Missed out on May 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
Oceanography
People and the Sea
Animals and Plants
In Iran, a national plan is being drafted to protect Caspian seals, sharks Read more.
New research begins to unravel the role dust plays in nourishing global ocean ecosystems while helping regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Read more.
Researchers have identified a previously unknown group of bacteria, called UBA868, as key players in the energy cycle of the deep ocean. They are significantly involved in the biogeochemical cycle in the marine layer between 200 and 1000 meters. Read more.
We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half meters long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of x-rays. Researchers used micro-CT scans to peer inside the fossilized stomach remains of a small marine reptile – a plesiosaur nicknamed ‘Eric’ after a song from the comedy group Monty Python – to determine what the creature ate in the lead up to its death. Read more.
For decades, scientists have used the amount of seaweed at the ocean’s surface as a proxy for the health of coral reefs below. However, a new global study of more than 1,200 marine locations over a 16-year period reveals that this approach has been misleading – and may even have hidden signs of reef stress. Read more.
Researchers have embarked on an ambitious global initiative to discover and record marine life hidden in the world’s oceans. Ocean Census aims to identify 100,000 unknown species in the next 10 years, allowing scientists to better understand and protect the deep-sea ecosystem. Read more.
For the first time ever, researchers have been able to track eight fin whales in near real time for five hours, as they swam along a stretch of fibre-optic cable line in the Arctic. The breakthrough suggests that fibre-optic cable networks could be harnessed to help prevent whale deaths by ship strikes. Read more.
A new study has found humpback whales sing louder when the wind is noisy, but don’t have the same reaction to boat engines. Read more.
In the autumn, when right whales swim towards the coasts of South Africa, they ought to be fat and stuffed full. But in recent years, they have become thinner because their food is disappearing with the melting sea ice. Read more.
Scalloped hammerhead sharks hold their breath to keep their bodies warm during deep dives into cold water where they hunt prey such as deep sea squids. This discovery provides important new insights into the physiology and ecology of a species that serves as an important link between the deep and shallow water habitats. Read more.
One of the basic and crucial embryonic processes to unfold in virtually every living organism is the formation of hollow, tubular structures that go on to form blood vessels or a digestive tract, and through branching and differentiation, complex organs including the heart and kidneys. This study illuminates fundamental design principles of tubulogenesis for all chordates, including mammals. Read more.
Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new research shows – for the first time – that some of Earth’s earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived. Read more.
Rare video shows courtship ritual of threatened sharks. Brendan Talwar and a research team were studying oceanic whitetip sharks off the Bahamas when they were surprised to see a pair of courting sharks glide gracefully under the boat in unison. Read more.
Scientists have released more than 300 baby seahorses into waters north of Newcastle in a bid to save Australia’s only seahorse species on the endangered list. White’s seahorse used to be a common sight in Sydney Harbour and the waters of Port Stephens, but in recent years the numbers have declined dramatically. Read more.
Dubai Reefs bills itself as the world’s largest ocean restoration project; if built it would consist of 77 square miles of artificial reef that will create a home for more than one billion corals and 100 million mangrove trees. Read more.
New Research Reveals an Unexpected Growth Spurt in California Sea Lions Read more.
Gene switches help juvenile “Nemo” fish adapt their physiology to a new life on the coral reef Read more.
A study of eelgrass meadows planted by researchers from the University of Gothenburg shows that fauna return rapidly once the eelgrass has started to grow. Already after the second summer, the biodiversity in the planted meadow was almost the same as in old established eelgrass meadows. Read more.
An unexpected visitor spotted sunbathing on a beach in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is turning heads and causing a media buzz. But it’s not American film director and Tel Aviv mainstay, Quentin Tarantino, or another Hollywood celebrity — it’s Yulia, an endangered Mediterranean monk seal. Read more.
Seawater is full of bacteria, hundreds of thousands live in every liter. But the sheer number of bacteria living in the water does not necessarily mean a lot. More important is how active they are and how quickly they duplicate. Read more.
Little is known about the ecological relationship of Vibrio bacteria with Sargassum. Evidence also is sparse as to whether vibrios colonizing plastic marine debris and Sargassum could potentially infect humans. As summer kicks off and efforts are underway to find solutions to repurpose Sargassum, could these substrates pose a triple threat to public health? Results of a study representing the first Vibrio spp. genome assembled from plastic finds Vibrio pathogens have the unique ability to ‘stick’ to microplastics, harboring potent opportunistic pathogens. Read more.
