Ocean Sentry
Jellyfish have been on Earth longer than we have—they are believed to have roamed the oceans for nearly 600 million years. But human activity, from over-fishing to plastic waste and climate change, has created an environment in which they are even more at home.
September, 2019
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23 September
Ocean heatwave known as ‘The Blob’ is warming up the West Coast – and endangering animals
Roughly five years ago, a huge patch of unusually warm ocean water appeared off the coast of North America, stretching from Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula all the way up to Alaska.
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18 September
Trump administration opens huge reserve in Alaska to drilling
The Trump administration on Thursday said it would seek to open up the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, picking the most aggressive development option for an area long closed to drilling.
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18 September
NASA visualization shows devastating decline in Arctic ice over past 35 years
“The take home message is that climate change is real,” he said. “It is not something that is out there 30 years from now, 50 years from now that our children or grandchildren are going to have to deal with — it is here and it is now.”
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6 September
Breakdown in spawning synchrony places corals at ‘risk of extinction’
Reef-building corals, which reproduce by broadcast spawning – simultaneously releasing eggs and sperm into open water in a mass synchronized event – could be at risk of extinction due to climate change and water pollution.
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6 September
Ending overfishing is opportunity to combat climate crisis – Report
Ending overfishing would not only secure vital fish populations for the future, but constitutes a significant climate emergency action, according to a report published today.
August, 2019
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28 August
Acid oceans are shrinking plankton, fueling faster climate change
Increasingly acidic oceans are putting algae at risk, threatening the foundation of the entire marine food web.
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18 August
Alaska records its warmest month ever
July was Alaska’s warmest month ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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17 August
The demand for luxury shellfish is polluting the ocean with plastic
In 2017, the DFO gave the West Coast shellfish industry a green light to expand its farming practices to include the lucrative geoduck, a luxury protein used in sashimi, to meet the demand from Hong Kong and the rest of China.
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16 August
Human impacts on oceans nearly doubled in recent decade
Over the recent decade, total human impacts to the world’s oceans have, on average, nearly doubled and could double again in the next decade without adequate action.
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16 August
Warmer winters are changing the makeup of water in Black Sea
Warmer winters are starting to alter the structure of the Black Sea, which could foreshadow how ocean compositions might shift from future climate change, according to new research.
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9 August
The planet is being consumed by humans, plant-based diet can fight climate change – UN
The majority of the world’s land is used not to feed humans directly but to support livestock. Over-consumption of meat is unhealthy, and also an environmental disaster: rainforests are cleared in Brazil both to provide pasture for beef cattle, but also to grow soya crops for export to markets like …