Missed out on April 2023’s ocean news? Here’s a glimpse into what went down in Davy Jones’ Locker this month.
Sections
Animals and Plants
Climate
Crisis
Fisheries and
Aquaculture
Marine
Technology
People and the
Sea
Animals and Plants
Scientists have filmed a fish swimming at an extraordinary depth in the ocean, making it the deepest observation of this nature that has ever been made. The species - a type of snailfish of the genus Pseudoliparis - was filmed swimming at 8,336m (27,349ft). Read more.
Coral eDNA has been accurately detected in seawater samples, and this has huge implications for coral reef conservation, says researchers. Read more.
Researchers with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered the first effective bacterial probiotic for treating and preventing stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), a mysterious ailment that has devastated Florida’s coral reefs since 2014 and is rapidly spreading throughout the Caribbean. Read more.
Research in Moorea shows the presence of coral skeletons influences reef recovery after bleaching Read more.
Biologists have explored the genetic mechanisms underlying the transition from freezing Antarctic waters to more temperature waters by Antarctic Notothenioid fish. Read more.
A transient orca with a “cult following” among whale watchers thanks to a tell-tale dorsal fin has been spotted near Boundary Pass in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. Chainsaw, as the male killer whale is known in the whale-watching community, was seen Tuesday morning travelling alongside his mother and another family of orcas. Read more.
The faeces of coral-eating fish may act as “probiotics” for reefs, according to a study. Previously it was thought that corallivore – fish such as pufferfish, parrotfish and butterfly fish that eat coral – weakened marine surfaces. But new research suggests that by eating some parts of the coral and then pooing in different areas of the reef, they are part of a cycle that redistributes beneficial microbes that can help coral thrive. Read more.
Until now, most studies of fungi have focused on their role in marine disease. But according to research done at EPFL, these fungi may also help protect coral reefs against climate change. Read more.
A report published this April by Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Natural England has revealed that St Austell Bay supports the largest known subtidal seagrass bed in Cornwall – and is one of the largest known seagrass beds in the UK. Read more.
Living in shallow ocean waters off a third of the world’s coastlines are vibrant jungles of brown seaweed called kelp forests. These underwater canopies support a wealth of biodiversity and, according to new estimates, could be worth quite a bit themselves. Read more.
Almost two decades of whale recordings suggest the movements of the pygmy blue whale are affected by climate cycles. Read more.
Scientists find dramatic fall in population of red-throated loons in the North Sea before and after offshore wind farms were installed. Read more.
NOAA announced it is starting the process to potentially designate a new national marine sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands area. Read more.
Scientists Aboard R/V Atlantis Discover Pristine Deep-Sea Coral Reefs in the Galápagos Marine Reserve. The reefs are located at depths between 400-600 m, atop previously unmapped seamounts. Read more.
A multidisciplinary team of scientists say they have discovered three new hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor along an underwater mountain range—the first of these kinds of vents discovered in decades. Read more.
Scientists doing a routine survey of fish off the coast of Ireland threw their net overboard and towed it along behind the boat. When they hauled in their catch, they found a deep-sea creature inside — and discovered a new species. Read more.
A major rescue effort was sparked after a Far North woman stumbled across a large pod of dolphins stranded on a stretch of Ahipara coastline in New Zealand. Kaitāia Operations Manager Meirene Hardy-Birch said 25 rough-toothed dolphins were stranded on a reef at Tauroa Point, at the southern end of Ninety Mile Beach. Read more.
Humpback whales will use sandy, shallow bay areas to ‘roll’ around in sandy substrates to remove dead skin cells on their return journeys south to cooler waters. Using data and footage collected from the tags, whales were observed performing full and side rolls in up to 49m water depth on the sea floor that was lined with fine sand or rubble. Read more.
For the first time, scientists have recorded brain activity in a free-ranging, wild marine mammal, revealing the sleep habits of elephant seals during the months they spend at sea. The new findings show that while elephant seals may spend 10 hours a day sleeping on the beach during the breeding season, they average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea on months-long foraging trips. They sleep for about 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives, often spiraling downward while fast asleep, and sometimes lying motionless on the seafloor. Read more.
