The Protectors Oceans series examines the cutting edge of science and radical thinking at work in tackling the crisis facing the world’s seas. This series reflects the passion of those at the front line of marine biology, and tells the story of the challenges we face as we explore the world’s oceans.
Watch the series here.
Source: Stock Daily Dish
We know a lot about how carbon dioxide (CO2) levels can drive climate change, but how about the way that climate change can cause fluctuations in CO2 levels? New research from an international team of scientists reveals one of the mechanisms by which a colder climate was accompanied by depleted atmospheric CO2 during past ice ages.
Scroll your way down to the deepest depths of the ocean, meeting all the creatures who live there along the way, with this great interactive website from Neal Agarwal!
Visit it here.
Source: The Guardian
Author: Fiona Harvey
Halting overfishing and the plastic pollution of the oceans could help tackle the climate emergency by improving the degraded state of the world’s biggest carbon sink, a report has found.
Continue reading Tackling degraded oceans could mitigate climate crisis
Source: Stuff.co.nz
Author: Amber-Leigh Woolf
Commercial fishers are “bulldozing” ocean floors, says Greenpeace.
Its calculations show that in the 2017-2018 fishing season, New Zealand commercial fishing vessels destroyed up to 3000 tonnes of coral and other vulnerable species through bottom trawling.
Continue reading Fishing vessels ‘bulldozing’ oceans, destroying 3000 tonnes of coral in one year
Source: Business Newswire
Today, NOAA Fisheries issued final regulations to protect more than 140,000 square miles of seafloor habitat off the U.S. West Coast from destructive bottom trawling. Places protected include corals, sponges, rocky reefs and other important areas for marine life and ocean ecosystems. These safeguards for the living seafloor are in response to a vote by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in April 2018 — following years of scientific input and advocacy by Oceana — to more than double the spatial extent of seafloor protections off California, Oregon and Washington from the impacts of bottom trawl fishing gear. Once the new regulations take effect on January 1, 2020, 90 percent of the seafloor in U.S. ocean waters off the West Coast will be off limits to bottom trawling.
Continue reading here.
Source: Gizmodo
Scientists have found deep-sea graphite that might help solve a deep-sea carbonaceous mystery, according to a new study.
Continue reading Deep-Sea Vents Might Solve Mystery of Ancient Ocean Carbon
Source: SciTechDaily
A collaboration between researchers at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Hawai‘i Pacific University (HPU) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revealed for the first time growth rates of deep-sea coral communities and the pattern of colonization by various species.
Continue reading Growth Rates of Deep-Sea Coral Communities Revealed for the First Time
Source: Phys.org
Author: Kim Fulton-Bennett
In the dark depths of the ocean, pretty much the only sources of light are the animals that live there. Whether flashing, glimmering, or emitting glowing liquids, many deep-sea animals are able to produce light (bioluminesce). MBARI researchers recently found that animals that live on the seafloor are much less likely to produce light than those swimming or drifting in the “midwater.”
Source: Mashable
Author: Mark Kaufman
Dean Grubbs thinks great white sharks are boring.
The veteran shark scientist, who has researched different shark species for 30 years, is vastly more intrigued by the little-seen dominant predator of the deep, dark, tropical and temperate oceans: the sixgill shark (most sharks have five gills).
Continue reading Most dominant shark of the deep sea tagged at depth for the first time
