Marine Conservation Biology Institute

Times OnlineJonathan Leake, Environment Editor THOUGH still an island, Britain is now surrounded by desert. New research has shown that repeated trawling has turned much of the sea bed around the UK into a barren wasteland...

See more videos from the Finding Coral expedition.

A New York Times EditorialMost of the world’s important commercial fish species have been declining for years. Nearly one-fourth are unable, essentially, to reproduce. The biggest cause of the deterioration in ocean health — bigger than climate change or pollution — is overfishing...

The New York TimesBy MARK BITTMAN IN 1994, I published my first book, “Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking.” The premise was straightforward: if you buy fish fresh and cook it simply, you’ll eat well.It quickly became much more complicated, because “Fish”...

The Garden IslandBy Coco Zickos - The Garden Island LIHU‘E — The recent murders of two critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals has prompted many community members and organizations to respond in the ancient species’ defense.Surfrider Foundation Kaua‘i announced Thursday that it...

The Surfrider Foundation's Kaua'i chapter has issued a $4,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the recent killings of two Hawaiian monk seals on the island.A pregnant female seal was apparently shot to death last month...

From: Times ColonistBottom trawling is an efficient way to scoop up a lot of fish. It is also often destructive and wasteful, and Canada should be acting now to protect much larger areas of the ocean floor.Instead, Canada has fought international efforts to restrict bottom trawling...

A New York Times Editorial The Obama administration has rightly declared its support for Congressional efforts to restore the broad reach of the Clean Water Act. The law, passed in 1972, was intended to protect all of the waters of the United States, large and small...

Scienceby: Virginia MorellIn 1991, Victoria University postdoc C. Scott Baker set out to study humpback whales migrating through New Zealand's Cook Strait...

(CNN) --Advances in the study of coral in the last few years has led a group of scientists to conclude that corals almost rival humans in their genetic complexity and their relationship to algae is key to their survival...

The Oregon House of Representatives approved HB-3013 A on Thursday, outlining a detailed plan and timeline to complete evaluation of six potential marine reserve sites recommended by the Governor’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council...

The Seattle TimesBy Michelle MaHow much warmer could Washington's summers be in 100 years? Will June rainfall in Australia change by midcentury...

No logging or road project on tens of millions of forested acres will proceed without personal approval by the Agriculture Department's secretary for at least a year while the Obama administration decides how to handle a controversial Clinton-era roadless rule, officials said today.Agriculture...

A New York Times EditorialA major shortcoming of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change was its failure to address the huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the destruction of the world’s rain forests...

Living Oceans Society is launching the Finding Coral Expedition in search of deep sea corals off the coast of British Columbia on June 8 . The expedition aims to find out where B.C.’s coral forests are located and what mysterious creatures live there...

Honolulu AdvertiserBy Christie WilsonA Hawaiian monk seal killed Thursday on Kaua'i's north shore was a pregnant female who had previously given birth to four pups, according to NOAA Fisheries.Witness accounts suggest the 600-pound monk seal, known to NOAA researchers as RK06, was shot to death,...

The New York Times MagazineBy JON GERTNERTwo days after Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the United States, the Pew Research Center released a poll ranking the issues that Americans said were the most important priorities for this year...

Times Online Frank Pope, Ocean Correspondent One of the most dramatic impacts on marine life came from the advent of bottom trawling...

Originally published in Eastsideweekby Chris CarrelFew details escape Elliott Norse’s attention as we drive past Microsoft headquarters, negotiating the lunch-hour traffic in his scrappy 1985 Civic...

The New York TimesBy PAUL GREENBERGFlotsam and jetsam are two different things. Flotsam is an accident, debris that has fallen into the water haphazardly — a container full of sneakers swept off the deck of a ­freighter, for example...

By ALLISON WINTERA remote location and special federal protection can't shield a new Hawaiian national monument from debris, invasive species and climate change, according to a new report.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's peer-reviewed report is aimed at providing a baseline for...

By Daily Mail ReporterA fish that can trigger LSD-like hallucinations when eaten has been discovered in UK waters. The sarpa salpa species of bream is normally found in the Mediterranean and around South Africa...

The Seattle TimesBy PHUONG LEAssociated Press WriterAn environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to have Washington coastal waters listed as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic...

The New York Times By ANDREW C...

Sonoma NewsBy Sylvia CrawfordThe best e-mail that landed in my in-box this week was the glowing, grinning face of Lance Morgan, emerging from the water in a single-man deep sea diving submarine...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today in Sacramento, the Fish and Game Commission is holding a public comment hearing on plans for a network of underwater parks, or marine protected areas (MPAs), along California's north central coast (between Half Moon Bay and Point Arena)...