Imagine the view from the western coastline of southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) over twenty thousand years ago: in the distance you would see at least fifteen large islands – the largest 300 square kilometers in area – swarming with hundreds of millions of marine birds and penguin colonies. Read more.
The search for the 2022 killer that decimated the long-spined sea urchin population in the Caribbean and along Florida’s east coast is over. A team of researchers identified a single-celled organism called a ciliate as the cause of a massive die-off event to a marine animal vital to coral reef health. Read more.
For several years, a team of researchers used underwater microphones to listen for seals at the edge of the Antarctic. Their initial findings indicate that sea-ice retreat has had significant effects on the animals’ behavior: when the ice disappears, areas normally full of vocalizations become very quiet. Read more.
Some of the most extraordinary body transformations in evolution have occurred in animals that adapted to life in water from land-living ancestors, such as modern whales, turtles and seals. During the Mesozoic, from 252 to 66 million years ago, while the dinosaurs stomped about on land, many groups of reptiles took to the seas, such as the iconic ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, crocodiles and mosasaurs. Read more.
The alga Melosira arctica, which grows under Arctic sea ice, contains ten times as many microplastic particles as the surrounding seawater. This concentration at the base of the food web poses a threat to creatures that feed on the algae at the sea surface. Clumps of dead algae also transport the plastic with its pollutants particularly quickly into the deep sea – and can thus explain the high microplastic concentrations in the sediment there. Read more.
The pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is the smallest of all baleen whales although it can grow to six metres in length and weigh up to three tons. The species occurs circumpolar in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Hemisphere, and only a handful of sightings have been reported thus far. It is considered to be the last surviving member of an otherwise extinct branch of baleen whales and has received little to no attention from the scientific community. However, its genetic material could provide interesting information for cancer research, as a team of scientists from Frankfurt and Lund, Sweden, has now discovered. Read more.
Scientists say they spotted more than 13 million tons of Sargassum, a yellowish-brown seaweed, drifting in the Atlantic Ocean last month — a record for the month of March. Read more.
ICES published a revised Ecosystem Overview for the Greenland Sea ecoregion. Read more.
We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half metres long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of x-rays and a team of scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI). Read more.
Climate Crisis
Rapidly melting Antarctic ice is causing a dramatic slowdown in deep ocean currents and could have a disastrous effect on the climate, a new report warns. Read more.
Right whales are hanging out around Cape Cod, USA for longer than ever. The reason may be linked to climate change Read more.
The oceans are heating up, and just 3°C of warming could significantly impact the development and growth of clownfish larvae, a new study finds. Read more.
Marine predators have expanded their ranges into the Arctic waters over the last twenty years, driven by climate change and associated increases in productivity. Read more.
A groundbreaking three-year study in the South Pacific has found evidence that ocean warming can trigger outbreaks of ‘dinoflagellate-infecting RNA viruses’ that attack symbiotic algae inside corals. Coral reef viruses have gained greater attention since being implicated in 2021 as a possible cause of stony coral tissue loss disease that has decimated Florida and Caribbean reefs for almost a decade. Read more.
Ice sheets can retreat up to 600 meters a day during periods of climate warming, 20 times faster than the highest rate of retreat previously measured. An international team of researchers used high-resolution imagery of the seafloor to reveal just how quickly a former ice sheet that extended from Norway retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago. Read more.
Multiple new studies highlight a rate of sea level rise that is ‘unprecedented in at least 120 years’ along the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. coast Read more.
The Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS) and the Blue Flag Programme cooperate on the coastal tourism adaptation to climate change. Read more.
Sea-level rises caused by global warming could flood sea turtle nesting beaches in Australia, several Caribbean islands, Costa Rica and the USA. Read more.
It’s coming. Winds are weakening along the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Heat is building beneath the ocean surface. By July, most forecast models agree that the climate system’s biggest player – El Niño – will return for the first time in nearly four years. Read more.
