A biologist looks at microplastics found in sea species at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research near Athens, Greece on Nov. 26, 2019. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP via Getty Images
New research suggests there may be far more microplastics in the ocean than initially estimated.
<p>Microplastics, which breakdown into miniscule pieces of plastic are notoriously tricky to catch. Their small size allows them to get buried in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">ocean</a> sediment and to escape through nets.</p><p>Now, a team of researchers, led by scientists at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in England, used a finer net to get a more accurate picture of the amount of plastic in the ocean. Their research suggests the seas may be holding as many as 125 trillion microplastic particles, according to the study published in the journal <em><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253#!" target="_blank">Environmental Pollution</a></em>, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p>
<p>Microplastics are usually defined as tiny pieces of plastic that measure less than five millimeters across. However, despite the abundance of microplastics in the ocean, scientists have actually had a difficult time quantifying and classifying them. Usually, researchers gather samples with nets with a mesh size of 333 micrometers, or 0.333 millimeters, but these do not account for smaller pieces of plastic debris, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p><p>The Plymouth Marine Laboratory scientists, along with researchers from the University of Exeter, used nets with a mesh size of 100 micrometers, or 0.1 millimeters, to get a more accurate picture of the microplastics swirling around coastal waters, according to a University of Exeter <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-underestimating-microplastics-marine-environment.html" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<p>"It is quite well known what impact larger pieces of plastic have on marine animals, like turtles eating plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish, but we wanted to know if microplastics are a problem to smaller marine animals like mussels or zooplankton," said Pennie Lindeque, lead author of the study from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"However, first we needed an accurate picture of how many small microplastics there are in the sea, and what sort of plastic they are. We are interested in really quite small microplastics—around 100 micrometers in size, similar to the width of a human hair—and suspected that the standard sampling methods using a net with pores about 333 micrometers in size, wouldn't give an accurate picture."</p>
<p>The researchers compared the efficacy of a 100 micrometer net to what's collected by a 333 micrometer net and a 500 micrometer net. They found that their net collected 2.5 times as much microplastics as the 333 micrometer mesh net. It collected 10 times more microplastic than a 500 micrometer net, according to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253" target="_blank">study</a>.</p><p>The scientists then extrapolated that data to determine that there are roughly 3,700 pieces of microplastic in one cubic meter. That means that previous global estimates of 5 to 50 trillion particles of microplastics are severely low. The true number, according to the data in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120310253" target="_blank">study</a>, is somewhere between 12.5 and 125 trillion particles.</p>
<p>"There is often a mismatch between the number and type of microplastics used in experimental studies and those found in the natural environment," said Rachel Coppock, Marine Ecologist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and a co-author on the study, in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-underestimating-microplastics-marine-environment.html" target="_blank">statement</a>. "This study confirms that microplastic concentration increases with decreasing size and also provides a framework for determining microplastic concentrations in exposure studies, particularly with animals such as zooplankton that eat micron-sized food."</p><p>The researchers focused on coastal water since that is where microplastics are likely to have the greatest impact on marine life. They sampled the water on both sides of the Atlantic, choosing a spot off the coast of Maine and another in the English Channel, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"I was surprised at the extent that we had been underestimating the microplastic abundance in the marine environment; I was also surprised how consistent the results were on both sides of the North Atlantic, the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the southwest coast of the UK," Lindeque told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/microplastics-ocean-vastly-underestimated-125-trillion-particles-floating-around-1505404" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p>
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Reef scene with crinoid and fish in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Reinhard Dirscherl / ullstein bild / Getty Images
By Elizabeth Claire Alberts
The future for the world's oceans often looks grim. Fisheries are set to collapse by 2048, according to one study, and 8 million tons of plastic pollute the ocean every year, causing considerable damage to delicate marine ecosystems. Yet a new study in Nature offers an alternative, and more optimistic view on the ocean's future: it asserts that the entire marine environment could be substantially rebuilt by 2050, if humanity is able to step up to the challenge.
