Changing Wave Heights Projected As The Atmosphere Warms; 'Considerable Uncertainty Remains'
Melbourne, Australia - Apr 18, 2013 19:09 EST
Climate scientists studying the impact of changing wave behavior on the world's coastlines are reporting a likely decrease in average wave heights across 25 per cent of the global ocean. In some of the first simulations of modeled wind and wave...

Geo-Engineering Against Climate Change: Seeding The Oceans With Iron May Not Address Carbon Emissions
Sydney, Australia - Dec 19, 2012 20:49 EST
Numerous geo-engineering schemes have been suggested as possible ways to reduce levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and so reduce the risk of global warming and climate change. One such technology involves dispersing large quantities of...

Blubbery Buddies And Toothy Terrors: Researcher Says Media Influences Public's Perception Of Sea Life
Christchurch, New Zealand's - Nov 19, 2012 20:49 EST
Many people will not have had any real-life contact with marine creatures like dolphins, whales, and sharks, other than via the media, despite the increase in marine-fauna tourism, a University of Canterbury researcher said. Because there was less chance for real-life...

Researchers: Marine Reserve 'Naïve Fish' Are Easy Targets For Spear Fishers; 'Literally More Catchable'
Townsville, Queensland - Nov 13, 2012 20:14 EST
Big fish that have grown up in marine reserves don't seem to know enough to avoid fishers armed with spear guns waiting outside the reserve. The latest research by an Australian team working in the Philippines into the effects of...

World's Rarest Whale Seen For First Time, Washed Up Dead On Kiwi Beach; 'We Know Almost Nothing About Such A Large Mammal'
Auckland, New Zealand - Nov 5, 2012 20:34 EST
A whale that is almost unknown to science has been seen for the first time after two individuals—a mother and her male calf—were stranded and died on a New Zealand beach. A report in the November 6th issue of Current...

Study: Key Environmental Factors, Moon Seen Influencing Manta Ray Behavior
Brisbane, Queensland - Oct 4, 2012 00:21 EST
Manta rays are more likely to gather together under either a new or a full moon, according to new research published Oct 3 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Fabrice Jaine and colleagues at the University of Queensland....

Did A 'Forgotten' Meteor Trigger Mega-Tsunami And Ice Ages? 'There's No Obvious Giant Crater To Investigate'
Sydney, Australia - Sep 19, 2012 18:12 EST
When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago and fell into the southern Pacific Ocean it not only could have generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a...

Research Sheds Light On How Fish Food Rises From Ocean Depths
Adelaide, South Australia - Jun 26, 2012 20:08 EST
Research by Flinders oceanographer Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf has shed new light on the movement of nutrient-rich water generated in coastal canyons, a process which makes a fundamental contribution to the marine food chain. The research, published in the prestigious international...

Research: Grazing Sea Snails Key To Controlling Seaweed Along Rocky Seashores
Sydney, Australia - May 31, 2012 20:12 EST
Coral reefs and seashores largely look the way they do because large fish and urchins eat most of the seaweed that might otherwise cover them, but a major new study has found that the greatest impact of all comes from...

Researchers: Ocean Salinity Change Detected; Wet To Get Wetter, Dry To Get Drier
Clayton South, Victoria - Apr 26, 2012 21:08 EST
A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world's oceans, signaling shifts and an acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle. In a paper published today in the journal Science, Australian scientists from CSIRO and the Lawrence Livermore...

Researchers: Shark Repellents Work Best If Targeted Against Specific Species
Perth, Australia - Apr 24, 2012 20:36 EST
Shark repellents may work best if they target specific species rather than try to deter all types of sharks, say scientists from the Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia. Their findings are among six papers published by Oceans Institute...

Gannet Study Reveals Perils Of High-Speed Diving; Fatal Collisions Injuries Common
Palmerston North, New Zealand - Mar 9, 2012 19:14 EST
Gannets may be among the fastest and most agile seabird hunters around, but they risk dying of fatal neck and head injuries from accidental collisions in the water when diving for fish at breakneck speeds, a Massey biology researcher has...

Scientists: Diverse Catches Are Better For Fishery Ecosystems; 'Balanced Harvest'
Clayton, Victoria - Mar 1, 2012 19:26 EST
Fishing for a 'balanced harvest' can achieve productive fisheries as well as environmental conservation, an international scientific team reports today in the journal Science. In contrast, increasing fishing selectivity to catch a small group of species and sizes neither maximizes production...

Researchers, Google Collaborate On 'Virtual' Exploration Of The Great Barrier Reef
Brisbane, Australia - Feb 24, 2012 18:37 EST
A pioneering scientific expedition that will document the health of coral on the Great Barrier Reef will be undertaken as a joint venture between global technology giant Google, the UQ Global Change Institute, not-for-profit organization Underwater Earth and insurance company...

