Research: Warming Ocean Layers Will Undermine Polar Ice Sheets; 'Water Has A Much Larger Heat Capacity Than Air'
Tuscon, Arizona - Jul 3, 2011 16:57 EST
Warming of the ocean's subsurface layers will melt underwater portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets faster than previously thought, according to new University of Arizona-led research. Such melting would increase the sea level more than already projected. The research,...

Study: Zooplankton Could Be Hard Hit By Climate Change; 'Oxygen Minimum Zones Are Very Difficult Places To Survive'
Kingston, Phode Island - Jul 1, 2011 17:58 EST
Tiny marine organisms called zooplankton can use specialized adaptations that allow them to hide from predators in areas of the ocean where oxygen levels are so low that almost nothing can survive, but they may run into trouble as these...

Whitetip Sharks Caught In The Jaws Of Tuna Fisheries; 'There Is A Relatively Easy Fix'
La Jolla, California - Jun 30, 2011 19:46 EST
Governments will soon have a chance to help conserve populations of oceanic whitetip sharks, which have declined so much in the eastern Pacific that catch numbers have been reduced to almost zero. Tuna fisheries are primarily responsible for the drastic decrease...

Study Documents First Cookiecutter Shark Attack On A Live Human; 'Kind Of Like Using A Melon-Baller'
Gainsville, Florida - Jun 30, 2011 19:33 EST
A new study co-authored by University of Florida researchers provides details on the first cookiecutter shark attack on a live human, a concern as warm summer waters attract more people to the ocean. The study currently online and appearing in the...

Study: Plastic Found In Stomachs Of 9% Of Fish In The 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'
San Diego, California - Jun 30, 2011 18:52 EST
The first scientific results from an ambitious voyage led by a group of graduate students from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego offer a stark view of human pollution and its infiltration of an area of the ocean...

Researchers: Sea Urchins See With Their Entire Body; 'A Huge Compound Eye'
Gothenburg, Sweden - Jun 30, 2011 18:10 EST
Many animals have eyes that are incredibly complex – others manage without. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have shown that sea urchins see with their entire body despite having no eyes at all. The study has been published in...

Invasionsoft: Researcher Invents Software To Model Lionfish Invasions; 'I Don't See How It's Possible To Get Rid Of Them'
Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Jun 30, 2011 12:49 EST
A Nova Southeastern University (Nova) researcher has invented software that helps predict invasion patterns of non-native species including the lionfish, a predatory species that has invaded Florida's coastal waters as well as the Loxahatchee River. Matthew Johnston, M.S., a researcher at...

Rare Deep-Water Giant Squid From South Florida Brought To UF For Research; 'It Took About Six People To Move It'
Gainsville, Florida - Jun 28, 2011 21:59 EST
University of Florida researchers received a rare 25-foot-long, deep-water giant squid Monday, the only one of its kind in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History. Recovered by recreational fishermen who found the creature floating on the surface about...

Researchers: Single Fish A Keystone Nutrient Recycler In Streams
Athens, Georgia - Jun 28, 2011 21:08 EST
Researchers from the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology have found that certain neotropical stream ecosystems rely almost entirely on a single fish species known as the banded tetra for the critical nutrient phosphorus. In a paper recently published...

Research: Efforts To Spear Invasive Lionfish Not Likely To Curb Population; 'You'D Have To Fish Them Hard' For A Long Time
Gainsville, Florida - Jun 27, 2011 18:34 EST
Lionfish are causing problems for native fish populations in Florida's coastal waters, such as grouper and snapper, prompting efforts to try and curb populations of the invasive species. But a new University of Florida study suggests that eradicating lionfish isn't likely...

Conservation Dollars And Sense: A Case For Shark Conservation Through Ecotourism; Sharks 'Worth More Alive Than Dead'
Miami, Florida - Jun 27, 2011 17:39 EST
Shark populations over the last 50 years have decreased dramatically. From habitat degradation to overfishing and finning, human activities have affected their populations and made certain species all but disappear. A new article in Current Issues in Tourism by Austin...

Fighting Back From Extinction, New Zealand Right Whales Are Returning Home; 'The First Pioneers'
Corvallis, Oregon - Jun 27, 2011 12:36 EST
After being hunted to local extinction more than a century ago and unable to remember their ancestral calving grounds, the southern right whales of mainland New Zealand are coming home. A new study published today has shown for the first time...

First As Costa Rica Hotels Agree To Stop Serving Sailfish, Marlin; 'Good For The Oceans And Good For Business'
Fort Lauderdal, Florida - Jun 27, 2011 11:56 EST
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) entered into an agreement with its conservation partner, the Costa Rica Sport Fishing Federation (FECOPT) and four participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in Costa Rica, pledging to stop serving all sailfish and marlin. Based on a...

Honduran President Lobo Sosa Announces Permanent Shark Sanctuary; Tourists 'Spend Money To See The Sharks'
Roatan, Honduras - Jun 24, 2011 20:10 EST
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa announced a permanent shark sanctuary in Honduran waters today, building on the country's 2010 shark-fishing moratorium. The designation encompasses all 240,000 square kilometers (92,665 square miles) of the country's exclusive economic zone on its Pacific...