<p>The key to success, the authors say, is lessening the impact and stresses on the ocean, while restoring damaged ecosystems, and trying to reduce carbon emissions that drive climate change.</p><p>This study examines nine parts of the ocean in detail — salt marshes, mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs, kelp, oyster reefs, fisheries, megafauna, and the deep ocean — and suggests critical and realistic steps that can be taken to restore and protect these areas.</p>
<p>The authors refer to several models of success for reversing the decline of marine life. For instance, the global wildlife trade treaty CITES and and a <a href="https://iwc.int/commercial" target="_blank">1982 moratorium on commercial whaling</a> have reduced hunting of endangered species and helped protect the critical habitats these species depend upon. Depleted <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/managing-fisheries-helps-stocks-recover-most-of-the-time/" target="_blank">fish populations have also rebounded</a> in response to proper management techniques.</p><p>While the study fosters an optimistic view of future ocean health, it concedes that some parts of the ocean will be more difficult to restore. For instance, coral reef systems have the added pressure of <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/great-barrier-reef-suffers-biggest-bleaching-event-yet/" target="_blank">bleaching events</a> due to climate change, and the process of restoring damaged reefs is slow and expensive. However, the study notes that there are efforts to discover coral that's resistant to temperature change and bleaching events.</p><p>Restoring the oceans would be no small feat, and would require stable governmental policies, a large financial investment, and the continued evolution of scientific advances and technologies, the authors say. Action would also need to take place within a very short space of time.</p>
<p>But the biggest obstacle to restoring the oceans is mitigating the effects of climate change, according to Callum Roberts, a co-author of the study and professor at the University of York in the U.K.</p><p>"Climate change is the big problem that is looming over everything because it makes recovering nature harder, and as the climate changes, it's going to become more difficult," Roberts told Mongabay. "That's why we have to act very quickly now to start restoring nature, because that's going to help human societies to adapt over time, as well as to allow nature a better chance to survive and thrive through a changing climate."</p><p>Despite the challenges, Roberts says he believes the oceans are incredibly resilient. This is evident in marine protected areas (MPAs), where fishing and other human activities are prohibited, Roberts says.</p>
<p>"I've seen in localized areas how recovery can take place, and how it can take place quite quickly and spectacularly," he said. "When you protect areas, you can predict very easily the way that the response will go. You start off with things becoming more abundant, living longer, producing more offspring. Then you see the reconstruction of habitat structures on the seabed or kelp forests, then the return of some of the rarer things."</p><p>This year was supposed to be the "Ocean Super Year," with several ocean-related meetings and negotiations meant to take place, including the <a href="https://twitter.com/HighSeasAllianc/status/1235917197916213248?s=20" target="_blank">4th High Seas Treaty negotiation</a>, the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/ocean2020" target="_blank">U.N. Ocean Conference</a>, <a href="https://www.fpa2.org/news-7937.html" target="_blank">Monaco Blue Initiative</a>, and the <a href="http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/Pages/04-Covid-19-IMO-meetings-.aspx" target="_blank"> International Maritime Organization</a>, which included a session with the Marine Environment Protection Committee. However, most have been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.</p>
<p>The pandemic itself has also prompted some reprieve for the oceans from human pressure, although Roberts said it's too early to identify the long-term effects.</p><p>"A lot of fishing boats are tied up right now, and that's definitely going to give a short-term benefit to marine life," he said. "Longer term, I don't know. But I think there will be a lot of thinking done after this crisis about how we need to do things better."</p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/ocean-optimism-study-says-we-can-restore-marine-health/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em>From Your Site Articles
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International Monetary Fund / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Sir David Attenborough wants a ban on deep-sea mining.
<p>The 93-year-old conservationist spoke out <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sir-david-attenborough-hopes-coronavirus-crisis-will-not-hinder-uk-climate-change-summit-11955590" target="_blank">in an interview with Sky News Thursday</a> in conjunction with a new report that warns of the potentially devastating consequences of extracting metals and minerals from the deep places of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">ocean</a>. The practice could harm <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a>, limit the ocean's ability to support life and even disrupt its ability to store carbon, worsening the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. </p>
<p>"We should not go in and trash an area of the globe about which we know hardly anything until we've done the proper research - in short we want a moratorium against action of industrialising the deep-sea," Attenborough told Sky.</p>
<div id="76e5f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FJWZ3I1584105773"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1237983319540850688" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Please join our call – alongside Sir David Attenborough – for governments to declare a moratorium on #DeepSeaMining… https://t.co/tMmLLIess6</div> — Fauna & Flora Int. (@Fauna & Flora Int.)<a href="https://twitter.com/FaunaFloraInt/statuses/1237983319540850688">1583993198.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The <a href="https://cms.fauna-flora.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/FFI_2020_The-risks-impacts-deep-seabed-mining_Report.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> Attenborough backed was published by <a href="https://www.fauna-flora.org/" target="_blank">Flora and Fauna International</a> (FFI) Thursday, a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> group of which Attenborough serves as vice president. It comes as there is growing interest in deep-sea mining, defined by FFI as mining below 200 meters (approximately 656 feet), as deposits of minerals used in batteries and mobile phones are discovered, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/12/david-attenborough-calls-for-ban-on-devastating-deep-sea-mining?