Scientific AmericanBy David Biello With a stroke of his pen, former President George W. Bush created three new marine monuments some 2.5 times larger than the entire U.S. national park system...

The Seattle TimesBy Sandi Doughton Despite $20 million and the best of intentions, the killer whale who starred in the movie "Free Willy" never lived a free life...

The New York TimesBy ALLISON WINTERThe Obama administration is proposing significant new spending on a proposed cap-and-trade regulatory scheme for fisheries -- a major overhaul in fishery management and a bid to halt the decline of wild fish stocks...

NOAAAfter a five year review, NOAA’s Fisheries Service has determined that the Caribbean monk seal, which has not been seen for more than 50 years, has gone extinct—the first type of seal to go extinct from human causes...

The Christain Science Monitorby Pete SpottsHead south, young basking shark. Way, way south. And way deep, while you’re at it. That’s the unexpected advice the world’s second largest fish seem to be taking — at least in the Western Atlantic...

The Seattle TimesBy Craig WelchSeattle Times environment reporterThe authorities popped him near the docks in Port Angeles.On a March afternoon in 1994, a sleek fishing boat — not-so-subtly named the Abalone Made — came ashore after puttering around Freshwater Bay...

Engineering NewsBy: Chanel Pringle 8th May 2009 ...

The National Science FoundationMay 11, 2009 Climate change, fishing and commercial shipping top the list of threats to the ocean off the West Coast of the United States."Every single spot of the ocean along the West Coast," said...

China Viewby Daniel Ooko NAIROBI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Large amounts of fishing gear lost at sea or abandoned by fishers are hurting the marine environment, impacting fish stocks through "ghost fishing" and posing a hazard to ships, a joint UN report said on Wednesday...

NPRbyClaire O'NeillWhen it comes to climate change, there are more questions than there are answers. How do you explain the big-picture risks of subtle changes like rising sea levels, fluctuating crop yields, and shifts in ocean currents -- and more importantly, how do you make people care...

By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff WriterMonday, May 4, 2009 The ocean is getting crowded: Fishermen are competing with offshore wind projects, oil rigs along with sand miners, recreational boaters, liquefied gas tankers and fish farmers...

Carbon Dioxide, Absorbed by the Seas, Changes the Chemistry of Water and the Growth of Marine LifeThe Wall Street JournalIn the living laboratory of a submerged volcano, marine biologist Verena Tunnicliffe glimpsed sea creatures trying to survive in acidic oceans...

Encyclopedia BritannicaGregory McNamee - April 9th, 2009Bali, Mauritius, Iceland, Galapagos, Madagascar: these are fine and exotic places, far away from the busy center of things...

The Seattle Timesby Moira MacdonaldNarrated with sonorous majesty by James Earl Jones, Disney's rather generically titled nature documentary "Earth" flies us around the planet, finding wonders at every turn...

Honolulu Advertiser Apr 22, 2009For most of his life, Daniel Pauly has been ahead of the curve, and it’s not a pretty one: it’s the curve showing the myriad ways in which our oceans are dying...

The New York Times By ANDREW C...

The New York Times By MARTIN FACKLER Published: April 14, 2009SEKISEI LAGOON, Japan — Beneath the waves of this sapphire-blue corner of the East China Sea, a team of divers was busily at work.Hovering along the steep, bony face of a dying coral reef, some divers bored holes into the hard surface...

San Francisco GateChristopher Pala, Chronicle Foreign ServiceSaturday, April 11, 2009Until a group of small Pacific island nations imposed unheard-of restrictions on foreign fishing fleets in December, most tuna species were on the road to extinction, experts say.The measures are expected to reduce...

BBC NewsBy Russell Padmore Europe business reporter, BBC News, Brussels At a time when stocks of some species of fish in the world's oceans are dangerously low,...

The New York TimesBy HENRY FOUNTAINSonar has been implicated in some strandings of whales and dolphins, but the mechanism by which acoustic pings might cause disorientation is uncertain. Researchers at the University of Hawaii tested one possibility: that sonar can deafen marine mammals. T...

By MARK SVENVOLD Published: September 12, 2008The New York Times“The moment I read that paper,” the wind entrepreneur Peter Mandelstam recalled, “I knew in my gut where my next wind project would be.”I was having lunch with Mandelstam last fall to discuss offshore wind in general and how...

By Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff WriterSaturday, March 21, 2009; Page A06 Jane Lubchenco, the newly confirmed head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, decided to dedicate her life to the sea 40 years ago when she became fascinated with a tiny species of...

Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, pockets of oil — an estimated 16,000 gallons — remain buried in small portions of the intertidal zone...

Scientists have identified seven new species of bamboo coral discovered thousands of feet below the ocean surface...