral, which do not build a stony skeletal base.

n Large polyp stonies, which build stony skeletons that become reefs, but have soft, fleshy-tissue tops.

n Small polyp stonies, which are over 90 percent calcium and are the real reef builders.

"Those are corals that are not only on display but they're parents to the babies I make -- I actually go in there and cut those," Harkins said.

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The world's vanishing wonders thanks to global warming

2007-02-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

Robin McKie

LONDON
05-Feb-07

FROM the Caribbean coral reef to the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro, many of the world's best-loved natural icons are threatened by global warming.

The snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The white top of Africa's highest mountain has become an icon, instantly recognisable, but Kilimanjaro's snows are disappearing at an alarming rate. The great peak, which once glowed 'unbelievably white in the sun' according to Hemingway, will turn an uninspiring dirty brown, a victim of global warming caused by ever-increasing amounts of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere. As 10,000 people visit the mountain each year, how the loss of the snow will affect this tourist trade is uncertain.

The Caribbean coral reef

Global warming is not the only side effect of higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Increasing amounts of the gas gets dissolved in the sea, making it ever more acidic. In addition, climate change is triggering more frequent extreme storms, particularly in the hurricane-ravaged Caribbean. All of this is bad news for the Meso-American reef which stretches down the coast of southern Mexico past Belize and into Honduras. It is now suffering a triple environmental whammy. Warmer water disrupts coral growth; acidic water affects coral's abilities to secrete new skeletons; hurricanes break it up. Environment activists warn that the reef home to thousands of marine species faces obliteration in the near future.

Polar bears, Canada

Every October and November, the remote town of Churchill in Canada is transformed into the polar bear capital of the world. Up to 1,200 bears gather on the icy tundra waiting for the sea in the Hudson Bay to freeze, to hunt for seals. However, the future of these creatures is in jeopardy. The Arctic is feeling the impact of global warming more than any other place on Earth and the bears' hunting grounds and migration routes are melting, forcing them to swim for dozens of miles in search of solid ground. Experts predict there will be few or no polar bears left in the wild by 2030.

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Southern corals unlock climate clues

2007-01-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

While great attention is being given to the threat of global warming to corals of the Great Barrier Reef, the corals off southern Australia are giving scientists information about climate change.

As divers and fishermen in southern waters know well, corals are not restricted to tropical waters.

The most obvious of the southern versions occur in large boulder-like formations known in South Australia as bommies.

They are now throwing new light on the history of Australia's southern oceans, revealing details of past climates and the human impact on the sea.

Sam Burgess of the Australian National University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, is completing a PhD on these little-known South Australian corals, proving their importance to issues of climate change and ocean health.

"Most people are surprised to learn that there are large corals in these colder waters," Ms Burgess said.

"They think corals only occur in the warmer waters of the tropics."story continued

Appetite for fish is stripping reefs

2007-01-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

By Michael Casey
Associated Press
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia -- Diners' appetite for live reef fish -- a status symbol for many newly rich Chinese -- has caused the populations of these predators to plummet around Asia as fishermen increasingly resort to cyanide and dynamite to bring in the valuable catch.
Entire reef ecosystems, already endangered by pollution and global warming, are at risk.
A study released this past week about the trade in Malaysia found that catches of some grouper species and the endangered Napoleon wrasse fell by as much as 99 percent from 1995 to 2003, a period coinciding with soaring economic growth in countries where the exotic fish are a delicacy.
"The removal of these large, predatory fish might upset the delicate balance of the coral reef ecosystem," said Helen Scales, who co-authored the study for the Swiss-based World Conservation Union. The study appeared in the online edition of Proceedings of The Royal Societies.
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Baby Fish "Smell Their Way Home"

2007-01-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

Remarkable in itself, the discovery by a team including Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University and colleagues from Woods Hole, USA, also shines a new light on how the breathtaking diversity of fish on coral reefs has arisen. This has major implications for how reefs are managed.

(PressZoom) - Marine scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have uncovered evidence that baby fish, only millimetres long, manage to find their way to their home coral reef across miles of open sea by using their sense of smell.

Remarkable in itself, the discovery by a team including Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University and colleagues from Woods Hole, USA, also shines a new light on how the breathtaking diversity of fish on coral reefs has arisen. This has major implications for how reefs are managed.

“The babies of many coral fish species are swept off their home reef by ocean currents within days of hatching. Ordinarily you’d expect them to be thoroughly mixed up and this would mean the population of one reef would be pretty much the same, genetically, as another,” he says.more on this story

Belize serves unspoiled Caribbean beauty

2007-01-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

BY VICKI SMITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Needle-nosed ballyhoo fish leap from the water, lured by the wake as Capt. Bobby Halliday motors off Ambergris Caye. The turquoise waters here are so clear you can see blades of sea grass and lobster traps more than 20 feet below the surface.