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR17aGXn2dgIWqgKYQvM7jASuEYcjV69PoNUj5Fmr8r2YETn7T-ryH7illI" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. The international rules governing the new practice will be decided at a meeting of the UN International Seabed Authority in July.</p><p>While the impact of mining above 200 meters is well understood, science has yet to learn much about the deep ocean, making it difficult to assess mining's impacts there. The FFI report is the <a href="https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/sir-david-attenborough-urges-halt-deep-sea-mining-plans-wake-alarming-new-scientific-report" target="_blank">first</a> to seriously consider the risks of the practice, and it drew some troubling conclusions.</p><p>Deep-sea mining could:</p><ol><li>Disturb pristine ecosystems</li><li>Create far-reaching plumes of sediment that could kill <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine life</a> far from the mining site</li><li>Kill microbes in sediments and hydrothermal vents that reduce methane and carbon</li><li>Disrupt the ocean's "Biological Pump" that distributes nutrients and sucks carbon out of the atmosphere</li><li>Expose deep-sea life to toxic metals</li><li>Worsen <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ocean-acidification" target="_self">ocean acidification</a> through the mining of sulphide deposits on the seafloor</li></ol>
<div id="b34eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="UW1SE51584105774"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1238052679395442695" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">📢📰Today's report from @FaunaFloraInt warns of the impacts of #DeepSeaMining on the health of the ocean, our planet'… https://t.co/mtTdyTNpZj</div> — Marine CoLABoration (@Marine CoLABoration)<a href="https://twitter.com/Marine_CoLAB/statuses/1238052679395442695">1584009735.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The risk of such impacts in a little-understood ecosystem is why Attenborough is joining FFI in calling for a ban on the practice.</p><p>"Whatever you do please do the science before you go in and destroy - because that's what it is - mining is a polite word, mining also means destruction. Destruction of an ecosystem of which we know pathetically little," he told Sky.</p><p>FFI acknowledged that deep-sea mining is sometimes portrayed as part of the solution to the climate crisis, because it is a potential source of many metals needed for lithium-ion batteries. However, Director Pippa Howard wrote that the risks associated with the practice made it necessary to search for other solutions, such as developing less-metal dependent technologies like hydrogen fuel cells or batteries from materials extracted from sea water.</p><p>"We need to shatter the myth that deep-seabed mining is the solution to the climate crisis!" Howard <a href="https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/depth-deep-seabed-mining-not-answer-climate-crisis" target="_blank">wrote</a>. "It is nonsense that this form of mining is a 'light' alternative to terrestrial mining and that all the cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese lying 'for the taking' on the bottom of the oceans are some kind of silver bullet."</p>
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Surfers Paradise, Australia is seen above. Australia could be the country most affected in terms of total coastline lost. Josh Berry-Walker / EyeEm / Getty Images
If nothing is done to lower greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise could swallow nearly half of the world's sandy beaches by 2100.
<p>That's the conclusion of a study published by the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en" target="_blank">European Union's Joint Research Center</a> in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0697-0.epdf?referrer_access_token=EyqTKwevGc6tBQFclzU0ndRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OE0K99CPbhGX_o1ifte7iWPHbkgaG-uW3xsI5tbeMLjAMeZfdVJ3roIot_D3lvrhorniEokMheK1TMuBQeSrnfTPW47VlUK3u-LBYxOMcxHqrLTADW15Hq8gDjg167BdMbBKcUO3Apx1_Idlw0psYxEaWKa7-F9LGizz5fJ0bNF3wf9u2hi61-0ZNV9FXdS5lIVhW9lL8E6YeCXT1I8vDa8MmjawJQFTzPMT-YJJgySHuAFBhGzImw4q9o-JvjmrWEX46sBP_zzHXQTXur07P-&tracking_referrer=www.theguardian.com" target="_blank">Nature Climate Change Monday</a>, which marks the first worldwide assessment of the future of sandy shorelines, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/world-s-sandy-beaches-under-threat-climate-change" target="_blank">EU Science Hub reported</a>.</p><p>"What we find is that by the end of the century around half of the beaches in the world will experience erosion that is more than 100 meters," lead author Michalis Vousdoukas said in <a href="https://time.com/5793668/sandy-beaches-climate-change/" target="_blank">an Associated Press story published by Time</a>. "It's likely that they will be lost."</p>
<div id="9ff24" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="DW4Y3R1583267255"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1234513239477825536" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Half of the world's beaches 🏖️ could disappear by 2100 due to coastal erosion, according to a new study - but effec… https://t.co/w4x6eLRD0Q</div> — EU_ScienceHub (@EU_ScienceHub)<a href="https://twitter.com/EU_ScienceHub/statuses/1234513239477825536">1583165867.0</a></blockquote></div><p>That would harm the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> that calls the beaches home and could be a major blow to coastal communities, who enjoy beaches for recreation and rely on them for protection against coastal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> and storm surges.</p><p>"Apart from tourism, sandy beaches often act as the first line of defence from coastal storms and flooding, and without them impacts of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events will probably be higher," Vousdoukas told <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/half-worlds-beaches-could-vanish-2100-doc-1pi9gh2" target="_blank">AFP.</a></p><p>The researchers looked at 35 years of coastal satellite data and combined it with 82 years of climate and sea level rise predictions. They also modeled more than 100 million storms to gauge erosion, EU Science Hub explained.</p><p>They then assessed what would happen to the world's beaches under two different <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a> scenarios, AFP explained.</p><p>Under the worst-case scenario, known as RCP8.5, greenhouse gas emissions would continue unchecked or natural feedback loops such as methane release from melting permafrost would kick in, increasing warming. According to that scenario, the world would lose 49.5 percent of its sandy beaches by 2100.</p>