Anthropogenic climate change has, together with the intensive use and destruction of natural ecosystems through agriculture, fishing and industry, sparked an unprecedented loss of biodiversity that continues to worsen. In this regard, the climate crisis and biodiversity crisis are often viewed as two separate catastrophes. An international team of researchers calls for adopting a new perspective. Read more.
Over the past two hundred years, the ocean and atmosphere have been accumulating massive amounts of carbon dioxide as factories, automobiles, airplanes, and more churn out the powerful greenhouse gas. Two articles published recently in Nature by University of Hawai’i at Manoa oceanographers provide a reality check on the limitations of carbon dioxide removal and a warning that marine heatwaves need clear definitions so communities can adapt. Read more.
The seven worst years for polar ice sheets melting and losing ice have occurred during the past decade, according to new research, with 2019 being the worst year on record. The seven worst years for polar ice sheets melting and losing ice have occurred during the past decade, according to new research, with 2019 being the worst year on record. The melting ice sheets now account for a quarter of all sea level rise – a fivefold increase since the 1990’s – according to researchers who have combined 50 satellite surveys of Antarctica and Greenland taken between 1992 and 2020, funded by NASA and the European Space Agency. Read more.
In parts of California’s iconic mountainous coasts, breathtaking beauty is punctuated by brusque signs warning spectators to stay back from unstable cliffs. The dangers of coastal erosion are an all-too-familiar reality for the modern residents of these communities. Now, with a new tool, researchers are bringing historical perspective to the hotly debated topic of how to manage these disappearing coastlines. Read more.
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Our Fish is calling on all EU Member States, particularly those with important small-scale fishing fleets, such as Spain, France and Germany, to support the introduction of appropriate fuel tax for the fishing industry in the revision of the EU Energy Taxation Directive, as a new report shows that by cutting fuel subsidies, the EU could have instead generated between €653 million and €1.4 billion in annual revenue, and used it to pay the salaries of twenty thousand fishers or fund over six thousand energy reduction & decarbonisation projects. Read more.
France’s Council of State has ordered the closure of certain fisheries during specific times of the year in a bid to lower the rising number of dolphin deaths. Read more.
A handful of Rhode Island lobster fishermen are working this season with federal regulators to use and study some complex and early stage equipment that is intended, eventually, to greatly reduce entanglements and deaths of whales. Read more.
The United States deposited its instrument of acceptance for the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on 11 April, making it the fourth WTO member, and the first among the large fishing nations, to do so. Read more.
As the 2023 fishing season begins, Oceana Canada is urging Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to fulfill its mandate to manage Canada’s fisheries and oceans responsibly amid a global and national fisheries crisis by following the law, policy and science for all diminished fisheries. Read more.
Under the RRA mandate, Canada and Abegweit First Nation have negotiated a Collaborative Fisheries Management Agreement that will allow for the provision of funding to Abegweit for the implementation and governance related to its fisheries management activities. Read more.
The standing committee on fisheries and oceans is recommending that the federal government relax the fishing closures it imposes when endangered North Atlantic right whales are sighted in Canadian waters. Read more.
Mexico takes aim against marine animals’ trafficking but criminal networks persist. Steps to protect the totoaba fish and vaquita porpoise come after the country was sanctioned, but they are being challenged by those intent on selling the fish. Read more.
Cefas have released a new report looking at how UK fisheries could move towards net zero carbon by 2050. Read more.
ICES published advice on areas where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur in EU waters. Five spatial management scenarios are presented for VME protection in EU waters (based on new and updated information from 2022) in areas where VMEs are known to occur or likely to occur, as well as on new and updated information on mobile bottom-contacting gear fishing activity up to and including 2021. Four of the five scenarios are updated from previous ICES advice, while the fifth is new. In this advice, the total number and areal extent of VMEs protection polygons ranged from 102–115 and 9752–14885 km2 among scenarios. Read more.
Marine Technology
Current methods to monitor red tide are limited. Using AUTOHOLO, a new autonomous, submersible, 3D holographic microscope and imaging system, a study is the first to characterize red tide in the field and breaks new ground for monitoring harmful algal blooms. Read more.