Halliday has been guiding fishing trips through these waters for years, making some customers so happy that they gave him the two 60 horsepower engines that power his boat, the Blanca Lilly. He slows to troll and, suddenly, even more is visible below: parrot fish, angel fish and a 5-foot bull shark, silent as a shadow.

He rigs up our fishing poles in more than 30 feet of water, and we quickly land a pile of Spanish mackerel, yellowtail snapper and a fighting barracuda. Halliday pries a mackerel from a hook, spilling blood on the deck.

When I step back, he laughs.

"That's when Bobby's having a good day, when there's blood in the boat," he says. Then, he nods to my husband. "That's a good catch, man."

Destructive fishing practices

2007-01-19T18:56:00.000-08:00

All fishing methods/practices have an impact on the target resource and may affect also non-target species. Many of them also have an impact on the wider aquatic environment. The "normal" effect of exploitation should not be confused with "destruction"

Destructive fishing refers to any type of fishing technique that destroys fish habitat. These include Dynamite fishing or 'blast' fishing or the use of explosives, spear fishing beach seining, trap/pot fishing and poisoning.

There are many negative effects that result from these practices. Dynamite and other explosive fishing methods destroy habitats and breeding sites for decades. Larger fish are stunned and removed by fishers, but many smaller or less desirable fish die and are left amongst the broken coral. Explosives can also have very serious consequences for the users themselves.

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Survival of the mangroves

2007-01-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

We continue our look this week at mangroves, which are among the planet's most threatened tropical ecosystems. We examine, exclusively, some of those threats below. Have questions, comments? Email Petre Williams at williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com.
THERE are a range of threats to mangrove forests in Jamaica and, by extension, the Caribbean and the world. They include over-harvesting, river changes, clearing, over-fishing, pollution, coral reef loss and climate change.Over-harvestingMangrove trees the world over are used for firewood charcoal production as well as for construction wood and wood chips. While harvesting is a practice that has been ongoing for hundreds of years, it has got out of hand in recent times. In some instances, faced with limited alternatives, if any, people in certain poor communities, such as St Thomas here in Jamaica, increasingly rely on mangroves for charcoal production, for example. The result is over-harvesting, which threatens the survivability of mangrove forests.www.jamaicaobserver.com

Fish's homing instinct a clue to coral reef diversity

2007-01-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

James Randerson, science correspondent
Tuesday January 9, 2007
The Guardian

Scientists have discovered that a fish species on the Australian Great Barrier Reef can sniff its way back to the patch of reef where it hatched.
If the cardinal fish's remarkable odour-assisted homing abilities are common, the researchers suggest it might help to explain the diversity of marine life on coral reefs. "Coral reefs are famous like tropical rainforests for their diversity of species," said Jelle Atema at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole in Massachusetts. But that amazing biodiversity looks puzzling when you consider that many marine species reproduce by releasing their eggs into the water to be carried at the whim of the current, he said. That would mean species are dispersed widely, preventing the genetic isolation in local areas needed for new species to evolve.

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Hero fish may save reef

2007-01-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

SCIENTISTS have discovered a masked superhero protecting the Great Barrier Reef: batfish.

The mild-mannered dusky batfish has emerged as the saviour of coral in distress from a weed infestation.
Research has led scientists to warn we still know dangerously little about the complex ecosystem that keeps the World Heritage-protected reef functioning.

Scientists at the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Townsville were doing experiments to simulate over-fishing on a coral reef when underwater cameras recorded batfish -- not known as a weed feeder -- decimating a choking overgrowth of sargassum weed.

Batfish are not a protected species and coastal mangrove areas where they spend their juvenile period are in decline.
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Global warming starving Great Barrier reef fish species to death

2006-12-28T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sydney, Dec 28: Fish species in the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study conducted over five years by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) has revealed.

The study found that rising sea temperatures had bleached more than 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs, as a result of which, smaller fish which normally feeds on live coral are dying off.

This could throw the fish food chain out of balance, and consequently hinder local fishing and tourism operations, the study said.

According to CoECRS senior researcher Morgan Pratchett, this is only a glimpse of the larger to coral reef due to rising temperature.

If sea temperatures continue their warming patters, the coral damage could double by 2030, he said.
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Warming seas wreak havoc on reef fish

2006-12-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

Fish species on the Great Barrier Reef are starving to death because climate change is killing off their food source, an environmental study has found.