<p>The researchers also looked at the relatively more optimistic RCP4.5, which would see temperature increases stop at three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to that scenario, 95,000 kilometers (approximately 59,000 miles) would be lost. While that is still a significant chunk of coastline, acting to curb the climate crisis can make a real difference for the world's beaches.</p><p>"Moderate emissions mitigation could prevent 17% of the shoreline retreat in 2050 and 40% in 2100, thus preserving on average 42 metres of sand between land and sea," Vousdoukas told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/02/world-sandy-beaches-disappearing-due-to-climate-crisis-study" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Australia could be the country most affected in terms of total coastline lost, according to AFP. It stands to lose more than 9,000 miles of white sand beaches over the next 80 years. The rest of the top ten most impacted countries in terms of total coast lost would be Canada, Chile, the U.S., Mexico, China, Russia, Argentina, India and Brazil. In the U.S. the most impacted shorelines would be along the East and Gulf Coasts, Vousdoukas told <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/02/climate-change-beaches-could-disappear-by-2100/4904684002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p>
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'The Great Barrier Reef is on a Knife Edge': Reef Faces Third Major Bleaching Event in Five Years
21 February
Oceans
Half half bleached coral, great barrier reef. JAYNE JENKINS / CORAL REEF IMAGE BANK
Australian wildlife cannot catch a break.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfires-contained-nsw-2645149309.html" target="_self">Rains have only recently started</a> dousing the historic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> that killed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html" target="_self">more than one billion animals</a> on land. Now, scientists and environmentalists are warning that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/great-barrier-reef" target="_self">Great Barrier Reef</a> could see its third major <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-bleaching" target="_self">coral bleaching</a> event in five years if <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">ocean</a> temperatures remain high for the next two weeks, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/20/great-barrier-reef-on-brink-of-third-major-coral-bleaching-in-five-years-scientists-warn" target="_blank">The Guardian reported Thursday</a>.</p><p>"The Great Barrier Reef is on a knife edge," head of oceans at <a href="https://www.wwf.org.au/" target="_blank">WWF-Australia</a> Richard Leck told The Guardian. 'We will know in the next couple of weeks whether we now have a mass coral bleaching event for the third time in only five years."</p>
<div id="c5bb3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="W0AGKS1582297512"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230298736984612864" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A mass coral bleaching event could unfold across the Great Barrier Reef during the coming weeks, where sea surface… https://t.co/DJFezqwbxg</div> — Ben Domensino (@Ben Domensino)<a href="https://twitter.com/Ben_Domensino/statuses/1230298736984612864">1582161051.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Scientists with the <a href="http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/" target="_blank">Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority</a> have already found "significant bleaching" at three reefs in the far north, the authority's chief scientist David Wachenfeld told <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/concerns-rise-for-great-barrier-reef-health-as-corals-start-to-bleach-20200220-p542lx.html" target="_blank">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>. Wachenfeld said the reefs in the north were relatively protected from most human activity, but not from the rising of ocean temperatures caused by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>"Climate change is the great leveller," he said. "There is nowhere that is not affected by it."</p><p>Coral bleaching occurs when corals expel the algae that give them their color and nutrients in response to heat stress. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-2353658528.html" target="_self">Back-to-back bleaching events in 2016 and 2017</a> killed as many as half of the corals in the reef.</p><p>Currently, temperatures across the reef are around two to three degrees Celsius above normal, and summer temperatures do not usually peak until mid March, professor Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, told The Guardian.</p>
<p>"We are down to the wire," he said.<br></p><p>What happens will ultimately depend on the "vagaries of the weather," he said.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> has placed the reef on Alert Level 1 for the next seven days, which means a significant bleaching event is likely, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-20/scientists-warn-potential-bleaching-great-barrier-reef/11984626" target="_blank">ABC News reported</a>. However, the agency's Coral Reef Watch also forecast that the bleaching would not be as intense as the bleaching in 2016 and 2017.</p>
<div id="e9fc7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="XZCJJW1582297513"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1230497465905766406" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Based on current heat stress, temperature trends, and our Four-Month Bleaching Outlook model, @CoralReefWatch is ex… https://t.co/atlvgwaZz5</div> — Coral Reef Watch (@Coral Reef Watch)<a href="https://twitter.com/CoralReefWatch/statuses/1230497465905766406">1582208432.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gasses from the burning of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>, which is responsible for heating ocean temperatures, has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-fires-michael-mann-2644442561.html?rebelltitem=2" target="_self">also been blamed for Australia's more extreme wildfire season</a>. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticized for his pro-<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal</a> policies and his seeming dismissal of climate concerns.</p><p>"Surely after this summer of bushfires, and this marine heatwave hitting the reef, we cannot keep burying our heads in the sand," Leck told The Guardian. "We need a reef-safe climate policy that's consistent with a 1.5C global warming target, or less. No more excuses will be tolerated."</p>
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Hundreds of thousands of green-lipped mussels (like those pictured) were found dead on a New Zealand beach. DianesPhotographicDesigns / iStock / Getty Images
Hundreds of thousands of mussels that cooked to death off the New Zealand coast are likely casualties of the climate crisis.