Researchers investigated how the jaw shape of sharks has changed over the course of evolution. Their conclusion: in the most widespread shark species, the jaws show relatively little variation in shape over millions of years; most variable jaws were found for deep-sea sharks. Read more.
Inspired by clam fishermen reports, researchers used passive acoustic telemetry to gauge the interactions between two highly mobile rays. They monitored the tagged rays in the wild over two years to see how often and when they visited clam leases, designated underwater locations used to produce hard clams of all sizes from littlenecks to chowders. Results provide both good news and bad news for clammers. Rays spent even more time in these clam lease sites than clammers reported or suspected, but it’s not necessarily where they prefer hanging out. Read more.
Scientists have discovered a new species of mosasaur, a sea-dwelling lizard from the age of the dinosaurs, with strange, ridged teeth unlike those of any known reptile. Along with other recent finds from Africa, it suggests that mosasaurs and other marine reptiles were evolving rapidly up until 66 million years ago, when they were wiped out by an asteroid along with the dinosaurs and around 90% of all species on Earth. Read more.
A huge, mineral-rich region of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is attracting major international interest because of its potential for deep-sea mining, including for minerals essential to renewable energy technology. But scientists warn that the risks to biodiversity may be higher than previously realized. Read more.
Gulls choose what to eat by watching humans, study suggests. Research on gulls in Brighton found birds can work out which scraps are worth snaffling by watching what humans are eating. Read more.
Described as “groundbreaking” by a team of researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this previously unknown process accounts for between 7% to 25% of all the oxygen produced and carbon fixed in the ocean. When also considering photosynthesis occuring on land, researchers estimated that this mechanism could be responsible for generating up to 12% of the oxygen on the entire planet. Read more.
Biologists reveals how coral cells tag friendly algae before ingesting them, initiating a mutually beneficial relationship. This information could guide next-level coral conservation efforts. Read more.
Species known as marine habitat-forming species – gorgonians, corals, algae, seaweeds, marine phanerogams, etc.– are organisms that help generate and structure the underwater landscapes. These are natural refuges for other species, and provide biomass and complexity to the seabeds. But these key species in marine ecosystems are currently threatened by climate change and other perturbations derived from human activity. Now, a study warns that even in the marine protected areas (MPAs) the genetic diversity of structural species is not protected, although it is essential for the response and adaptation of populations to changes that alter the natural environment. Read more.
Climate Crisis
Life in the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’ could decline dramatically due to climate change, new research suggests. Read more.
In the face of global warming and other environmental changes, corals in the Atlantic Ocean have declined precipitously in recent years, while corals in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are faring better. By describing several species of symbiotic algae that these corals need to grow, an international team has found that these mutualistic relationships from the Indo-Pacific may be more flexible and ultimately resilient to higher ocean temperatures than those in the Atlantic. Read more.
A new paper authored by scientists from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa provides insights on one of the most important factors in the Southern Oceanic carbon cycle, the “biological pump,” where carbon is used by organisms at the surface and transferred to ocean depths, away from contact with the atmosphere. Read more.
International experts, researchers and EU Commission policymakers gathered for the UNESCO Integrated Ocean Carbon Research (IOC-R) workshop in Brussels, Belgium, to drive forward integrated ocean carbon research that underpins effective decision-making and climate action. Read more.
Scientists examining pteropod (sea butterfly) life cycles in the Southern Ocean find that some species might be more vulnerable to ocean change than others. Read more.
The ground beneath Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier has now been mapped, helping scientists to better understand how it is being affected by climate change. Analysis of the geology below the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica shows there is less sedimentary rock than expected – a finding that could affect how the ice slides and melts in the coming decades. Read more.
Researchers are proposing a novel pathway through which coastal ecosystem restoration can permanently capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Seagrass and mangroves – known as blue carbon ecosystems – naturally capture carbon through photosynthesis, which converts carbon dioxide into living tissue. Read more.
Fisheries and Aquaculture
A recent study quantified the number of harmful fisheries subsidies that support fishing in the high seas, domestic and foreign waters and found that between 20 and 37 per cent of these subsidies supported fishing in waters outside the jurisdictions of their home nation. Further, these subsidies also primarily originated from developed nations, yet disproportionately impacted developing countries, leading to environmental and societal impacts all around the globe. Read more.