Rising sea temperatures have bleached more than 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs, a five-year study by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) has found.

As a result, smaller fish which would normally feed on live coral are dying off, which could throw the fish food chain out of balance, and consequently hinder local fishing and tourism operations.

The coral damage is predicted to double by 2030 if sea temperatures continue their warming patterns, CoECRS senior researcher Morgan Pratchett said.

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Study: Batfish protect reef in Australia

2006-12-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK, Thailand -- When it comes to protecting Australia's Great Barrier Reef, it is hard to beat the batfish. A study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that the rare pancake-like white fish with brown stripes was the only one of 27 species that successfully removed the forest of algae that can otherwise overwhelm and kill off the reef.

The study, which appeared in this week's edition of the journal Current Biology, not only raised the profile of the largely overlooked batfish but also showed the importance of protecting key algae-eating fish on reefs across the Pacific that are subject to overfishing, researchers said Wednesday
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Racing rate of reef decay

2006-12-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

THE world's reefs are suffering from more frequent periods of coral die-off than at any time in the past 11,000 years, Australian scientists have warned.

Human activity, including development, overfishing and pollution, has been blamed for episodes of coral death that have damaged reefs in recent decades.

Researchers from the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the University of Queensland went to the Huon Peninsula, on Papua New Guinea's northern coast, to study reef fossils.

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On borrowed wings: Wildlife rehab nurses back to health

2006-11-29T15:58:00.000-08:00

By TOM RAGAN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Susan Campbell has seen it all — the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful.

As supervisor for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals here, she has helped take care of hundreds of wounded animals.

She's seen the red-tail hawk whose wings were clipped by an owner who got too possessive; the great-horned baby owl left for dead by his mother for inexplicable reasons; the turkey who was found living inside a box in somebody's house — a box in which he could barely stand up.

They've all been taken under the wing of the rehabilitation center here. Some of them will be released back into the wild — always a ceremonious yet bittersweet moment for the workers who tended to them day in and day out.

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Marine violators will be targeted

2006-11-21T20:25:00.000-08:00

Ocean poachers and others who violate state environmental protection laws and rules may face prosecution under a new state program.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the attorney general's office, the Hawai'i Coral Reef Initiative and the University of Hawai'i's Environmental Law Program are creating a one-year law fellowship to focus on prosecuting violators of state laws that protect marine resources.

The program will allow the law fellow to work directly with the DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources. The lawyer will be supervised by the attorney general's staff, and the position will be funded by the Coral Reef Initiative.

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Why Not Take An Eco Tour?

2006-11-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

By Cass Hope

Different companies that contribute environmentally, socially and address also economic issues offer Eco tours. They can involve visiting natural areas while also learning and participating in a way that brings positive effects to the environment. All this benefits the local area and provides help both socially and economically.

The reason Eco tours are becoming more popular is because of the huge focus society has placed on environmental issues and people are getting more and more involved in it’s conservation. Eco tours allow tourists to be environmentally aware.

Travelers get the chance to participate in preservation and conservation projects. The tours offer a chance for the environmentally aware tourist to become more 'at one' with nature.

A very important aspect of the tours is education. They offer the chance to learn information and advice on how to have a positive effect on the Earth's eco-system. The travelers have a chance to increase their awareness and commitment to environmental issues.

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Mombasa-Kenya: A Water Sporting, Scuba Diving and Game Fishing Haven

2006-11-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

The Mombasa coastline is a tropical idyll of soft white sands and gentle sea breeze, where the passing of a day is marked by the slow arc of the sun. The pace of life in Mombasa is notably slower, languid, more relaxed and at peace with the world.

Over the years, tour operators have organized beach safaris along the Mombasa coast including scuba diving, big game fishing, jet skiing, wind surfing, parasailing, beach parachuting, swimming with dolphins, coral garden snorkeling among others. A Dive beneath these waters and you discover an undersea paradise. The coral reefs teem with fish, a kaleidoscope of colours and life.

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Underwater Wonder: Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument

2006-11-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Nov. 14, 2006 — The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument is a water world that may be the last of its kind.

It teems with life above and below.

Millions of bird nests populate the islands, and some of the healthiest coral reefs on Earth, along with about 7,000 species of fish, live beneath the ocean waters.

"The diversity is absolutely endless, and so endless that we will see new species discovered for decades to come," said Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of the Ocean Futures Society.

