Ocean Sentry
Miami’s position as a global hub in the import-export industry, and port of entry for all things nefarious from dirty gold to smuggled songbirds, has made it a leader in yet another dubious trade: shark fins.
May, 2018
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5 May
Arctic ice melt, increased shipping endangers whales: study
Melting ice caused by climate change has given ships more access to Arctic waters, which researchers say could have serious consequences for the survival of bowhead and beluga whales.
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4 May
Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins are moving north as the ocean warms
Far from their usual tropical waters, some 200 bottlenose dolphins and about 70 false killer whales have been spotted off the western coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island.
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3 May
Weeds take over kelp in high CO2 oceans
Weedy plants will thrive and displace long-lived, ecologically valuable kelp forests under forecast ocean acidification, new research from the University of Adelaide shows.
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3 May
River dolphins are declining steeply in the Amazon basin
Populations of freshwater dolphins in the Amazon basin are in steep decline, dropping by half about every decade at current rates, according to a study published May 2, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
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3 May
Climate change to cause dramatic drop in Persian Gulf biodiversity and fisheries potential
The Persian Gulf, also known as the Arabian Gulf, may lose up to 12 per cent of its marine biodiversity in some areas before the end of the century if countries in the region do not take measures to address climate change.
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3 May
Everglades under threat as Florida’s mangroves face death by rising sea level
Florida’s mangroves have been forced into a hasty retreat by sea level rise and now face being drowned, imperiling coastal communities and the prized Everglades wetlands, researchers have found.
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3 May
Propose banning sale of puffin meat
BirdLife Iceland plans to propose the Ministry for the Environment ban the sale of puffin meat, RÚV reports. The proposed ban would also include products from other birds in the alcid family, whose numbers are decreasing globally.
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2 May
Online campaign to protect wetlands, mangroves, hills in Mumbai metropolitan region
City-based activists have started an online campaign for the protection and preservation of wetlands, mangroves, hills in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mumbai regions.
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2 May
Barcelona bans captive dolphin facilities!
Cetacean (dolphin, whale, porpoise) captivity is an issue that has been at the forefront of the animal rights movement for several decades, but it wasn’t until eye-opening films like The Cove and Blackfish that the topic gained widespread public concern on a global level.
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2 May
Study shows sea turtle nesting beaches threatened by microplastic pollution
A new study from Florida State University researchers shows that increasing microplastic accumulation along the Gulf’s beaches could alter the composition of shoreline sand and jeopardize the turtles’ sensitive incubation environments.
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1 May
Deteriorating Great Barrier Reef hushed: Young fish no longer hear their way home
Degraded coral reefs are far quieter than five years ago, and no longer sound like a suitable habitat to young fish searching for a place to live and breed, according to research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.