Survey: South African 'Pride' In Great White Sharks Unchanged After Attacks; Public 'Not Panicked'
Cape Town, South Africa - Jul 24, 2012 18:47 EST
The first survey conducted before and after a shark attack has found that public support for great white sharks was virtually unchanged. The academic journal Marine Policy published the results online this week in a paper by two University of...

Tour Of South Africa's 'Shark Route' Launched; Top Scientists, Photographers, Divers To Guide Trips
Mossel Bay, South Africa - Nov 28, 2011 18:15 EST
Oceans Discovery has launched the first ever shark route along the coasts of Southern Africa, home to diverse and abundant shark populations and some of the most incredible ocean ecosystems our world has to offer. The shark route...

Into The Deep Unknown: Scientists On A Mission To Explore Underwater Mountains In The Indian Ocean
Cape Town, South Africa - Nov 7, 2011 19:59 EST
Top marine scientists from around the world are setting off on a six-week cruise on board the RRS James Cook today to explore underwater mountains – or seamounts – of the southwest Indian Ocean Ridge. Their main focus will be...

Canoer Survives Encounter With Shark Off Reunion Island; Fifth Attack Of The Year
SAINT-GILLES, Reunion - Oct 5, 2011 19:06 EST
A canoer was attacked by a shark off the western shore of Reunion, a French island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. Jean-Pierre Castellani, 51, was unharmed though shaken by the encounter. This is the fifth...

French Bodyboarding Champion Missing, Presumed Dead After Shark Attack Off Reunion Island; Fourth Attack In 2011
Saint-Paul, Reunion Island - Sep 20, 2011 12:19 EST
Mathieu Schiller, age 38, former champion bodyboarder, was reported missing and presumed dead after being attacked by a shark off the island of Reunion. The latest attack is the second deadly shark encounter at Boucan-Canot, a top tourist beach...

Get Out Of The Water: Seychelles Tourism Board Issues Emergency Decree After Second Shark Attack In 16 Days
Victoria, Seychelles - Aug 16, 2011 22:51 EST
The Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport & Energy, Mr. Joel Morgan, chaired an emergency meeting last night in his office to consider the unfortunate freak shark accident off the island of Praslin, which has resulted in the following...

Study: Madagascar Marine Resources Plundered By International Seafood Markets; Threatens 'Mainstays Of Human Survival'
Vancouver, British Columbia - Jun 17, 2011 18:03 EST
Fish catches in Madagascar over the last half-century are double the official reports, and much of that fish is being caught by unregulated traditional fishers or accessed cheaply by foreign fishing vessels. Seafood exports from Madagascar often end up in...

Savage Frenzy: Swarm Of Sharks Kill Surfer Off France's Reunion Island
Saint-Gilles, Reunion - Jun 16, 2011 19:25 EST
Police officials Thursday confirmed that a surfer has been killed in a savage shark attack off the shores of Saint-Gilles, a tourist area of Reunion, a French island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. The attack, the...

Sea Shepherd Ships To Patrol Libyan War Zone For Poachers; 'We Will Be Armed With The Regulations'
Friday Harbor, Washington State - May 13, 2011 20:24 EST
Effective next month, two Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships will enter the waters off the coast of Libya, an area declared to be in a state of war as NATO-backed rebel forces struggle to topple the despotic dictator Muammar Gaddafi,...

Professor Christopher McQuaid Named Gilchrist Award Winner For 'Enhancement Of Marine And Coastal Science In South Africa'
Grahamstown, South Africa - Apr 18, 2011 18:09 EST
Rhodes University's Prof Christopher McQuaid has been awarded the prestigious Gilchrist Award for his "outstanding contribution to the enhancement of marine and coastal science in South Africa including the Southern Ocean". The South African Network for Coastal and Oceanic Research (SANCOR)...

Reunion Island Surfer Attacked By Shark, Loses Leg; 'Sharks Are Unpredictable'
Saint-Denis, Reunion - Feb 20, 2011 17:44 EST
A surfer has lost his leg in a shark attack off the western shore of Reunion, a French island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. The attack occurred Saturday at 6 pm at Three Rocks, Saint-Gilles, in an area...

U.N.: Unsafe Water Kills More People Than War; 'An Affront To Our Common Humanity'
Nairobi, Kenya - Mar 22, 2010 18:56 EST
More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for better protection and sustainable management of one of the Earth’s most precious resources on the occasion of World Water...

Tuna Commission Set To Decide The Future Of Mediterranean Bluefin As Populations 'Poised For Collapse'
Marrakech, Morocco - Nov 18, 2008 21:25 EST
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) will meet from November 17- 24 in Marrakech, Morocco to make decisions on measures to save Mediterranean bluefin tuna from collapse. ICCAT meets this year with mounting evidence of the...

Researchers: New Coral Reef Discovered In The Seychelles; Not 'visible To The Occasional Snorkeller'
Essex, United Kingdom - Oct 23, 2008 17:08 EST
Researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences have discovered a previously unknown coral reef in the Seychelles. Dr Dave Smith and Dr Dave Suggett visited Curieuse Island as part of an ongoing study funded by Mitsubishi Corporation in conjunction with the...

