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Seismic Blasting Devastates Ocean's Most Vital Organisms

By Francine Kershaw

Seismic airguns exploding in the ocean in search for oil and gas have devastating impacts on zooplankton, which are critical food sources for marine mammals, according to a new study in Nature. The blasting decimates one of the ocean's most vital groups of organisms over huge areas and may disrupt entire ecosystems.

And this devastating news comes on the heels of the National Marine Fisheries Service's proposal to authorize more than 90,000 miles of active seismic blasting. Based on the results of this study, the affected area would be approximately 135,000 square miles.

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How Dead Is the Great Barrier Reef?

Worried about the future of the Great Barrier Reef? If so, you're not alone.

Many publications have already written obituaries for the reef, despite the fact that it is not completely dead. Thanks for this video via Vox for sounding the alarm on this critical issue, before it's too late.

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A seal entangled in plastic netting on Bird Island. Claire Waluda

Plastic Pollution in Antarctica 5 Times Worse Than Expected

Not only have microplastic particles infiltrated the pristine Antarctic, the problem is much worse than anyone thought.

Scientists from the University of Hull and the British Antarctic Survey have determined that the levels of microplastics are five times higher than previous estimates. The results were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

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MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite captured the data for this image of an ongoing phytoplankton bloom in the Black Sea. NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response

Black Sea's Stunning Plankton Bloom Can Be Seen From Space

The turquoise swirls of the Black Sea's phytoplankton bloom can be seen all the way from space in a new image released by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite.

"The May ramp-up in reflectivity in the Black Sea, with peak brightness in June, seems consistent with results from other years," said NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ocean scientist Norman Kuring.

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Image by David Jones, Just One Ocean

9 Shocking Facts About Plastics in Our Oceans

By Joe McCarthy

The oceans are massive, pulsing, vibrant bodies of water that serve humanity in countless ways—from providing food to enabling commerce to simply being beautiful.

But these powerful expanses of sea are not invincible. Each year, human activity erodes marine life in some way. Overfishing is driving many fish populations to the brink of extinction, carbon emissions are acidifying the waters, making it hard for small sea animals to reproduce, rising global temperatures are cooking coral reefs alive.

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Hollywood Heavyweights Team With Sea Shepherd on World Oceans Day

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society partnered with a group of Hollywood industry heavyweights and a middle school from the Los Angeles Unified School District on a student filmmaking contest.

The winner's film was released as Sea Shepherd's official PSA this morning for World Oceans Day.

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President Enrique Peña Nieto and Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Carlos Slim Foundation

DiCaprio Teams With Mexican Government to Save World's Most Endangered Marine Mammal

Today is World Oceans Day, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Leonardo DiCaprio and telecom tycoon Carlos Slim just signed a memorandum of understanding committing to conserve marine ecosystems in the Gulf of California and to save the vaquita porpoise—the most endangered marine mammal in the world.

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10 Tweets Worth Reading on World Oceans Day

Today is World Oceans Day, a global day of celebration and collaboration for the world's oceans. Hundreds of events are planned in more than 100 countries, including the United Nations Oceans Conference taking place this week in New York City.

This year's theme is "Our Oceans, Our Future" with a conservation focus on solutions to plastic pollution and preventing marine litter.

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Trump Blasted at UN Ocean Conference: U.S. 'Main Threat to Mother Earth'

Bolivian President Evo Morales blasted President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.

He called the U.S. one of the world's "main polluters" and said Trump's decision is akin to "denying science, turning your backs on multilateralism and attempting to deny a future to upcoming generations."

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