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Reef insight on global meltdown

2006-11-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Deborah Smith Science Editor
November 10, 2006

THE discovery of a fossilised coral reef sitting high and dry at the southern tip of Western Australia has provided a warning that climate change is likely to cause a catastrophic melting of ice and rapid rise in sea level, scientists say.

The reef, in Foul Bay, near Margaret River, is the most southerly coral reef ever found.

It has been dated to about 125,000 years ago, the middle of the last period of global warming, known as the last interglacial.

Malcolm McCulloch, of the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, which is based in Townsville, said the position of the reef marked a high point during the last big rise in sea level on the planet.

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When wildlife gets too close to home ...

2006-10-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

Raccoons hang out on mailboxes. River otters slither under the foundations of houses. Squirrels burrow into attics.
When Whatcom County habitat and homes intermingle, wildlife bumps up against settlement and cute animals become urgent problems. That’s when Dave Vinke gets involved: he’s the guy you call when wildlife gets too close for comfort.
As a nuisance wildlife control operator licensed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Vinke runs interference between wild animals and humans.
“With our urban sprawl, it’s a big old mess for everybody,” says Vinke. “They’re cute and cuddly until they’re causing problems.”
Requests for special trapping permits are expected to reach 1,000 by year’s end, up from 789 in 2005, according to Sean Carrell, who issues special trapping permits for Fish and Wildlife. The increase is an indication that nuisance wildlife complaints are on the rise, says Lt. Richard Mann.
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Time bomb ticking for coral reefs?

2006-10-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - Coral reef experts heard dire predictions for the underwater kingdoms, including one estimate that 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs could die in less than 25 years due to pollutants and global warming.

Sea temperatures are rising, weakening the reefs’ resistance to increased pollutants, such as runoff from construction sites and toxins from boat paints. The fragile reefs are hosts to countless marine plants and animals.

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Damage to Coral Reefs Threatens Tourism

2006-10-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -- A rapid decline in the world's coral reefs could damage national economies that rely on underwater sea life for tourism revenue, researchers said Friday.
Tourists spend billions of dollars each year on hotels and tours to experience the marine habitats in areas including the Caribbean, Australia and the Pacific islands.

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Vermont island features oldest coral reef

2006-10-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

ISLE LA MOTTE, Vt. - To the uninitiated, the flat rock slabs found across the center of this island at the northern end of Lake Champlain appear to be nothing more than giant stones.

But the rocks offer a history of the last half billion years of this area, which was washed by a warm equatorial sea and saw long-extinct plants and animals congregate in what is believed to be the earliest ancestor of modern coral reefs.

The walls of the now-preserved Fisk Quarry offer a vertical timeline — in stone — of the different layers of fossilized plants and animals that inched their way north as the world's continents drifted into their present locations.

Fossils Show Corals Survived Past Warming

2006-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Oct. 23, 2006 — A critical reef-building coral that has been thought especially vulnerable to global warming of seas may not be so frail after all.

A new study of past climate effects on the same kinds of corals, now fossilized on land in the Dominican Republic, shows that Acropora cervicornis has done just fine through other warm times and even managed to survive through times when the water was particularly mucky.
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Bill aims to stop reef oil drilling

2006-10-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

A private member's bill has been tabled in the Senate seeking to block oil and gas exploration near the Great Barrier Reef.

The bill, co-sponsored by Labor's Jan McLucas and Democrat Andrew Bartlett, seeks to extend the exploration ban to waters inside Australia's economic zone.

Senator McLucas says areas identified for future exploration, including the Queensland and Marion Plateaus, the Townsville and Cato Troughs and the Capricorn Basin, are all east of the marine park.

She says it is unacceptable the park could be threatened by future oil spills.

"The reef is in a fragile state presently because of the effects of climate change and to contemplate drilling for oil near the boundary of the marine park is just astonishing to most people," she said.

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Experts grow coral reef in London

2006-10-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

Marine specialists from London Zoo are growing a massive coral reef for an £85m aquarium in the East End.
The reef includes living colonies seized from smugglers who had tried to bring the coral into Britain.

The living reef, comprising of species from the Indian and Pacific oceans, is thought to be the biggest of its kind to be grown in the country.

The feature will form the centrepiece of the Biota centre in Newham, covering the size of five football fields.

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Haze puts Malaysia's fireflies, wildlife at risk

2006-10-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

By Clarence Fernandez
Reuters
Saturday, October 14, 2006; 10:42 PM

KUALA SELANGOR, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia's most famous insects, a colony of fireflies that blink like Christmas lights, top the list of wildlife hit by a thick haze of pollution from Indonesian forest fires.