More Than 300 New Species Discovered In The Philippines By New Expedition; 'The Hottest Of The Hotspots'
San Francisco, California - Jun 24, 2011 19:47 EST
This spring, scientists from the California Academy of Sciences braved leeches, lionfish, whip-scorpions and a wide variety of other biting and stinging creatures to lead the most comprehensive scientific survey effort ever conducted in the Philippines, documenting both terrestrial and...

National Geographic Honors Kenny Broad, Wes Skiles, Jack Johnson And Ibm At Inaugural 'Evening Of Exploration' Celebration
Washington, D.C. - Jun 24, 2011 18:38 EST
Three exceptional individuals and a corporation were honored by the National Geographic Society at its first ever "Evening of Exploration" gala event Thursday night, presented by Rolex. Environmental anthropologist Kenny Broad and the late underwater photographer Wes Skiles were named "Explorers...

Research Discovering Lost Salmon At Sea; 'Every Single Salmon Contains The Natural Chemical Tag'
Southampton, U.K. - Jun 23, 2011 20:48 EST
Where Atlantic salmon feed in the ocean has been a long-standing mystery, but new research led by the University of Southampton shows that marine location can be recovered from the chemistry of fish scales. Surprisingly, salmon from different British rivers...

Study: Modern Fish Communities Live Fast And Die Young; 'Fishing Removes The Slower-Growing, Longer-Lived Species'
New York, New YOrk - Jun 23, 2011 18:50 EST
Fish communities in the 21st Century live fast and die young. That's the main finding of a recent study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society who compared fish recently caught in coastal Kenya with the bones of fish contained...

'Orca Ears' Inspire Researchers To Develop Ultrasensitive Undersea Microphone; 'Tthey Can Sense Sounds Over A Tremendous Range'
Palo Alto, California - Jun 23, 2011 18:37 EST
For most people, listening to the ocean means contemplating the soothing sound of waves breaking gently on a sandy beach. But for researchers studying everything from whale migration to fisheries populations, and from underwater mapping to guiding robots trying to repair...

Enric Sala, James Cameron Named National Geographic's Newest Explorers-In-Residence
New York, New York - Jun 23, 2011 11:05 EST
Two outstanding explorers — filmmaker and alternative-energy proponent James Cameron and marine ecologist Enric Sala — are the National Geographic Society's newest Explorers-in-Residence. Both were honored today at a special gathering of National Geographic's top explorers at Society headquarters. Explorers-in-Residence are...

Study: Rare Cuban Crocs Breeding With American Crocs, Threatening Their Fate
New York, New York - Jun 22, 2011 18:48 EST
A new genetic study by a team of Cuban and American researchers confirms that American crocodiles are hybridizing with wild populations of critically endangered Cuban crocodiles, which may cause a population decline of this species found only in the Cuban...

Research: Teeming With Life, Pacific's California Current Likened To Africa's Serengeti Plain; 'Where Food Is Most Abundant'
Washington, D.C. - Jun 22, 2011 17:23 EST
Like the vast African plains, two huge expanses of the North Pacific Ocean are major corridors of life, attracting an array of marine predators in predictable seasonal patterns, according to final results from the Census of Marine Life Tagging of...

Decade-Long Study Of Pacific Predators Shows Importance Of Biological 'Hotspots'
Newport, Oregon - Jun 22, 2011 16:43 EST
An unprecedented decade-long study of apex predators in the Pacific Ocean found a wider range of distribution among some species than previously thought, unknown relationships between other species, and the importance of biological "hotspots" to the survival of most of...

Researcher: Fastest Sea-Level Rise In 2 Millennia Linked To Increasing Temperatures; 'A Potentially Disastrous Outcome Of Climate Change'
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Jun 21, 2011 18:02 EST
An international research team including University of Pennsylvania scientists has shown that the rate of sea-level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years and that there is a consistent...

Costa Rica: Fishermen Protest President's Office Over Lack Of Control Of International Shark Finning Vessels
San Jose, Costa Rica - Jun 16, 2011 19:52 EST
Yesterday, members of the Puntarenas Pacific Fishers Association sent a document to Don Ricardo Benavides, Presidential Minister, complaining of deficiencies and multiple irregularities committed by Incopesca favoring foreign vessels that arrive at Puntarenas to land shark products. The document...

Study Finds Golden Algae Less Toxic In Sunlight; Deepwater Fish May Be At Greater Risk
Waco, Texas - Jun 15, 2011 19:29 EST
A new Baylor University study has found that sunlight decreases the toxicity of golden algae, which kills millions of fish in the southern United States every year. While golden algae is primarily a coastal species, it has been found in...