<p>Resident Brandon Ferguson first drew attention to the deaths in a video posted on Facebook Feb. 9. </p><p>"THERES NO MORE MUSSELS AT THE BLUFF!! THEY'RE ALL DEAD THE WHOLE F*CKEN LOT," he wrote in shock. </p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c720cba695fc8bab3597173d4880c422"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/FergyFuKnB/videos/1129201214108652/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div><p>Ferguson shot the video from Maunganui Bluff Beach on New Zealand's North Island, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-photos-mussels-cook-to-death-new-zealand-beach-2020-2?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank">Business Insider reported</a>. Ferguson said he discovered the green-lipped mussels while visiting the area with friends and family. The group had planned to gather mussels to eat when the tide went out, but instead found more than half a million of them already dead.<br></p><p>"It smelled like dead rotting seafood," Ferguson told Business Insider. "Some of the mussels were empty, some of them were dead ... Some were just floating around in the tide."</p><p>Ferguson speculated that the mussels died because of rising ocean temperatures and said he had witnessed similar die-offs of other shellfish in the area due to a combination of low tides and high water temperatures.</p><p>Marine scientist Andrew Jeffs of the University of Auckland largely supported Ferguson's hypothesis.</p>
<p>"The mussels die of heat stress. You imagine lying in the midday sun every day for four hours for the best part of a week. You'd be pretty sunburnt at the end of that," he told the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12307857" target="_blank">New Zealand Herald</a>, as the <a href="https://www.ibtimes.sg/half-million-mussels-cooked-death-by-extreme-global-warming-new-zealand-39543" target="_blank">International Business Times reported</a>.</p><p>A New Zealand <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/sea-surface-temperature" target="_blank">government report</a> found that sea-surface temperatures in the country had risen between 0.1 and 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade since 1981. The report noted that rising temperatures might force some species to move.</p><p>"If they are unable to move, they may not be able to survive," the report warned.</p><p>Jeffs further cautioned that mussels and other mollusks could be among the species to disappear from New Zealand entirely as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a> warm.</p>
<p>The problem isn't unique to New Zealand, however. A <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-wave" target="_self">heat wave</a> in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-crisis-mussels-marine-life-2639040423.html" target="_self">June of 2019</a> had a similar effect on the mussels of Bodega Bay, California, causing the largest die-off in the area in 15 years.</p><p>"These events are definitely becoming more frequent, and more severe," University of British Columbia biologist Christopher Harley told The Guardian at the time.</p><p>Ferguson said he posted the video in part because he wanted to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine life</a>.</p><p>"It's getting worse and worse every year," he told Business Insider. "At times like this we should wake up and start respecting these places and pay attention to what is happening before we lose our 'taonga' [a Māori word meaning 'treasure'] for good."</p>
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Government officials are offering an up to $20,000 reward for information that helps solve two brutal Florida dolphin murders.
<p>The first dolphin was discovered shot or stabbed late last week by biologists with the <a href="https://myfwc.com/" target="_blank">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission</a> off of Naples, Florida, <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/" target="_blank">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries</a> <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/dolphins-stabbed-and-shot-florida-noaa-enforcement-seeks-tips" target="_blank">reported Tuesday</a>. The second was found within the same week by experts at the <a href="http://emeraldcoastwildliferefuge.org/" target="_blank">Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge</a>, who discovered the animal on Pensacola Beach with a bullet in its left side.</p><p>"[These are] some of the worst cases we have seen," Tracy Dunn, who leads the law enforcement team of NOAA's southeast division, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/us/dolphins-shot-stabbed-florida.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The deaths bring the total for dolphins stranded in the southeastern U.S. up to at least 29 since 2002, according to NOAA. The dolphins appear to have been shot or stabbed with arrows or fishing spears. Four of these strandings occurred within the past year. This includes one dolphin who was found off Captiva Island, Florida in May 2019 with a fatal puncture wound in its head. The case remains unsolved, and authorities are also offering a separate reward for any information about that case.</p><p>The underlying problem is that people feed dolphins illegally, NOAA officials explained.</p><p>"When dolphins are fed, their behavior changes. They lose their natural wariness of people and boats," NOAA bottlenose dolphin <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> coordinator Stacey Horstman told The New York Times.</p><p>This means that when dolphins encounter boats, they adopt a begging position, Horstman further explained to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-dolphins-fatal-injuries-found-florida-coast-n1135911" target="_blank">NBC</a>. They either stick their heads out of the water with their mouths open or look up at the boats while on their sides. When they do this, they are only one to two feet from a boat. It is thought both of the dolphins killed last week were in a begging position when they died.</p><p>"The best advice is not to feed them, not to reach out to them. The seemingly innocent act of feeding dolphins can lead to harm and something like this," Horstman told The New York Times.</p><p>Bottlenose dolphins are not listed as an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> in the U.S., but, because they swim close to shore, they are at risk from human activity such as development and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a>.</p><p>They are also protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NOAA explained, which means it is illegal to hunt, harass, kill or feed them, or to attempt to do so. Anyone caught violating the act can face criminal or civil penalties of up to $100,000 in fines or up to a year in jail.</p><p>NOAA is asking for anyone with information about the recent deaths to call its enforcement hotline at (800) 853-1964.</p><p>"It's very difficult to solve without the community coming forward," Dunn told The New York Times.</p>
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Greenpeace has partnered with penguin researchers from Stony Brook University and Northeastern University to study the impact of climate change on fragile chinstrap penguin colonies in Antarctica, like this lone penguin pictured on Elephant Island. © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace
The climate crisis is taking a toll on Antarctica's chinstrap penguins.
