Like Adding'Five to Six Hiroshima Bombs of Heat Each Second,' Study Shows Oceans Warming at Record Rate

CommonDreams

"If you want to understand global warming, you have to measure ocean warming." Story here.

Marine life, fisheries increasingly threatened as the ocean loses oxygen – IUCN report

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

The Daggernose shark, one of several larger species
considered especially vulnerable. A NOAA rendering.

The loss of oxygen from the world’s ocean is increasingly threatening fish species and disrupting ecosystems, a new IUCN report warns. Ocean oxygen loss, driven by climate change and nutrient pollution, is a growing menace to fisheries and species such as tuna, marlin and sharks, according to the report released today at the UN Climate Change conference in Madrid.

Study counts 1.8 million pieces of trash at the bottom of Canada's Bay of Fundy

The National Observer

Daniels Flat (Bay of Fundy)

A survey estimates more than 1.8 million pieces of garbage are strewn over the bottom of the Bay of Fundy, prompting concerns about potential harm to marine life. Story here.

Microplastics found in oysters, clams on Oregon coast, study finds. (Last year, Canadian scientists discovered high levels of microplastics in B.C.’s oyster beds). Is our clothing to blame?

EurekAlert

Pacific oysters, farmed in the U.S.
Photo by NOAA.

Tiny threads of plastics are showing up in Pacific oysters and razor clams along the Oregon coast -- and the yoga pants, fleece jackets, and sweat-wicking clothing that Pacific Northwesterners love to wear are a source of that pollution, according to a new Portland State University study. Story here.

RELATED:

More bad news for the world’s oceans - out of Canada!

The Amazon River: A Major Source of Organic Plastic Additives to the Tropical North Atlantic?

Environmental Science & Technology

The Amazon empties into the Atlantic.
"Flick" Coordenação-Geral de Observação da Terra/INPE

Dissolved surface water concentrations of two important families of plastic additives were found in remarkably high concentrations in the Amazon river plume. Story here.

Why fish ARE getting smaller (Video)

Vid

Ban oil, gas, bottom trawling in CANADA'S marine protected areas, panel urges

THE STAR

Image by NOAA.

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A panel that has spent the year studying marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canada says no oil and gas development, seabed mining, or bottom-trawling fishing should be allowed within their boundaries.

More here.

RELATED:
New research finds that “marine reserves” – tracts of ocean where fishing is banned – are protecting fish, the coral reefs where they live and vast undersea "gardens," a lot more than once thought. By Larry Powell.

Industrial fishing behind plummeting shark numbers

Science News

Research finds marine predators are significantly smaller and much rarer in areas closer to people. Story here.

An ocean "white-tip" shark. Photo by NOAA.

Thirty years of unique data reveal what's really killing coral reefs

Science News
Study is world's longest record of reactive nutrients, alga concentrations for coral reefs. Story here.

Bleached coral. Photo by NOAA.

Canada becomes first G7 country to ban shark fin imports

The Guardian

Shark fins for sale in Canada.
Photo by Hakai MAGAZINE 

• Measure which also bans sale of fins awaits royal assent. Story here.

"Artifishal." The fight to save wild salmon. (Video)

New research finds that “marine reserves” – tracts of ocean where fishing is banned – are protecting fish, the coral reefs where they live and vast undersea "gardens," a lot more than once thought.

Large-scale commercial fishing has, for years, been depleting fish-stocks in many places around the world - especially in coral reefs in the tropics. In response, several countries have designated certain areas of the sea as "marine reserves," where neither fishing nor other development is allowed. Now, a team of scientists from US and Australian universities has produced compelling new evidence. It shows these reserves have not only been helping stocks rebound, but are also protecting massive coral "food webs" - beds of sea-grasses and algae - important reservoirs for carbon storage. 

by Larry Powell

In this satellite photo, "halos" appear as pale blue circular bands 
surrounding tiny dark spots.The spots are likely small patch reefs 
or other shelter for small fish and invertebrates that protect them 
from predators. Each halo is probably about 10 meters wide. 
The more there are, the healthier marine life there is likely to be.

Using hi-rez images from both satellites and underwater cameras, the researchers studied hundreds of small, tropical reefs in the huge Great Barrier Reef complex off Australia. 

