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 [...]
Based on a newly conducted study, an independent scientific panel reported today that existing Mississippi River freshwater diversions have not slowed the ongoing loss of Louisiana’s wetlands. Restoration of Louisiana wetlands may only be possible through significant inputs of sediment. In the report, “Mississippi River Freshwater Diversions in Southern Louisiana: Effects on Wetland Vegetation, Soils, [...]
A single-celled plant known as Gambierdiscus is responsible for the most common cause of harmful algae poisoning worldwide: ciguatera. The algae’s potent neurotoxin–called ciguatoxin–is found in over 400 species of fish and is conservatively estimated to sicken more than 50,000 people every year. Two years ago, researchers from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science [...]
Scientists at the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute at the University of Puerto Rico identified locations and size of reef fish spawning aggregations by the sounds they make. The success of many commercially valuable species in the Caribbean requires annual spawning aggregations of reef fishes; aggregation behavior creates extreme vulnerability to overfishing. The scientists developed a [...]
A new interactive map, “Mapping America’s Coral Reefs,” gives casual observers an engaging overview of the nearly 3 million acres of sea floor habitat mapping data produced by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and its partners. This “story” map complements a recent report summarizing NOAA shallow-water coral reef mapping outcomes and results, which [...]
NOAA-funded research in the Caribbean is using the underwater sounds of reef fish, such as groupers, to identify areas where they gather to spawn — a behavior that makes the fish easier to catch and susceptible to overfishing. The research may lead to more precise measures to protect spawning locations and thereby allow a depleted [...]
A new study of Asia’s Coral Triangle, which contains nearly 30 percent of the world’s reefs, shows that when it comes to ensuring a rich and diverse range of species, size matters. “The study suggests that marine protected areas should be as large and diverse as possible,” Peter Etnoyer, a marine biologist at the US [...]
NOAA investigators and their partners embarked on a year-long study to determine the origins of coral polyps and fish species seeding the reefs of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam so that the islands’ officials can take customized measures to protect them from overharvesting or other damage. Using drifting sensors coupled with a computer [...]