Coming Off A Career-Best Outing, Bass Angler Robert Pearson Braces For Kentucky Event; 'I Am A Believer In Karma And Momentum'
Gilbertsville, Kentucky - Jun 15, 2011 17:55 EST
GEICO angler Robert Pearson is a big believer in momentum, and the lifelong fisherman has plenty as he prepares for this week's Walmart FLW Outdoors event, which runs Thursday through Sunday on Kentucky Lake. Pearson earned his first big payout on...

Major Flooding On The Mississippi River Predicted To Cause Largest Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone Ever Recorded
Silver Spring, Maryland - Jun 14, 2011 18:12 EST
The Gulf of Mexico's hypoxic zone is predicted to be the largest ever recorded, due to extreme flooding of the Mississippi River this spring, according to an annual forecast by a team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine...

Monster Fish Researcher Zeb Hogan Named National Geographic Fellow; 'It's A Great Honor'
Reno Nevada - Jun 11, 2011 19:35 EST
University of Nevada, Reno researcher Zeb Hogan, who travels the globe to find, study and protect monster freshwater fish, has been named a National Geographic Fellow – one of only 15 men and women worldwide. "It's a great honor," Hogan said....

For Some Crustaceans In Polluted Waters, It Could Be Worse‎: They Could Have Healthy Predators
Newark, New Jersey - Jun 10, 2011 18:09 EST
Imagine that you're a grass shrimp. Now, imagine that you're a rational grass shrimp, and that you have a choice of living in an environment with relatively high levels of dioxin, poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other floating nastiness or a...

Group: McDonald's Filet-O-Fish To Carry Questionable Eco-Label; 'Made From A Controversial Fish'
Washington, D.C - Jun 9, 2011 20:09 EST
Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Europe: Brussels, Belgium – "It is deeply disturbing that McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich will soon carry the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) eco-label at the fast food chain's European locations. Filet-O-Fish sandwiches are made...

Research: Water's Surface Not All Wet; 'the Air-Water Interface Is About 70 Percent Of The Earth's Surface'
Los Angeles, California - Jun 9, 2011 19:41 EST
Air and water meet over most of the earth's surface, but exactly where one ends and the other begins turns out to be a surprisingly subtle question. A new study in Nature narrows the boundary to just one quarter of...

Filmmakers Return From World's First Expedition To Film The 'Most Dangerous Of All Sharks' At Night Without A Cage
Washington, D.C. - Jun 9, 2011 19:17 EST
All Fins On Productions just completed a groundbreaking expedition to film and document the Oceanic Whitetip Shark in the Bahamas. The trip included the first ever planned, organized and photographed night dive with the oceanic whitetip without the protection of...

Dive Training Organization Relaunches Project AWARE; To Focus On Sharks In Peril And Marine Debris
Rancho Santa Margarita, California - Jun 7, 2011 20:36 EST
PADI, the world's largest diver training organization, today announced its support of Project AWARE Foundation's new movement to protect the ocean and its inhabitants, which will launch on World Ocean Day, June 8. On this day, the 21-year-old foundation will...

Scientists Discover A New Tiger Shark Hunting Technique; 'Unprecedented New Insights'
Mānoa, Hawaii - Jun 7, 2011 20:30 EST
In a joint research effort between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), University of Tokyo, the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research, and the University of Florida, scientists have shed new light on the...

Study: Ciguatoxin Discovered In Critically Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal
Silver Spring, Maryland - Jun 7, 2011 19:20 EST
Researchers from NOAA have discovered a potent and highly-debilitating toxin in the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, a first-of-its-kind chemical finding that is now prompting investigations of other marine mammals in the state. The toxin, ciguatoxin, is produced by marine algae...

Odyssey To Commence Gairsoppa Silver Project; 'Carrying As Much As 7,000,000 Ounces Of Silver'
Tampa, Florida - Jun 7, 2011 18:35 EST
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. has executed a charter agreement to utilize the Russian Research Vessel Yuzhmorgeologiya to conduct search operations for the SS Gairsoppa. The Gairsoppa was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in February 1941 while enlisted in the service...

Bass Angler Robert Pearson Reveling After His Best Outing As A Professional; 'Fishing Relaxed Is Paying Off'
Herdon, Virginia - Jun 7, 2011 12:22 EST
GEICO angler Robert Pearson is riding high after his best weekend as a professional, finishing 16th in the Walmart FLW Outdoors event on the Potomac River in National Harbor, Md. Pearson earned $12,000 for his efforts, moving up the standings each...

Discovery Channel's Shark Week Returns With Andy Samberg For 24th Season
New York, New York - Jun 6, 2011 20:05 EST
SHARK WEEK, cable television's longest-running programming event and the ultimate summertime ritual, returns to Discovery Channel Sunday, July 31 at 9PM with seven all-new specials and some of the most watched shows from recent years. The 24th annual fin-filled...

Study: Jellyfish Blooms Shunt Food Energy From Fish To Bacteria; 'Voracious Predators'
Gloucester Point, Virginia - Jun 6, 2011 18:37 EST
Jellyfish can be a nuisance to bathers and boaters in Chesapeake Bay. A new study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) shows that jellyfish also have a more significant impact, drastically altering marine food webs by...