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Ocean News

Scientists say Florida's Coral Reef has Diminished by Over 50 Percent

By Zulima Palacio
Key Largo, Florida
27 June 2009

Tourism and sport fishing represent a multimillion dollar industry for the Florida Keys. But according to experts, the coral reef there has diminished more than 50 percent, and the fish count within the reef is now at its lowest level.

The Florida Keys are a favorite tourist destination. It's fishing, warm weather, beaches and marine life together comprise a multi-million dollar industry, but the changes taking place beneath the waters threaten the industry. 

Margaret Miller is a coral reef researcher at the National marine Fisheries Service.

"For the Florida Keys' reefs, overall, the live coral cover has diminished by 50 to 80 percent in the past 10 years," she said.

Many factors have influenced the decline of the coral reef, including pollution, climate change, coastal developments like housing and shopping centers and over-fishing. Miller says all those factors leave coral reefs weak and unable to recover from illnesses that scientists do not yet know how to cure. Sadly, she adds, studying coral populations during the last decade has meant watching them die. Source: VOAnews.com

Merchant ships top list of polluters in world oceans          

Written by Cosmas Butunyi
May 07, 2009

Merchant ships have been blamed for contributing to littering of the world’s oceans. According to the report, there are 640,000 tonnes of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear in oceans, accounting for 10 per cent of all marine litter. Full story at: Business Daily

For the World's Oceans  - A Disturbing Early Warning

Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:30 AM by Sam Singal
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent

Will Howard used to think the biggest threat to the World's oceans came from the things you could see - like the detritus clogging so many our estuaries and coastal regions. Now he's found new evidence of how invisible changes in the chemistry of the water pose a disturbing new threat to life in the oceans. Full story at: NBC

Bush On Environment

10 January 2009

The United States has recently shown bold environmental leadership by designating vast tracts of territory in the Pacific Ocean as protected habitats. 

President George Bush set aside 3 huge areas as new marine national monuments, and in doing so created the world’s largest marine protected reserve system, conserving reefs, atolls and underwater formations that are home to a stunningly diverse array of unique species.

The first area is the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.  It encompasses the deepest point on Earth and the surrounding arc of undersea volcanoes and thermal vents.  This unique geological region supports life in some of the harshest conditions imaginable and is the only known location of liquid sulfur this side of Jupiter. By studying these pristine waters, scientists can advance our understanding of tropical marine ecosystems.

The second new monument is the Pacific Remote Islands.  It spans 7 areas to the far south and west of Hawaii.  One is Wake Island -- the site of a pivotal battle in World War II and a key habitat for nesting seabirds and migratory shorebirds. The region includes some of the most pristine and spectacular coral reefs in the world.

The Rose Atoll Marine National Monument is the third area to be set aside for its scientific significance.  Rose is a diamond-shaped island to the east of American Samoa and is home to colonies of rare sea birds. 

Taken together, these 3 new national monuments cover nearly 200,000 square miles of federally protected land and sea.  These steps among others, said President Bush, "are the capstone of an 8-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation."

"With all these steps," said President Bush, "we have charted the way toward a more promising era in environmental stewardship."

Source: VOAnews.com

Map shows toll on world's oceans

By Helen Briggs, Science reporter, BBC News, Boston
13 February 2008

Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas.A study in Science journal says climate change, fishing, pollution and other human factors have exacted a heavy toll on almost half of the marine waters. Full story at: BBC