<p>Scientists on a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/" target="_blank">Greenpeace</a> expedition to Antarctica found that the penguins' numbers were falling, with one colony decreasing by 77 percent in nearly 50 years. This is especially surprising because, up until now, the chinstrap penguin has been considered a species of "least concern" by the<a href="https://www.iucn.org/" target="_blank"> International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN), <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/10/world/chinstrap-penguin-decline-scli-intl-scn/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>.</p>
<p>"Such significant declines suggest that the Southern Ocean's ecosystem is fundamentally changed from 50 years ago, and that the impacts of this are rippling up the food web to species like chinstrap penguins," Expedition co-leader Dr. Heather J. Lynch, an associate professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "While several factors may have a role to play, all the evidence we have points to climate change as being responsible for the changes we are seeing."</p><p>Researchers from Stony Brook and Northeastern University have been surveying the penguins on Antarctic islands using drones and handheld clickers, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/11/antarctic-alarm-collapse-chinstrap-penguin-numbers-global-heating?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR09TfU2GpUX7VtmXZp6b8bh9XIYtHJ3lfhy9bDiWfYb1IbLWVl6ebM8F5E" target="_blank">according to The Guardian</a>. On Elephant Island, they found that there were only 52,786 breeding pairs, a 58 percent decrease compared to the last survey in 1971. The researchers also noted similar declines on Low and Livingston islands.</p><p>"This shows something in the marine ecology is broken, or has drastically changed since the 1970s," scientist and author Noah Strycker told The Guardian.</p>
<p>The researchers found that every colony on Elephant Island had declined, CNN reported. The largest decline was the fall of 77 percent recorded at a colony known as Chinstrap Camp. The reason the scientists think climate change is driving the decline is because the penguins rely on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice" target="_self">sea ice</a> for their food.</p><p>"Penguins, seals and whales all depend on krill, which depends on ice," Stryker, who studies penguins at Stony Brook, told CNN. "So if climate change affects the ice, that impacts on everything else."</p><p>The researchers found that the chinstraps' breeding rates had not declined, meaning the threats they faced were harming them after birth, according to The Guardian. They also found that another type of penguin, the gentoo, seemed to be replacing the chinstrap. Gentoos rely less on krill and ice and have been called the "pigeon of the penguin world" for their adaptability and wide diet.</p>
<p>The expedition marks the first time that chinstrap colonies on Low Island have been fully surveyed, according to CNN. The full results of those surveys are not yet available.</p><p>But Greenpeace argued that the penguins' evident decline was another reason to protect 30 percent of the world's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">oceans</a> to help vulnerable species recover. Alongside the research expedition, the advocacy group has been installing disappearing penguin ice sculptures in international cities from London to Washington, DC this week in order to raise awareness of the need for a Global Ocean Treaty.</p><p>"We installed a melting penguin sculpture in front of the U.S. Capitol to highlight the threats ocean wildlife is currently facing," Arlo Hemphill of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. "Without protection, not only penguins are at stake but entire ecosystems are in danger from the impacts of industrial fishing, pollution, deep sea mining and climate change. We're calling on the U.S. government to support the creation of a strong Global Ocean Treaty at the United Nations to protect 30 percent of our oceans by 2030. This new treaty would create a network of sanctuaries in international waters for wildlife to recover and thrive."</p>
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The world's oceans are getting faster, a new study has found. gcalebjones / Public Domain
The world's oceans are moving faster, and researchers think it might be another sign of the climate crisis.
