647
Cleansing waterways of plastic.
557
Sharks inhabit ocean volcano.
609
Carl Safina thinks differently about animals.
312
Conservation divers help sharks.
276
A rare flight of mantas in the Sea of Cortez.
356
430
Marine wildlife rescues required.
396
NOAA manages a system of marine sanctuaries.
348
Shape-shifting marine life.
581
Art installations to save the oceans.
689
Protecting the oceans every day.
344
Marine reserves were a novel idea when they were pioneered on North America's West Coast two decades ago. Now protected zones have been established around the world. Conservation results vary but one reserve in Mexico has proved their promise in spades.
The basic idea behind marine reserves is that they are a designated area of ocean-- based on scientific analysis --where fishing is banned and the natural ability of the marine environment is allowed to restore itself. As fish populations ...
446
In the early 19th century, the "right" whale was the one that didn't run from whaling boats and floated to the surface when harpooned. Records indicate 30,000 of these huge mammals once migrated from the Antarctic to calving grounds along New Zealand coastal coves annually. Hunting of right whales virtually eliminated the species from the southern oceans by the 1840s, as it did to the world's other two subspecies.
[caption id="attachment_5064" align="aligncenter" width="640" ...
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A report on "the next mass extinction" was just released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and several other organizations. The State of the Oceans was submitted to the UN. A video commentary is worth viewing as most folks will still be living to see this event unlike the one that extinguished the dinosaurs:
Ignorance, greed, pollution, and ineffective regulations are the prime culprits. The report concludes that beyond the national 200 mile territorial ...
398
Corals cover less than 1 percent of the world's oceans — an area smaller than France or Germany — but the reefs provide habitat for maybe 25 percent of the world's marine biodiversity. Corals develop from a symbiosis between an algae and a coral polyp, an animal that produces the hard structures of the reef. Only tropical rain forests compete with the volume of life in these marine gardens.
[caption id="attachment_4251" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Philippine coral reef. ...
348
When I was young, I spent many a day fishing with my father and his friends in the mountains. Mostly we trolled about in lakes and reservoirs near California's High Sierra's catching hatchery raised rainbow and brown trout. It was a great thrill for a little guy. I still remember hearing fish stories about "the one that got away" or "it must have been at least twenty pounds" which amazed my ears. Since then, 'fish tales' seem to have become more embellished and have even drawn the attention ...