In Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, a rapidly disintegrating mangrove forest
Meinmahla wildlife sanctuary, established in 1986, is an area known for its diverse mangrove tree species and saltwater crocodiles. However, it has been described as one the most degraded mangrove systems or national parks many researchers have ever seen.
Land reclamation plan endangers protected marine area; Malta
Extensive land reclamation is being proposed in an area already known to be rich in sea grasses that are protected by the European Union’s Habitats Directive and which is adjacent to a marine conservation area.
Fishing communities in Kenya’s South Coast, net cash and more fish from protecting mangroves
Besides protecting mangrove forests themselves, the effort aims to improve local fisheries, as many fish species breed and raise their young in shoreline mangroves, and build resilience to worsening storm surges and coastal erosion. Mangrove forests can also help regulate coastal rainfall, ensuring supplies of water.
World’s largest marine park created in Ross Sea in Antarctica in landmark deal
EU and 24 countries sign long-awaited agreement to protect 1.1m sq km of water in Southern Ocean.
Can seaweed farming save Indonesian fishermen?
For centuries seaweed has been a farmed product, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that the use of carrageenan – a seaweed-derived thickening agent – turned commercial. In Indonesia, seaweed farming has been growing over the last three decades.
Beach asphalt removal project underway; Gulf Islands National Seashore
The goal of the $10.85 million project, which began earlier in October, is to clean decades of debris from blacktopped roads and parking lots eroded by tropical storms and hurricanes. This work to remove small asphalt chunks from miles of gleaming white beachfront is expected to take years.
EU proposes total commercial fishing ban on Atlantic sea bass
The move, to cut sea bass catches from 570 tonnes a year to zero, follows what the EU calls “very alarming” advice from fisheries scientists, who found that numbers had fallen below “safe biological limits”…
Saving Mexico’s endangered sea turtles will be good for tourism too
Seven of the world’s eight sea turtles species nest on the beaches of Mexico. But in a country with one of the world’s most extensive shorelines, nesting beaches for turtles are disappearing. Climate change, human development, and the complex interaction between the two are to blame.
Studies Offer New Glimpse of Melting Under Antarctic Glaciers
Two new studies by researchers at NASA and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), detect the fastest ongoing rates of glacier retreat ever observed in West Antarctica and offer an unprecedented direct view of intense ice melting from the floating undersides of glaciers.