Tag: marinelife

North Atlantic Right Whale off the coast of Massachusetts

NOAA Withdraws Proposed Speed Restrictions on Boats 35-65ft.

1/16/2025 - The proposed rule, intended to protect North Atlantic Right Whales, would have extended current restrictions to recreational boats ranging from 35 to 65 feet to a speed of 10 knots along much of the Eastern Seaboard for up to seven months of the year. In a significant development for the… SEE MORE

The Galapagos Islands and Many of Their Unique Creatures are at Risk from Warming Waters

10/15/2024 - By Alie Skowronski. GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador — Warm morning light reflects from the remains of a natural rock arch near Darwin Island, one of the most remote islands in the Galapagos. In clear, deep blue water, thousands of creatures — fish, hammerhead sharks, marine iguanas — move in search of… SEE MORE

A Bryde’s whale photographed in the Mariana Archipelago. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Adam Ü (NOAA Fisheries MMPA-ESA Permit #14097)

Hey, Google: Find this New Whale Sound

10/6/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. NOAA Fisheries identified that Bryde’s whales are the source of a new whale call in the western North Pacific. Working with Google AI, we used machine learning to sort through thousands of hours of acoustic recordings and identify when and where these calls occur. n 2014, an Oregon State… SEE MORE

A Hawaiian monk seal entangled in a derelict fishing net. Credit: NOAA Fisheries (Permit #10137)

A Substantial Reduction in Seal Entanglement

10/4/2024 - By noaa.gov. New analysis confirms Hawaiian monk seals greatly benefit from marine debris cleanup efforts in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Since the early 1980s, field biologists working in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have found Hawaiian monk seals entangled in derelict fishing gear and other plastics. These entanglements can… SEE MORE

Do Marine Animals Need Wildlife Bridges, Too?

9/18/2024 - By Jack McGovan. Human infrastructure can hinder the mobility of marine animals. The ocean feels infinite. If you were to start swimming from shore, it’s easy to believe—fitness and oxygen aside—you could continue forever. That’s a far different experience to overland travel, where mountains, rivers, and six-lane highways buzzing with… SEE MORE

Seagrass and Plastic Are Not Friends

8/28/2024 - By Sean Mowbray. The year 2021’s hopeful optimism is 2024’s unfortunate reality. In 2021, what sounded like a good news story hit the media: in the Mediterranean, seagrasses were trapping plastic waste, capturing fragments in their leaves and locking microplastics in seafloor sediments. The news cycle was spurred by a study… SEE MORE

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

Tracking the Effects of an Eelgrass Epidemic

8/21/2024 - By Grace Hunter. Even when it’s less than lethal, seagrass wasting disease leaves eelgrass reeling. In shallow intertidal waters of the northeast Pacific, eelgrass meadows grow across the ocean floor like submerged lawns. These meadows are the foundation for underwater neighborhoods that shelter and feed animals such as crabs, salmon,… 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

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

Tag: marinelife

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