For many visitors, no trip to Malaysia is complete without a star-lit canoe ride to see the twinkling fireflies near the mouth of the Selangor river, but some residents fear memories could soon be all that remain of the insects.

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Madagascar's coral reef under threat

2006-10-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Johannesburg - A new survey of coral reefs along Madagascar's southwestern coast found massive damage from coral bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures, researchers said on Thursday.

However, the survey team, funded by Conservation International and led by the conservation groups Blue Ventures and the Wildlife Conservation Society, said scientists also discovered several small reefs with corals that appeared to be resilient to rising sea temperatures and that could be used to reseed damaged reefs.
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Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts 2007 big game regulations

2006-10-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Fish and Wildlife Commission recently adopted 2007 regulations governing the hunting of big game including deer, elk, cougar, bear, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope and Western gray squirrel.

The new regulations will make the reporting of hunter harvest and effort mandatory beginning next year, coinciding with implementation of ODFW's new point-of-sale (POS) system in spring 2007. The system will replace telephone surveys by ODFW staff and enable hunters to report by phone through an interactive voice response or over the Internet. Hunters will need to provide the following information: days hunted, wildlife management unit hunted, sex of animal harvested and antler points of bucks and bulls. To introduce hunters to the new system, there will be no penalties or incentives related to participation in the survey for the first year. story continued

Corals info

2006-10-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

There are more than 2,000 living species of corals. Fossil records show that stony corals have existed for 230 million years. Corals are responsible for building the many beautiful reefs around the world. From the Great Barrier Reef, to the small patch reefs, the ecosystems rely on corals for their foundation. Corals are divided into families based upon their anatomy and physiology. Different species can be called the same common name, and one species can have several common names. Therefore, if you do not find the name of the coral you are interested in within the categories below, please use our search feature. Using the scientific, or Latin, name will give the best results. link

Cold-Water Corals or Deep Sea Corals

2006-10-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

What are cold-water corals?

Cold-water corals, also referred to as deep-sea corals, include scleractinian corals (stony corals), antipatharians (black corals), hydrocorals and octocorals (gorgonians, soft corals and sea pens). These organisms may occur as solitary individuals (e.g., solitary scleractinian corals) and also can form both reef-like structures and thickets that provide habitat for numerous species. more info

How to Propagate Your Own Coral Frags at Home

2006-10-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

As reef aquariums gain popularity, the amount of knowledge regarding the husbandry of corals steadily increases, developing better and more successful techniques. However, understanding and replicating conditions that induce coral spawning is still an elusive aspect of coral care. It is still uncommon for corals to spawn in the home reef aquarium. Luckily, corals employ more than one reproductive strategy to propagate. Though sexual reproduction is yet uncommon, asexual reproduction is extremely common in a well-maintained reef aquarium. info continued

Fish research aids Utah cancer study

2006-10-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

By Lois M. Collins
Deseret Morning News
Research on zebra fish has helped Huntsman Cancer Institute scientists identify a target that might one day lead to prevention or treatment of colon cancer — the No. 2 cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
The findings, published in the current online Journal of Biological Chemistry, indicate that a process the researchers used to rescue zebra fish from abnormal intestinal development may also head off a series of events known to be involved in development of colon cancer in people.
The scientists "knocked out" the molecule C-Terminal Binding Protein (CTBP) to save the zebra fish from a mutation in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. Mutations in the same gene in humans lead to colon polyps, which are the precursor to colon cancer. The APC mutations are involved in 85 percent of human colon cancers, according to David A. Jones, a University of Utah associate professor of oncological sciences and leader of the study.story continued

Understanding the World's Oceans

2006-10-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

By Ioana Patringenaru

They examined coral in Tahiti while the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean gently lapped at their feet. They caught fish on an atoll located 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. They dove off Christmas Island.

It might sound like a vacation to you. But researchers from UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography actually spent their summer trying to make sure that the rest of us will be able to enjoy the world’s oceans for many years to come. story continued

Weather-beaten corals now face 'worst' threat

2006-10-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

By Mat Probasco

Virgin Islands - Scientists have issued their strongest warning so far this year that unusually warm Caribbean Sea temperatures threaten coral reefs that suffered widespread damage last year in record-setting heat.

Waters have reached 29,7°C around the U.S. Virgin Islands and 29,5°C around Puerto Rico - temperatures at which coral can be damaged if waters do not cool after a few weeks - said Al Strong, a scientist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch, in a telephone interview on Monday.

The warning issued Saturday by NOAA urges scuba-dive operators and underwater researchers in the US Caribbean territories to look for coral damage and use caution around the fragile reefs, which are easily damaged by physical contact.
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