Researchers Use Deep-Ocean 'Gliders' To Track A Current From The Tasman Sea To The Indian Ocean
Sydney, Australia - Feb 21, 2012 18:57 EST
Deployed in 2010 and 2011, the gliders have also profiled a 200-meter tall wall of water at the core of long-lived ocean eddies formed from the East Australian Current. The study, by University of Technology Sydney and CSIRO oceanographers, revealed the...

Scientists: Big Fish Shelter Choice Could Have Impact On Ability To Survive Climate Change
Townsville, Queensland - Feb 13, 2012 23:45 EST
When it comes to choosing a place to hang out, big reef fish like coral trout, snappers and sweetlips have strong architectural preferences. The choices big fish make on where to shelter could have a major influence on their ability to...

Indonesian Shark Fishing Communities To Help In Sustainability Study
Perth, Western Australia - Jan 30, 2012 20:47 EST
A Murdoch University PhD student will spend a year living among Indonesian shark fishermen to investigate their impact on shark populations and the effects of conservation efforts on fishing communities. Vanessa Jaiteh hopes her project, beginning at the end of this...

Researchers: Complex Relationship Between Fish, Coral Beneficial To Both
Townsville, Queensland - Jan 24, 2012 22:01 EST
Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today's coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth's systems. The complex relationship...

Research: Multiple Partners Not The Only Way For Corals To Stay Cool; 'Adapted To Local Conditions'
Townsville, Queensland - Jan 21, 2012 21:33 EST
Recent experiments conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) produced striking results, showing for the first time that corals hosting a single type of "zooxanthellae" can have different levels of thermal tolerance – a feature that was only...

World-First Discovery Of Hybrid Sharks Off Australia's East Coast; 'Detecting Hybrids And Their Offspring Is Extraordinary'
Brisbane, Queensland - Dec 21, 2011 19:18 EST
A group of leading marine scientists has discovered that sharks on Australia's east coast display a mysterious tendency to interbreed, challenging several accepted scientific theories regarding shark behavior. In a joint-UQ research project, scientists have discovered widespread hybridisation in the...

Scientists Discover Astounding Deep-Sea Sponges With Carnivorous Ways, 'Jaws Of A Great White Shark'
Newmarket, Auckland - Dec 13, 2011 21:14 EST
NIWA's Dr Michelle Kelly and a visiting scientist, Professor Jean Vacelet from Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille, have recently discovered and described three "previously unknown species" of carnivorous sponges from the family Cladorhizidae. The scientists say that one resembles a "tiny shrub",...

Queensland Satellite-Tags Second Shark; 'Helps Us Understand The Behavior And Biology Of Dangerous Sharks'
Brisbane, Queensland - Dec 9, 2011 18:36 EST
'Kirra J' is now Queensland's second satellite-tagged great white shark. Fisheries Minister Craig Wallace said she was 2.66 meters long and weighed in at 180 kilograms when caught and tagged off the Gold Coast last week. "Kirra J was tagged on 1...

Scientists: Some Fish Can Quickly Adjust To Increased Ocean Temperatures; 'We Were Amazed - Stunned, Even'
Townsville, Queensland - Dec 5, 2011 20:01 EST
Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought – by adjusting over several generations. The discovery, by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies,...

Scientific Sleuths Pinpoint The Guilty Coral Killers; 'Different Diseases Can Often Look Very Similar'
Cairns, Australia - Nov 23, 2011 18:54 EST
The elusive culprits that are killing countless coral reefs around the world can now be nabbed with technology normally used to diagnose human diseases, marine researchers say. Coral researchers and reef managers will be able to identify coral infections using a...

Corals Can Sense What's Coming, Commit 'Cell Suicide' When Conditions Deteriorate
Cairns, Australia - Nov 19, 2011 17:00 EST
Australian scientists have thrown new light on the mechanism behind the mass death of corals worldwide as the Earth's climate warms. Coral bleaching, one of the most devastating events affecting coral reefs around the planet, is triggered by rising water temperatures....

Greenpeace Releases Shocking Whistleblower Tuna Fish Footage; 'Obscene Waste Of Ocean Life'
Auckland, New Zealand - Nov 16, 2011 20:39 EST
Greenpeace today released shocking footage and images of whales and a marlin and ray dying at the hands of industrial tuna fishers in the Pacific Ocean. The footage was shot by a New Zealand helicopter pilot turned whistleblower, who undertook aerial...

Tasmania: Last Whale Dies After West Coast Mass Stranding; 'We Did Everything Possible'
Hobart, Tasmania - Nov 16, 2011 20:24 EST
The last survivor of the weekend whale stranding on Tasmania's West Coast died at 7pm last night. Parks and Wildlife Service incident controller Chris Arthur said the 12-metre sperm whale died following attempts late in the day to return it to...

