Ocean, Gulf, Seas News, What you need to know

Here's something you don't see every day — hundreds of new islands have been discovered around the world.

The Earth has 657 more barrier islands than previously thought, according to a new global survey by researchers from Duke University and Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C.

The researchers identified a total of 2,149 barrier islands worldwide using satellite images, topographical maps and navigational charts. The new total is significantly higher than the 1,492 islands identified in a 2001 survey conducted without the aid of publicly available satellite imagery. (Read more)

Japan Nuke Plant Dumps Millions of Gallons of Radioactive Water Into Pacific

AOL News, Apr 4, 2011

TOKYO -- Workers began pumping more than 3 million gallons of contaminated water from Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean on Monday, freeing storage space for even more highly radioactive water that has hampered efforts to stabilize the reactors.

It will take about two days to pump most of the less-radioactive water out of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, whose cooling systems were knocked out by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Radioactivity is quickly diluted in the ocean, and government officials said the dump should not affect the safety of seafood in the area.

(Read more)

Indian Ocean Corals Walloped by Warming

By Julia Whitty, Mon Aug. 16, 2010

A dramatic rise in sea surface temperatures off Indonesian has resulted in a large-scale coral bleaching event and the death of up to 80 percent of coral cover. Rising water temperatures stress corals. If stressed enough, they expel their plant symbionts: the zooxanthellae that give corals color and perform many of their important metabolic activities. Without their plant partners, corals weaken and will eventually die. (Read more)

Holder Emphasizes 11 Dead When Discussing DOJ Investigation of BP Disaster

By: emptywheel Tuesday June 1, 2010 1:50 pm

While it is not news that DOJ is conducting an investigation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Eric Holder’s speech in New Orleans about the spill reiterated that DOJ is doing so. I’m most interested in the particular emphasis Holder placed on the 11 men who died in the explosion.

Greenpeace activists scale BP's London headquarters in oil protest

Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010 11.19 BST
Article history

Campaigners unfurl flag calling company British Polluters in protest over Gulf of Mexico disaster
Two activists scaled the BP building in London today in protest at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The Greenpeace campaigners hoisted a flag depicting the multinational's logo smothered in oil and emblazoned with the words "British Polluters" from a balcony above the entrance of the company's UK headquarters in St James's Square, near Pall Mall.

Scientists say Florida's Coral Reef has Diminished by Over 50 Percent

By Zulima Palacio
Key Largo, Florida
27 June 2009

Tourism and sport fishing represent a multimillion dollar industry for the Florida Keys. But according to experts, the coral reef there has diminished more than 50 percent, and the fish count within the reef is now at its lowest level.

The Florida Keys are a favorite tourist destination. It's fishing, warm weather, beaches and marine life together comprise a multi-million dollar industry, but the changes taking place beneath the waters threaten the industry.

Margaret Miller is a coral reef researcher at the National marine Fisheries Service.

"For the Florida Keys' reefs, overall, the live coral cover has diminished by 50 to 80 percent in the past 10 years," she said.

Many factors have influenced the decline of the coral reef, including pollution, climate change, coastal developments like housing and shopping centers and over-fishing. Miller says all those factors leave coral reefs weak and unable to recover from illnesses that scientists do not yet know how to cure. Sadly, she adds, studying coral populations during the last decade has meant watching them die. Source: VOAnews.com

Merchant ships top list of polluters in world oceans

Written by Cosmas Butunyi
May 07, 2009

Merchant ships have been blamed for contributing to littering of the world’s oceans. According to the report, there are 640,000 tonnes of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear in oceans, accounting for 10 per cent of all marine litter. Full story at: Business Daily

For the World's Oceans - A Disturbing Early Warning

Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009 11:30 AM by Sam Singal
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent

Will Howard used to think the biggest threat to the World's oceans came from the things you could see - like the detritus clogging so many our estuaries and coastal regions. Now he's found new evidence of how invisible changes in the chemistry of the water pose a disturbing new threat to life in the oceans. Full story at: NBC

Bush On Environment

10 January 2009

The United States has recently shown bold environmental leadership by designating vast tracts of territory in the Pacific Ocean as protected habitats.

President George Bush set aside 3 huge areas as new marine national monuments, and in doing so created the world’s largest marine protected reserve system, conserving reefs, atolls and underwater formations that are home to a stunningly diverse array of unique species.

The first area is the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. It encompasses the deepest point on Earth and the surrounding arc of undersea volcanoes and thermal vents. This unique geological region supports life in some of the harshest conditions imaginable and is the only known location of liquid sulfur this side of Jupiter. By studying these pristine waters, scientists can advance our understanding of tropical marine ecosystems.

The second new monument is the Pacific Remote Islands. It spans 7 areas to the far south and west of Hawaii. One is Wake Island -- the site of a pivotal battle in World War II and a key habitat for nesting seabirds and migratory shorebirds. The region includes some of the most pristine and spectacular coral reefs in the world.

The Rose Atoll Marine National Monument is the third area to be set aside for its scientific significance. Rose is a diamond-shaped island to the east of American Samoa and is home to colonies of rare sea birds.

Taken together, these 3 new national monuments cover nearly 200,000 square miles of federally protected land and sea. These steps among others, said President Bush, "are the capstone of an 8-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation."

"With all these steps," said President Bush, "we have charted the way toward a more promising era in environmental stewardship."

Source: VOAnews.com

Map shows toll on world's oceans

By Helen Briggs, Science reporter, BBC News, Boston
13 February 2008

Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas.A study in Science journal says climate change, fishing, pollution and other human factors have exacted a heavy toll on almost half of the marine waters. Full story at: BBC

http://rozsavage.com/blog/

BS bottom

BS end of content

End of Page Content

BS end of body