Category: Ocean Awareness

Dead zone measures as big as Yellowstone

8/27/2024 - By nationalfisherman.com. NOAA-supported scientists announced that this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”— an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is approximately 3,058 square miles. That’s almost two million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species — nearly as… SEE MORE

North Atlantic right whale feeding. (Image credit: Christin Khan/NOAA Fisheries)

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Over $9 Million for Partnerships to Recover North Atlantic Right Whales

8/24/2024 - By noaa.gov. Inflation Reduction Act enables new grants to conserve and recover endangered whales. Today, NOAA Fisheries announced over $9 million from Inflation Reduction Act funds to support strategic partnerships aimed at improving fishing gear and population monitoring that will help the recovery of North Atlantic right whales. These partnerships include collaborations… SEE MORE

California sea lion stricken by the neurotoxin domoic acid from a harmful algal bloom in Santa Barbara County, California. Photo: Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute

Toxic Algal Bloom Affecting California Sea Lions and Dolphins

8/17/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. Upwelling of nutrient-laden ocean water is fueling the algal bloom which produces domoic acid, which can poison marine mammals. Strong upwelling of nutrient-laden water from the deep ocean is driving a bloom of harmful algae along the Southern California coast. It produces a toxin that can poison sea… SEE MORE

Black abalone are an endangered marine snail that face climate change threats such as increased water temperatures, sedimentation, and ocean acidification. Credit: NOAA Fisheries.

Climate Change Threatens the Survival and Recovery of Black Abalone

8/14/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. Black abalone are sensitive to climate change impacts, such as increasing water temperatures and increasing sedimentation events from intense fire and storm activity. These challenges make them more vulnerable to lethal disease and burial. Black abalone, which are plant-eating marine snails, once thrived along the California and Baja… SEE MORE

Birthing the Blob

8/13/2024 - By Michael Allen. With ecosystems increasingly squeezed by anthropogenic warming, even cleaning up pollution can cause problems. In 2013, a huge marine heatwave known as the Blob hit the northeast Pacific Ocean. Temperatures soared to dangerous new highs, killing millions of marine animals and disrupting the broader ocean ecosystem in… SEE MORE

Rare sea creature washes ashore in Southern California

8/12/2024 - By apnews.com. A 7-foot (215-centimeter) sea creature that washed ashore in Southern California has been identified as a hoodwinker sunfish, a recently identified rare species thought to live in the Southern Hemisphere. The University of California, Santa Barbara, said an intern spotted the stranded fish last week at Sands Beach… SEE MORE

he first Your Shores cohort learning to scuba dive. Credit: Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

NOAA-Funded Program Helps Miami Teens from Under-Resourced Schools Enter Marine Science Field

8/11/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. The Your Shores program at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science provides high school students from diverse backgrounds with dive certifications, habitat restoration and research experience, and marine science training. To address the inequity of opportunities for students of all backgrounds in the marine science field and… SEE MORE

The Mysterious Discovery of ‘Dark Oxygen’ on the Ocean Floor

8/9/2024 - By Mara Magistroni. Researchers believe they have discovered oxygen being produced 4,000 meters below the sea surface, and think polymetallic nodules—the sought-after bounty of deep-sea miners—could be the source. For more than 10 years, Andrew Sweetman and his colleagues have been studying the ocean floor and its ecosystems, particularly in… SEE MORE

The Very Hungry Urchins

8/4/2024 - By Lisa S. Gardiner. Researchers are restoring the Caribbean’s surprising, spiky custodians, which gobble up the algae smothering coral reefs. South of Tampa Bay, Florida, wedged between a quiet neighborhood and a mangrove forest, custom-designed aquariums are home to thousands of sea urchin larvae that tumble and drift through the… SEE MORE

The ocean is becoming too loud for oysters, research finds

8/2/2024 - By sciencedaily.com. Baby oysters rely on natural acoustic cues to settle in specific environments, but new research from the University of Adelaide reveals that noise from human activity is interfering with this critical process. "The ocean's natural sound is gradually hushing due to habitat loss, leading to a quieter natural… SEE MORE

Category: Ocean Awareness

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