Scientists study shipwreck sites to better understand ecological processes like succession, zonation, connectivity, energy flow, disturbance, and degradation. In the future, shipwrecks may provide opportunities to establish a global monitoring network for studying these processes in aquatic environments. Illustration by Alex Boersma.

Scientists Study Shipwrecks to Understand Underwater Ecology

1/28/2024 - By coastalscience.noaa.gov. In a newly published paper in BioScience, NCCOS scientists collaborated with an international team of ecologists and archaeologists to describe how shipwrecks provide a unique opportunity to study complex ecological processes. The synthesis focuses on a range of fundamental ecological functions and processes and how they manifest on and around shipwrecks.… SEE MORE
gettyimages.com

Unsettled Pacific Ocean Offers Few Clear Indicators for Salmon Success in 2024

1/26/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov Want to learn how the Pacific Ocean is likely to change and affect salmon survival in the coming year? Stay tuned, scientists say. The ocean indicators that NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center researchers track off Newport, on the Central Oregon Coast, are decidedly mixed for the coming year. El Niño… SEE MORE
Workshop participants collect water samples to explore phytoplankton at Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory.

California Tribal Communities Ready to Monitor Culturally Important Marine Resources Impacted by Harmful Algal Blooms

1/24/2024 - By coastalscience.noaa.gov Traditional shellfish resources are often the lifeway to coastal tribes who rely on indigenous fisheries for subsistence. However, the expanding threat of harmful algal blooms (HABs) contaminate shellfish and poison local communities. NCCOS engages both locally and through regional partnerships with tribal nations to design workshops specific to… SEE MORE
www.flickr.com

Do snitches net fishes? Scientists turn invasive carp into traitors to slow their Great Lakes push

1/20/2024 - By  Todd Richmond Over the last five years, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have employed a new seek-and-destroy strategy that uses turncoat carp to lead them to the fish’s hotspot hideouts. Agency workers turn carp into double agents by capturing… SEE MORE