Top Shark Scientist Awarded Gilchrist Medal For Contribution To Marine Science In South Africa
San Francisco, California - Jul 24, 2008 16:56 EST
The Shark Research Institute is proud to announce that Leonard Compagno, Ph.D. has been awarded the Gilchrist Medal for “outstanding contribution to the enhancement of marine and coastal science in South Africa, including the Southern Ocean". The Gilchrist Memorial Medal was...

Russian Deep-sea Divers Missing In Egypt; 'Safety Rules Were Ignored'
Cairo, Egypt - Nov 22, 2007 11:08 EST
The search for Russian divers who failed to resurface in the Red Sea has been suspended for the night. The three divers failed to return to their boat after attempting a particularly deep dive near Elphinstone reef. The rescue operation...

South Africa Surfer Attacked By Great White Shark Hours Before 'Jaws' Broadcast; 'Lucky To Be Alive'
East London, South Africa - Nov 5, 2007 15:55 EST
A South Africa surfer was recovering in hospital yesterday after being attacked by a monster shark – just hours before the movie Jaws was being rebroadcast on national TV. The shark, believed to be a Great White, shattered Lee Mellin’s surf...

Ugandan Conservationists Saddened As 62-year-old Crocodile Passes; 'The Man Eater' Ate Over 80 Fishermen
Mpigi, Uganda - Oct 14, 2007 16:19 EST
Wildlife conservatives were saddened when one of the oldest crocodiles in the country was found dead on Friday at Buwama Crocodile Farm on Masaka Road in Mpigi district. The 62-year-old crocodile, also called “the man eater,’’ was believed to have...

South Africa Issues Great White Shark Alert As 'interaction' Season Approaches
Cape Town, South Africa - Aug 21, 2007 14:25 EST
The City of Cape Town has issued an urgent warning to all beach and ocean users of the seasonal increase in white sharks along the city's in-shore areas. "Although white sharks are present in our waters all year round, we are...

Study: Adaptation To Parasites Drive African Fishes Along Different Evolutionary Paths
Laval, Canada - Aug 16, 2007 18:51 EST
An international team of scientists from Canada (Universitй Laval), the U.K. (University of Hull, Cardiff University) and Spain (Doтana Biological Station), have discovered that a pair of closely related species of East African cichlid fishes – a group of fish...

Scientists: Remnants Of A Lost City Found Beneath The Harbor In Alexandria; 'Pharos They Call It'
Alexandria, Egypt - Jul 26, 2007 04:11 EST
Alexandria, known as the Pearl of the Meditarranean, is thought to have been founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC as he swept through Egypt in his quest to conquer the world. But now scientists have discovered that vestiges of...

Sea Shepherd Joins Forces With South Africa's 'Seal Whisperer' To Protect Beleaguered Cape Fur Seals
- Jul 14, 2007 14:46 EST
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is joining forces with Francois Hugo and his seal-saving organization, Seal Alert-SA. Sea Shepherd has already begun to finance the operations of Seal Alert in South Africa for their work protecting the beleaguered Cape fur seals....

Study: Recovery Of Fish Populations From Overfishing Can Take Decades; 'Up To 37 Years'
Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K. - Jul 11, 2007 15:17 EST
Recovery of fish populations from overfishing can take decades, reports a new study based on 37 years of observations. Writing in the journal Ecological Applications, scientists led by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) biologist Dr. Tim McClanahan found that when protected...

Huge Waves That Hit Reunion Island Tracked From Space; 11 Meter Swells Originated 4000km Away
Paris, France - May 16, 2007 14:36 EST
The origin and movement of waves reaching up to 11 metres that devastated France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean on Saturday evening have been detected with ESA's Envisat satellite. The waves that thrashed the southern port of Saint Pierre, leaving...

Research: Ancient Coral Reef Tells the History of Kenya's Soil Erosion; 'A Lot of Barium in Soils'
Stanford, California - Apr 11, 2007 16:21 EST
Coral reefs, like tree rings, are natural archives of climate change. But oceanic corals also provide a faithful account of how people make use of land through history, says Robert B. Dunbar of Stanford University. In a study published in...

South Africa Introduces New Permit System for Scuba Divers in Marine Protected Areas
Cape Town, South Africa - Dec 11, 2006 18:11 EST
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism will in future require recreational scuba divers to obtain a permit for recreational scuba diving in four of its Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), namely Table Mountain National Park, Bird Island, Pondoland and Aliwal...

Bull Shark Bites Man After Getting Pulled by the Tail; 'I Got the Shock of My Life'
East London, South Africa - Nov 11, 2006 17:27 EST
Aa East London canoeist found himself in serious deep water after he mistakenly grabbed a Zambezi shark by the tail near the Nahoon River mouth this week. Zambezi sharks are considered among the most dangerous ocean predators. Richard Tebbutt was paddling on...