Researchers, including from NTNU, are breeding bacteria-free fish fry. This pursuit is more important than you might think. “We’re managing to keep the fry bacteria-free for up to 12 weeks after the eggs hatch,” says Ingrid Bakke. She is a professor at NTNU’s Department of Biotechnology and Food Science. Read more.
Along the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, scientists, engineers, and fishermen are working feverishly to develop a new, high-tech way to harvest lobster – and the result could be the key to the survival of both the U.S. lobster fishery and the imperiled North Atlantic right whale. Read more.
The European Commission has launched a new website on EU Fishing Authorisations. Users can now search for data on fishing authorisations that have been granted during the last 10 years for EU vessels fishing outside EU waters and for non-EU vessels fishing in EU waters. Read more.
The Australian Government must step in to increase traceability and transparency requirements for the seafood industry to protect consumers, the Australian Marine Conservation Society said after new research showed unwillingness from some in the industry. Read more.
“Very high” levels of E coli found in oysters and mussels have led to the closure of 11 shellfish production zones in Cornwall. The main sources of faecal contamination are generally agriculture, sewage and urban pollution, according to the Environment Agency. Read more.
In the first-ever ‘before and after’ assessment of the impact of establishing Mexico’s Revillagigedo National Park on the fishing industry, a team of US and Mexican researchers found that Mexico’s industrial fishing sector did not incur economic losses five years after the park’s creation despite a full ban in fishing activity within the MPA. Read more.
Marine Technology
Zelim, a Scottish search and rescue (SAR) technology company, has developed the Guardian class of fast rescue craft controlled by Sea Machines Robotics’ SM300 autonomous command and control marine self-piloting system. Zelim, a Scottish search and rescue (SAR) technology company, has developed the Guardian class of fast rescue craft controlled by Sea Machines Robotics’ SM300 autonomous command and control marine self-piloting system. Read more.
The AIMS ReefWorks inshore test range, near Townsville in north Queensland, was granted regulatory sandbox approval for uncrewed vessels from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). The five-year agreement allows for permit-free testing and evaluation of vessels up to 12m in length, travelling up to 20 knots within the test range. Read more.
One of the newest and fastest submarine rescue vehicles (SRVs), capable of carrying up to 17 people, has been deployed in the Western Pacific. Read more.
Part of Phase II of the GMES & Africa programme, the MarCOSIO Consortium leverages satellite data to provide decision support tools for marine and coastal management. One key service they offer focuses on detecting and monitoring algal blooms, enabling aquaculturalists to make informed decisions about the running of their operations. Read more.
For the first time, anewly published artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is allowing researchers to quickly and accurately estimate coastal fish stocks without ever entering the water. This breakthrough could save millions of dollars in annual research and monitoring costs while bringing data access to least-developed countries about the sustainability of their fish stocks. Read more.
Computer scientists and oceanographers developed a machine-learning model that generates more accurate predictions about the velocities of ocean currents. The model could help make more precise weather forecasts or effectively predict how oil will spread after a spill. Read more.
Imagine a co-op experience in which Northeastern University students live for weeks at a time in the world’s largest undersea science station, venturing into the surrounding Caribbean waters on daily scuba dives. This type of experiential learning is one step closer to reality thanks to an agreement between Northeastern and the developer of the underwater station, Proteus Ocean Group. Read more.
Removing trash from the ocean may not be as harmless as it seems. That’s the conclusion of new research, which finds that marine dumps known as “garbage patches” are home to countless delicate creatures that could perish when people scoop debris from the sea. Read more.
Keeping an ear out for whales. Scientists look to safeguard the mammals with robotic buoys in the New York Bight. Read more.
Automating Exploration: A conversation with Amy Phung. “This VR system is a really enabling technology,” she says. “I don’t want to claim too much, but with more careful research, it could help enable oceanographers with impaired vision, hearing, or mobility become more involved with ship-based operations.” Read more.
Oceanography
Time and tide wash up message in a bottle after 3 years at sea Read more.
Scientists from St Andrews and Cardiff Universities, along with international colleagues, have discovered the source of warm super salty water that rushed up the Atlantic 15,000 years ago, ushering in the end of the last ice age. Read more.