Those images detected about two-&-a-half times more halos within the reserves than elsewhere. The more halos, the healthier the reef is considered to be as a home for both fish and invertebrates. 

These pale blue, circular bands surrounding the small dark spots, are where herbivorous, or plant-eating fish and some marine mammals, venture out to graze on surrounding vegetation such as algae or seagrass. Then, they dart back in, using the reefs as protection from the predators. 

The scientists refer to the halos as "seascape-scale footprints" of healthy, increased activity in aquatic life.

Elizabeth M.P. Madin, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor
Hawaii Institute of Marin Biology

University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.

The spokesperson for the study, Dr. Elizabeth Madin (above), tells PinP, "What the halos are telling us is that marine reserves - especially older ones - where predator and herbivore populations have had sufficient time to recover from previous fishing - are protecting key species and their resulting interactions.

"Specifically," she adds, "we’re more likely to see halos in especially older reserves (40 years old or so), which suggests that predators and prey are in sufficient numbers there to interact and cause these halo patterns." 

Since halos can also be found in some ares unprotected from fishing, the team calls for more research to further confirm the connection.

Among groups funding the research were the World Wildlife Fund and the US National Science Foundation.

The findings were published recently in the proceedings of The Royal Society in the UK and in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.  

But the benefits of marine reserves, don't stop here.

"Importantly," Dr. Madin goes on, "we know from another of our studies, that halos affect carbon storage. So, not only are marine reserves re-shaping coral reef landscapes on very large scales in ways we didn’t know about before, but they’re also affecting a key ecosystem service - carbon storage."

She's referring to a truly fascinating undersea scenario in which predator fish actually play a beneficial - albeit indirect - role in carbon sequestration. A healthy habitat means more predators. Their prey, often herbivorous fish or marine mammals, cling to the relative safety of their home reefs and don't venture too far afield to find plants to eat. 

Dugongs, a type of marine mammal, are
known to be capable of decimating sea-grass beds
as they graze. Photo taken in an oceanarium in Jakarta.

This spares massive sea-scapes of algae and sea-grasses nearby, which would otherwise be stripped by the plant-eaters. Instead, the vegetation grows taller and denser, greatly increasing its capacity to store carbon, thus providing a significant buffer against climate change.

Not only are the number of marine reserves growing, worldwide, they're getting bigger, too (some more than 100 thousand km2). Nineteen of these "mega-reserves" have been established since 2009. And happily for the sea-life living there, the research finds, the bigger the reserves, the more protection they offer!

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RELATED: 

• UK Government Adds New Marine Protected Areas Nearly 8x the Size of Greater London
• Study demonstrates seagrass' strong potential for curbing erosion

Reduce plastics! PLEASE SIGN!

Fatal horizon, driven by acidification, closes in on marine organisms in Southern Ocean

PHYS ORG

A tiny sea creature at the California Academy of Sciences. Photo by Brian Skipworth

Marine microorganisms in the Southern Ocean may find themselves in a deadly vise grip by century's end as ocean acidification creates a shallower horizon for life, new University of Colorado Boulder research finds. More here.

A tiny sea creature at the California Academy of Sciences.

Photo by Brian Skipworth

Australia's marine heatwaves provide a glimpse of the new ecological order

The Guardian

An ocean under human siege.
A Pexels photo.

Receding kelp forests, jellyfish blooms and disruption to fisheries are just some of climate change’s impacts on the ocean. Story here.

Oceans that are warming due to climate change yield fewer fish

Science News

A Wikimedia photo.

Some areas have seen up to a 35 percent decline in how many fish can be harvested sustainably.  Story here.

Researchers say Canada’s race to conserve marine biodiversity may backfire

Laurier

Canada’s race to meet biodiversity conservation targets could jeopardize the very goal it is trying to achieve. More here.

Aerial view of the Bunsby marine park. West coast of Vancouver Island. Bc.
Photo by Kiwican

Commercial fishing banned across much of the Arctic

The Guardian

International agreement will protect vast areas of sea that have opened up as the ice melts. Story here.

 Fishboats in Norway. Photo by Kristian Magnus Kenstad.

We must keep single-use plastics out of our oceans.

Greenpeace - More here.

Poster by Jessica - NOAA marine debris program.

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

This NASA image shows the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The dead zone is now approaching an area the size of Manitoba's Lake Winnipeg! More here.