Ocean Sentry
Arctic-dwelling ringed seals build snow caves on top of sea ice so they can shield their pups from freezing temperatures and predators. But shrinking snow cover could threaten the seals” ability to make these icy lairs, researchers warn. The seals need at least 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow cover …
September, 2012
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13 September
Hungry sea otters help keep world’s oceans healthy: study
Sea otters are warding off the accumulation of acidic carbon dioxide in Alaska”s waters by preying on sea urchins that feed on underwater kelp beds vital to the oceans” health, according to a study. Otter-protected kelp beds absorb about 12 times as much carbon dioxide during photosynthesis as thinned-out kelp …
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5 September
James Cook University survey finds significant decline in dugong numbers in Great Barrier Reef
A survey has shown a significant decline of dugong numbers in the Great Barrier Reef. “In the southern Great Barrier Reef region the estimated size of the dugong population – about 500 to 600 – was the lowest since surveys began in 1986,” Professor Helene Marsh from James Cook University …
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3 September
16 pilot whales die in Scottish cove
Rescuers refloat another 10 stranded whales but say their chances of survival are 50-50 Sixteen pilot whales, including four calves, have died in a mass stranding on the coast of Fife in Scotland as rescuers fought a desperate battle to save others. The pod of 26 was discovered in a …
August, 2012
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16 August
Right whales threatened by noisy ocean, researchers find
Anyone who lives near a busy highway can sympathize with the North Atlantic right whale: Research released Wednesday shows the leviathans off New England’s coast are subject to such a constant undersea din it is difficult for them to hear each other most of the time. It is a hazard …
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4 August
Ocean mixologists: Animal movement key to sea life
It”s hard not to be moved by the magnificent sight of whales as they hoist their massive frames from the sea and then fall back into the waves with a mighty splash. But all that splashing is just a fraction of a whale”s journey, which is good for more than just …
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1 August
Tourists mistreat Europe’s most endangered marine mammal on Cres
The Institute for Research and Conservation, Blue World from Veli Losinj, released footage yesterday (Monday) showing a group of German tourists on the island of Cres in the northern Adriatic mistreating the Mediterranean monk seal, the most endangered marine mammal in Europe, writes daily newspaper Vecernji list….
July, 2012
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26 July
The fin whale, under more threat in the Mediterranean than thought
Until now it was thought that fin whales in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea made up part of the distribution of this species of whale in the Mediterranean. However, an international team of scientists led by a Spaniard has revealed that their population has been overestimated by …
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24 July
Increasing traffic in the waters of Sri Lanka threatens blue whales
In early April, whale watchers off the southern coast of Sri Lanka had a disturbing vision: the lifeless body of a blue whale 60 feet long floating in the water about 20 miles offshore. The body was quickly becoming swollen and there were fish-louse sucking all the animal”s skin. Even …
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21 July
Perfect storm hit Gulf of Mexico dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico were hit by a triple whammy of events, leading to an unusually high death rate in early 2011, a paper published in PLoS ONE suggests. Between January and April 2011, 186 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) washed ashore in the northern Gulf of …
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11 July
Marine mammals in Mexico, New Zealand face extinction
Extinction is imminent for two marine mammal species unless their habitat is immediately cleared of gillnets, the International Whaling Commission was warned last week at its meeting in Panama City. The IWC”s Scientific Committee told hundreds of delegates from the 89 IWC member governments that Mexico”s vaquita porpoise and the …
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9 July
Giant whale of the North Pacific could be doomed
The population of one of nature”s gentlest giants, the North Pacific right whale, has fallen so low that scientists have warned that the species is likely to be the first of the great whales to be wiped out by humans. Population surveys show the North Pacific right whale, which once …