New England should see a “moderate” red tide this spring and summer, according a report released this week by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some shellfish harvesting beds might have to be closed in order to prevent people from eating contaminated food and getting sick. Red tide is [...]
The Pew Charitable Trusts organization recently awarded Yimnang Golbuu, CEO and Chief Researcher of the Palau International Coral Reef Center a 2013 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to assess the connectivity of marine protected areas in Palau. PICRC researchers and colleagues developed a hydrodynamic model to track coral and fish larvae as they move through [...]
From the moment they are born, sea turtles fight to survive. Buried alive, they dig themselves out and evade hungry crabs and birds as they crawl to the ocean, where they begin a long and treacherous migration. One out of 1,000 will survive into adulthood. And those that do will bear a toxic burden. Scientists [...]
Science recently declared that new technologies are making remote sensing of the ocean a “new wave” of oceanography. This growing array of lower-cost, high-tech instruments–satellites, robotic gliders, moored sensors, underwater observatories–is transforming the discipline of oceanography, possibly reducing the need for expensive research vessels. A new class of automated biological sensors are nearing readiness and [...]
Coastal areas around New England should prepare for a “moderate” red tide this spring and summer, according to scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This seasonal forecast is based on samples of algal cysts taken from the ocean floor last year as indicators of this year’s bloom severity. For the first time, the team also used [...]
A recent article “Is Global Ocean Sprawl a Cause of Jellyfish Blooms?” proposes one possible cause for the apparent rise in this phenomenon that’s increasingly aggravating residents of coastal areas around the world. In the piece, based partially on research funded by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the authors theorize that a major reason for these [...]
Something good is happening at Georges Bank, a large area off the coast of Massachusetts that separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean: After 22 years, some 6,000 square miles of the sea floor recently reopened for surf clam and ocean quahog fishing. Together, the two bivalve species comprise a multimillion-dollar fishery along [...]
The mysterious red tide toxin that has killed a record number of manatees and brought countless dead fish to Southwest Florida beaches over the past few months could finally have an explanation: The algae that produce the toxin are hungry. A significant new study of the algae, Karenia Brevis (sic), suggests that the organisms release [...]