<p>A new paper, <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/6/eaax7727" target="_blank">published in Science Advances</a> Wednesday, found that 76 percent of the top 2,000 meters of the ocean appears to have sped up since the 1990s, largely because of wind speeds. And the ocean's speedup is more than can be explained by "natural variability."</p><p>"The Earth is our patient, and you look for symptoms of how it is reacting to anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing," study coauthor and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher Michael McPhaden told The Washington Post. "This is another symptom."</p><p>Each ocean current moves as much <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water" target="_self">water</a> as all the world's rivers combined, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/global-warming-speeding-earth-s-massive-ocean-currents" target="_blank">Science Magazine explained</a>. Researchers found that between 1990 and 2013, the energy of these currents increased by 15 percent per decade.</p><p>"This is a really huge increase," Susan Wijffels, an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who was not involved with the paper, told Science Magazine.</p>
<p>At the same time, wind speed has increased by around two percent per decade and ocean current speed by around five percent per decade, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>Up until now, scientists have been unsure of how the climate crisis would impact ocean currents. Some models suggested a warmer world would lead to a slower ocean, <a href="https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/global-ocean-circulation-is-speeding-up-67066" target="_blank">The Scientist explained</a>. This is certainly the case for the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atlantic-ocean-currents-weaken-amoc-2559304530.html" target="_self">Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the North Atlantic</a>, but because this current is driven by cold water sinking and flowing southward, its slowing doesn't negate the possibility that winds could increase other currents, The Washington Post explained.</p><p>Some climate models had shown that global warming would lead to greater wind speeds, but not until around 2100 after temperatures had increased substantially. The fact that it is happening now could mean that the Earth is more sensitive to warming than the models have shown, McPhaden told The Washington Post.</p><p>While researchers can't say for certain what is driving the increased circulation speed, their findings are likely to spark more research into the issue.</p>
<p>"This is quite an exciting paper," Joellen Russell, a University of Arizona geoscientist who was not involved in the study, told The Scientist. "I think the results are robust, I think they're important, and I think they are a little shocking."</p><p>Study coauthor Shijian Hu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences's Institute of Oceanology told The Scientist that there was not a lot known about how ocean circulation was behaving in the context of climate change because of a lack of direct observation of the ocean.</p><p>To overcome this lack, Hu's team looked at five different reanalyses, which combine observations with models to fill in for missing data points, as Science Magazine explained. When all five turned up an increase in ocean energy after 1990, the researchers then turned to real-time data from the Argo system of floats for confirmation:</p><blockquote>A look at data from the Argo array, a fleet of nearly 4000 robotic floats deployed around the world, provided the best test. The floats have been bobbing up and down in the ocean's uppermost 2000 meters for the past 15 years, measuring temperature and salinity. They don't track velocity through the water column. But their data do indicate where winds have piled up water, helping create differences in pressure that drive large-scale flows. By combining those data with the floats' own current-borne trajectories, investigators can reconstruct overall currents and their speed.<br><br>The data set, compiled by oceanographer Alison Gray of the University of Washington, Seattle, <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JPO-D-12-0206.1" target="_blank">covers only 6 years</a>, from 2005 to 2010, but Hu found that it reveals an even clearer global speedup than the reanalysis models. "The evidence in the Argo data is absolutely astonishing," says Eleanor Frajka-Williams, an oceanographer at the United Kingdom's National Oceanography Centre, who was not part of the study.</blockquote>
<p>So what does a faster ocean actually mean? The study didn't look at localized effects, but researchers can point to some likely outcomes.</p><p>One is that a more turbulent ocean could actually absorb more heat from the atmosphere, MIT oceanographer and climatologist Gael Forget told The Scientist.</p><p>Another is that it could change how and where heat is circulated.</p><p>"Perhaps the most important consequence is the increased redistribution of heat around the planet that stronger circulation would bring," Alex Sen Gupta, an ocean and climate expert at the University of New South Wales in Sydney who was not involved with the research, told The Washington Post. "This would affect temperature distributions and could affect weather patterns — but more work would be needed to make these links."</p><p>Shifting water temperatures would also impact <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine life</a>. For example, the East Australian Current has gotten stronger and brought warmer waters to the Tasmanian coast, where they are wilting the area's kelp forests.</p><p>But the net effect of increased circulation is not necessarily good or bad.</p><p>"There are always winners and losers in these situations," Russel told The Scientist.</p>
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Ambassadors with the #SuperCoralPlay campaign. Nicolette Amico / Newlink
Only the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will get to play in Super Bowl 54 in Miami Sunday. But anyone can make a #SuperCoralPlay.