Norwegian oil and gas companies are now plugging and abandoning production wells using an artificial ‘lava’. So far, the results have been excellent. Recent laboratory results indicate that the same method can be used to seal subsurface CO2 storage reservoirs. Read more.
‘Jet packs’ and ultrasounds could reveal secrets of pregnant whale sharks Read more.
Discovering a 207-year-old whaling ship, advancing air-quality forecasts, improving storm surge and wind forecasts, and deploying the first-ever drone-based tagging of endangered whales. These are a few of NOAA’s many notable scientific accomplishments from the past year that are featured in the 2022 NOAA Science Report, which emphasizes a wide range of impacts that NOAA science advancements have on the lives of Americans. Read more.
In Canada, B.C.-based “blue” technology and innovation is creating jobs for British Columbians, building a sustainable ocean economy, cutting the cost of ocean research and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Read more.
A research team has demonstrated a unique method that reduces the aerodynamic resistance of ships by 7.5 per cent. This opens the way for large cargo ships borne across the oceans by wind alone, as wind-powered ships are more affected by aerodynamic drag than fossil-fueled ones. Read more.
Researchers have proposed a novel solution to coastal erosion - by deploying pendulums in the ocean. Called the MetaReef project, it is led by a team of scientists from the Italian National Research Council’s Institute of Marine Science. Read more.
The consenting process for major British infrastructure like energy generation schemes and new water infrastructure could be slashed by two-thirds by implementing more robust governance and streamlining reporting on social and environmental impacts. Read more.
You’d think an underwater observatory that weighs over a ton, is the size of a car and is tethered to fibre optic cable would stay put on the sea floor of Holyrood Arm, right? Well, it hasn’t — and researchers at the Marine Institute are left trying to figure out who, or what, moved it. Read more.
Another giant leap into space: Successful launch of Lumelite-4 to enhance maritime communications. The microsatellite will test the VDES technology for potential maritime applications, such as real-time maritime traffic and asset tracking for better predictive analysis, as well as secured and reliable ship-to-ship or ship-to-port communication Read more.
Object-oriented classification of fused Sentinel images can significantly improve the accuracy of mangrove land use/land cover classification. Read more.
The Office of Naval Research has been testing the capabilities of the Deep Sea Expeditionary with No Decompression (DSEND) system, which includes a hardened yet lightweight atmospheric dive suit featuring rotating, detachable joints allowing for greater dexterity, flexibility and maneuverability. Read more.
Roboticists have developed a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot with which they hope one day to collect waste from the bottom of the ocean. The almost noise-free prototype can trap objects underneath its body without physical contact, thereby enabling safe interactions in delicate environments such as coral reefs. Jellyfish-Bot could become an important tool for environmental remediation. Read more.
People and the Sea
Large numbers of cetaceans are dying from lethal collisions with vessels, even in protected areas. Now science may provide the means to protect them. Read more.
The oldest known colonial-built fishing boat in South Australia is “falling to pieces” at a disused dump, but there is still hope it can be saved. The Rambler was built in Birkenhead in 1878 with Margaret River jarrah, kauri and redgum in the design of a traditional English fishing boat known as a smack. Read more.
Around 180 Ocean professionals and high-level officials convened in Monaco for the 14th edition of the Monaco Blue Initiative (MBI 14) last month to discuss issues related to ocean protection. Read more.
Mackerel populations are declining because of overfishing and the fish is no longer a sustainable food choice, the Marine Conservation Society has said in its new UK guide to sustainable seafood. Read more.
Orkney Island Council and Crown Estate Scotland have unveiled further details of a ground-breaking project aimed at giving Orkney islanders greater say in decisions about the use of the seabed around them. Read more.
The Climate and Environment Ministers of the G7 have agreed a joint statement to tackle global nature loss. Read more.
PCB has been banned in most countries since the 1970s, but that doesn’t mean it no longer exists. Now, deep-sea researchers report that they have found PCB at the bottom of the Atacama Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Read more.