Expert: Oceans Turning More Acidic; 'A Major Threat to Marine Organisms'
Nairobi, Kenya - Nov 9, 2006 18:30 EST
The world‘s oceans are becoming more acidic, which poses a threat to sea life and Earth‘s fragile food chain, a climate expert said Thursday. "The oceans are rapidly changing," said professor Stefan Rahmstorf on the sidelines of a U.N. conference...

Dubai's Man-made Island Rises Out of the Ocean, Set to Open to First Residents; 'World's Latest Landmark'
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Nov 5, 2006 17:47 EST
Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island off Dubai, is bracing for the arrival of its first residents, even as questions remain about the environmental impact of the mega-projects under way in the Gulf city state. "These projects are a positive thing for...

Egyptian Teen Chokes to Death After Swallowing Fish while Swimming
Cairo, Egypt - Oct 26, 2006 17:46 EST
An Egyptian teenager choked to death after a fish entered his mouth as he was swimming, Egyptian daily al-Wafd reported. Eighteen-year-old Yasser Ahmad Hussein was swimming in lake Qaroun, southwest of Cairo, when the freak accident occurred. Yasser was celebrating the three-day...

Shark Feeding for Tourists Blamed for Rise in Shark Attacks Along Cape Town Coast; 'Sharks Make the News'
Cape Town, South Africa - Oct 26, 2006 09:05 EST
A tourist trade for people to watch sharks underwater using bait to attract them is blamed for a rise in attacks along the 300km of coast around Cape Town. In the past four years, 13 have been recorded, three of...

Mystery Seal Mortality Along Namibian Coastline; Starvation Suspected Amid Protests Over Gov't Cull
Windhoek, Namibia - Oct 11, 2006 20:06 EST
In the midst of a storm of international protest about Namibia's seal cull, Government yesterday put out a statement to say seals are dying in large numbers along the coast, apparently because of starvation. Fisheries Permanent Secretary Nangula Mbako said in...

Marine Expedition: Severe Damage to Madagascar Coral Reefs from Rising Sea Temperatures
Washington, D.C. - Oct 6, 2006 14:48 EST
A new survey of reefs along Madagascar’s southwestern coast found massive damage from coral bleaching, including some reefs that lost up to 99 percent of their coral cover. But the survey team, led by the conservation groups Blue Ventures and the...

Outrage as Beloved Bull Shark 'Quasimodo' Found Dead by South African Divers; 'Why Kill Such a Beautiful Animal?'
Shelly Beach, South Africa - Sep 14, 2006 10:18 EST
For those of you who don’t know Quasimodo, Quasimodo was a very popular Zambezi shark (also known as Bull Shark) estimated to be about 70 years old and described as a “friendly” shark and regular diving companion of divers from...

Namibian Minister: Massive Seal Cull Conforms to 'International Conservation Principles and Practices'
Windhoek, Namibia - Jul 11, 2006 21:59 EST
The Fisheries and Marine Resources Ministry says the annual harvesting of seals takes place in line with the country`s laws and accepted international conservation principles and practices. In a media release issued yesterday, the Ministry reacted to what it described as...

Researchers: Jellyfish Dominate Fish in Over-harvested Namibian Waters; Population 'Explosion'
Fife, United Kingdom - Jul 10, 2006 21:33 EST
By sampling sea life in a heavily fished region off the coast of Namibia, researchers have found that jellyfish have actually overtaken fish in terms of the biomass they contribute to this ocean region. The findings represent a careful quantitative...

Protests as Namibia Plans to Cull 60,000 Cape Fur Seal Pups; Second Largest Harvest in the World
Windhoek, Namibia - Jul 5, 2006 23:00 EST
About 60,000 Cape fur seal pups will be stabbed or clubbed to death this year during Namibia's annual sealing season. From July to mid-November, 7,000 bulls will also be culled [killed] in what is claimed to be the second largest seal...

Research: Healthy Coral Reefs off Madagascar Resisting Damage from Climate Change
Antananarivo, Madagascar - Jun 22, 2006 18:37 EST
Healthy coral reefs of Madagascar's northeast coast have so far resisted the damaging effects of warmer ocean temperatures attributed to global climate change, say scientists who recently studied the region. The survey of a previously unexplored region in March 2006 by...

Seychelles Tourism Industry Blasts Shark Fishers as Tourists Discover 12 Drowned Sharks
Victoria, Seychelles - Jun 19, 2006 22:11 EST
Members of the local tourism trade have weighed in on the shark fishing issue after tourists on a reef diving holiday came across the remains of 12 drowned sharks. The dead Grey Reef sharks were found hooked on a 30m section...

Research: Electric Fish in Africa Could be Example of Evolution in Action
Ithaca, New York - Jun 2, 2006 13:33 EST
Avoiding quicksand along the banks of the Ivindo River in Gabon, Cornell neurobiologists armed with oscilloscopes search for shapes and patterns of electricity created by fish in the water. They know from their previous research that the various groups of local...