Researchers: Some Coral Reefs Can Lower Ocean Acidity; 'Overall, CO2 Enrichment And Ocean Acidification Is Bad News'
Townsville, Australia - Nov 9, 2011 19:17 EST
Coral reefs can both positively and negatively influence the acidity of their surrounding seawater. That is the take-home message of two papers recently published in the international journal Global Change Biology, by a group of scientists from the Australian Institute...

Researchers: Climate Change To Force Sea Life To Swim 'Farther And Faster' To Survive; Equator To Empty Out
Cairns, Australia - Nov 3, 2011 21:20 EST
Fish and other sea creatures will have to travel large distances to survive climate change, international marine scientists have warned. Sea life, particularly in the Indian Ocean, the Western and Eastern Pacific and the subarctic oceans will face growing pressures...

Commentary: Sea Shepherd Strongly Opposes Western Australia Government's Call For A Shark Cull
Fitzroy, Victoria - Oct 29, 2011 20:02 EST
The Western Australian (WA) Government has unfortunately given a green light to hunt for a shark that killed a man in the waters off of Rottnest Island on October 22, 2011. The 32-year-old American man was diving and spear fishing,...

Seaweed Records Show Impact Of Ocean Warming; 'Trees Of The Ocean' Heading Toward Extinction
Perth, Australia - Oct 28, 2011 17:00 EST
As the planet continues to warm, it appears that seaweeds may be in especially hot water. New findings reported online on October 27 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, based on herbarium records collected in Australia since the 1940s...

Ultimate Survivor: Scientists Film Hagfish Deploying Anti-Shark Slime Weapon
Aukland, New Zeland - Oct 27, 2011 17:15 EST
The hagfish found in New Zealand's deepest waters is grotesque enough, thanks to its scary protruding teeth straight from a horror film. Now, scientists have witnessed the full power of its other gruesome feature – a built-in slime weapon...

'Summer Of The Shark Hunt': Shark Attack Researcher Argues Shark Hunts Are Political, Not Practical
Sydney, Australia - Oct 23, 2011 18:26 EST
"This year may be remembered as the 'summer of the shark hunt'," stated Christopher Neff, University of Sydney doctoral research student studying the politics of shark attacks. Neff added, "Shark bites are terrible events and for a third time this...

Research: Deep-Reef Coral Hates The Light, Prefers The Shade; 'Increased Capacity To Exploit Nutrients And Plankton'
Brisbane, Australia - Oct 19, 2011 18:24 EST
Deep-reef coral grows more prosperously in very little sunlight researchers at The University of Queensland and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies have found. The research team looked at coral populations from three habitats on coral reefs...

Marine Sanctuaries: Tourism, Diving, Environment Groups Say 'Great For Western Australia'
West Perth, Western Australia - Oct 17, 2011 20:38 EST
Environment groups, divers and tourism operators have rejected negative claims by fishing lobby groups about the impact of new marine sanctuaries, instead agreeing they will be produce a win-win for regional economies and marine life. The coalition of environment, diving and...

Research: Hurricane Activity Is Clustered Rather Than Random; 'Clustered Events Are Less Damaging'
Brisbane, Australia - Oct 17, 2011 19:02 EST
New research has found that hurricane activity is 'clustered' rather than random, which has important long-term implications for coastal ecosystems and human population. The research was carried out by Professor Peter Mumby from The University of Queensland Global Change Institute...

Dating Drought Or Purple Patch? Fish Reveal How Males Choose Mates
Sydney, Australia - Oct 12, 2011 22:06 EST
Males decide how much effort they put into courtship and which females to court based on how many others they have recently encountered and how attractive they were, according to a new study into the mating tactics of tropical fish. Males...

Lungfish Provides Insight To Life On Land; 'Humans Are Just Modified Fish'
Melbourne, Victoria - Oct 4, 2011 19:32 EST
A study into the muscle development of several different fish has given insights into the genetic leap that set the scene for the evolution of hind legs in terrestrial animals. This innovation gave rise to the tetrapods—four-legged creatures, and our...

New Analysis Confirms Sharks Are In Trouble; 'Widespread, Substantial, And Ongoing Declines'
Townsville, Queensland - Sep 28, 2011 12:12 EST
Sharks are in big trouble on the Great Barrier Reef and worldwide, according to an Australian-based team who have developed a world-first way to measure rates of decline in shark populations. "There is mounting evidence of widespread, substantial, and ongoing declines...

Aussie Researcher Discovers New Dolphin Species In Victoria; 'A Large Sea Fish Of The Porpoise Kind'
Melbourne, Victoria - Sep 15, 2011 16:11 EST
They're one of the most intelligent marine mammals, well known for their inquisitive and playful nature and now, following an amazing discovery by a Monash University researcher, Victoria's dolphins have been formally recognised as a new species. Kate Charlton-Robb, a PhD...