<p>That's the name of a joint campaign from MSC Cruises, the Miami Super Bowl Host Committee (MSBHC),and 54 NFL players and influencers to raise awareness about the need to protect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs" target="_self">coral reefs</a>. It invites individuals and businesses to make a <a href="https://supercoralplay.org/pages/take-the-challenge-now" target="_blank">#SuperCoralPlay</a> by pledging to take action to help save coral and the wider environment and then posting on social media to spread the word. The campaign launched with a music video Jan. 16 featuring Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry and broadcaster and retired NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8bbbda9d5d16a6af790c22c857a8e0c4"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O0WEWF2XbBY?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>"I'm a diver and I love the ocean – it's certainly a passion point for me," Sanchez said of his decision to get involved.</p><p>He highlighted the fact that coral reefs are in serious trouble — the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-ipcc-report-2610866229.html" target="_self">estimates</a> that 70 to 90 percent of them could be wiped out in the next two decades because of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>That's why the <a href="https://mscfoundation.org/" target="_blank">MSC Foundation</a> is working in its <a href="http://www.oceancaymsc.com/" target="_blank">Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve</a> in the Bahamas to identify and rebuild the reefs using "Super Coral" — hardy species of corals that have survived extreme ocean heat waves.</p><p>"We were just at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve a couple weeks ago and it's impressive to see the work MSC Foundation is doing by researching Super Coral – something that can have a global impact. But it's everyone's responsibility to take care of the world's reefs and that's why we wanted to get involved in Super Coral Play," Sanchez said.</p><p>If you're wondering exactly how to participate, Landry has the answers.</p>
<p>"We all have to do our part by making a play to reduce our carbon footprint. It's easy. You can switch to LED lightbulbs, refuse single use plastic or ride a bike instead of a car. Once you choose your play, post about it on social media using #SuperCoralPlay and challenge two friends to join the movement," he said.</p><p>You can also purchase a <a href="https://supercoralplay.org/products/super-coral-play-bracelet" target="_blank">Super Coral Play bracelet</a> made from abandoned fishing nets. For every bracelet sold, the MSC Foundation will propagate a new Super Coral.</p><p>So why is all this environmental activity centering around the Super Bowl?</p><p>"Every year the Super Bowl has a philanthropic focus, and this year it is the environment," Matthew McKinnon, Chair of the Advisory Board of the MSC Foundation, explained. "We were excited to team up with Miami Super Bowl Host Committee (MSBHC) and these 54 NFL players and influencers to help amplify our message about the importance of coral and raise awareness of the need to protect them."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjY0MjI4NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NTc4MzE0Nn0.Cy0gdo37BpzxVlUsexB0z-2Ww8IEmDcHXhwDOFcQNcQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="78c50" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="45c44aa4b0a26b15faf2b563907f25cf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Ocean Cay in the Bahamas, where the MSC Foundation is working to find and promote 'Super Coral.' Conrad Schutt
<p>Participating in #SuperCoralPlay isn't the only way the Super Bowl is going green. For three years now, the game has worked to make sure stadium trash doesn't end up in a landfill, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/01/super-bowl-54-zero-waste-miami/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Science_20200129&rid=48CC0311F587B019F9A7DFAEDA55B8D6" target="_blank">National Geographic explained</a>.</p><p>In 2018, 90 percent of the waste generated at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis was composted or recycled. This year, the stadium is aiming to phase out 99.4 percent of its single-use <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastic" target="_self">plastic</a>. To that end, it is using aluminum containers for beer and water and compostable material like bamboo for cutlery.</p><p>Environmental groups say the big game is an excellent chance to raise awareness about sustainability.</p><p>"There really is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl to bring folks around the conversation," George Leonard, the chief scientist at the <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/" target="_blank">Ocean Conservancy</a>, told National Geographic.</p>
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Bamboo Coral from Mytilus Seamount, NOAA
By Jon Queally
Defenders of ocean habitats celebrated Friday after a federal court upheld a lower court ruling defending the right of the U.S. executive branch to set aside marine areas as national monuments.
Citing the authority found under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish marine national monuments, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia sided against a lawsuit brought by large fishing industry interests that challenged President Barack Obama's designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which encompasses 4,913 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the nation's northeast coast, as a protected area.
<p>Conservation groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF)—which had intervened in the case—applauded the court's ruling.</p><p>"Today's decision is a clear victory for our oceans and for the Atlantic's only marine national monument," said Peter Shelley, Senior Counsel at CLF. "This decision upholds protections for one of the most fragile and scientifically important areas in the North Atlantic from destructive activities like <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">oil drilling</a> and industrial fishing. Safeguarding the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts ensures that we are leaving a proud legacy for the people of New England."</p><p><br></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Victory for the ocean: Today's US Appeals Court decision upheld protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, keeping endangered species and rare corals safe from oil drilling, industrial fishing, and other harms. <a href="https://t.co/Af8lQ4Ehma">https://t.co/Af8lQ4Ehma</a></p>— Conservation Law Foundation (@CLF) <a href="https://twitter.com/CLF/status/1210624358173024256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>Kate Desormeau, senior attorney for the NRDC, also celebrated the ruling as a victory.</p><p>"Like one of America's very first national monuments, the Grand Canyon, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts is a natural treasure," Desormaeu said in a statement. "It provides habitat for a wide range of species, from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered whales</a> to Atlantic puffins to centuries-old deep-sea corals."</p><p>The court's decision, she added, "affirms that presidents have the authority to protect marine areas like this for the benefit of current and future generations. Preserving ocean areas like this one will be absolutely key to ensuring the resilience of our oceans in a changing climate."</p>
<p><br/></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/27/victory-our-oceans-us-court-upholds-ruling-vast-marine-monument-established-obama" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em></p>From Your Site Articles
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