The most recent sea level data from the U.S.-European satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich indicates early signs of a developing El Niño across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The data shows Kelvin waves – which are roughly 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) high at the ocean surface and hundreds of miles wide – moving from west to east along the equator toward the west coast of South America. Read more.
By combining the scientific powerhouses of genetics and geology, researchers have identified a new area of coastal uplift, which had been hiding in plain sight. Read more.
About 13,000 years ago, a climate crisis caused a global drop in temperatures in the northern hemisphere. This episode of intense cold, known as the Younger Dryas, also caused severe aridity across the Mediterranean basin, which had a major impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. But what do we know about the impact of this climate change on water circulation in the Mediterranean? Read more.
Scientists found weak, biologically-rich layers of sediments hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor which crumbled as oceans warmed and ice sheets declined. The landslides were discovered in the eastern Ross Sea in 2017, by an international team of scientists during the Italian ODYSSEA expedition, and scientists revisited the area in 2018 as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 where they collected sediment cores to understand what caused them. Read more.
Scientists have successfully conducted a simultaneous marine and atmospheric measurements at multiple locations directly beneath a violent, Category 5, which is the strongest class, typhoon in the North-West Pacific, before it reached land. Read more.
People and the Sea
Hobby fisherman and artist, 86-year-old Tony Chatowsky of Aquidneck Island, recently fulfilled one of his dreams, to open up a museum to display his life’s work (fish prints). Read more.
As the Arctic warms and loses sea ice, trans-Arctic shipping has increased, reducing travel time and costs for international trade. However, a new study finds that the Arctic Ocean is getting foggier as ice disappears, reducing visibility and causing costly delays as ships slow to avoid hitting dangerous sea ice. Read more.
A new agreement between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Charles Darwin University (CDU) will boost Australia’s Northern Territory’s marine science research capabilities. Read more.
Following the EMFAF call for proposals on Women in the Blue Economy, CINEA has awarded EU grants to two projects with the objective of bridging the gender gap in the blue economy. Read more.
A CSIRO project team aboard our research vessel (RV) Investigator has confirmed the resting place of the MV Blythe Star, nearly 50 years after the vessel disappeared at sea. Read more.
UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Review 2023, published on 8 May, analyzes the world’s ocean economy – worth an estimated U$3-6 trillion – and assesses how human activity and multiple global crises have significantly affected different sectors, including fishing, seafood, shipping and coastal tourism. The report, presented at the 3rd UN Trade Forum, calls for a global trade, investment and innovation “Blue Deal” to sustainably use our ocean, home to 80% of all life. It builds on the recommendations from the 4th UN Oceans Forum and the 2nd UN Ocean Conference held in 2022. Read more.
Inspired by the environmental epic “Avatar: The Way of Water”, which is vying for the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards on March 12, James Borton of Johns Hopkins University recalls his time with the fisherfolk of Cu Lao Cham in Vietnam, who revere the sea from which they derive their livelihood. Read more.
Montreal protocol is delaying first ice-free Arctic summer. New research shows that the 1987 global treaty, designed to protect the ozone layer, has postponed the occurrence of the first ice-free Arctic by as much as 15 years. Read more.
A Fjordarium with a literal window to the ocean is at the heart of a proposed development in Oslo, with the plans forming ‘an important part of the regeneration and conservation of the fjords of Norway’ Read more.
European Blue Economy report 2023: economic crisis takes a toll but doesn’t stop the growth. The European Blue Economy report is a compass to help decision-makers and stakeholders navigate the waters of the European blue economy. The 2023 edition of the report highlights the evolution of the blue economy sectors since 2010. It shows that despite the negative impact of the COVID19 pandemic and the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, most of the analysed sectors increased their economic performances. Read more.
The economic output of Australia’s marine industry continued to grow despite the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on some sub-sectors, a new report released today by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) shows. The AIMS Index of Marine Industry 2023 is the latest assessment of the contribution of Australia’s marine sector to the national economy, using data from the 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years. Read more.
Seaside residents and holidaymakers have felt it for centuries, but scientists have only recently started to investigate possible health benefits of the coast. Using data from 15 countries, new research confirms public intuition: Living near, but especially visiting, the seaside is associated with better health regardless of country or personal income. Read more.