Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine

REEFS IN THE NEWS

The stuggle to save coral reefs in Australia

From GreenMedia.info

TOWNSVILLE, Australia (9 Mar 2005) -- Leaf through the latest tomes on the status of coral reefs worldwide and a grim picture emerges. Because of overfishing, soil and nutrient runoff from land, and climate change...

Grant to support coral reef protection

From The Maui News

HONOLUA – Tiffany & Co. Foundation has awarded $100,000 to the Coral Reef Alliance of San Francisco to build conservation alliances and to implement coral reef preservation projects, starting at Honolua Bay, a Maui spot frequented by divers, snorkelers and surfers.

Fishermen protect Khanh Hoa’s coral reef

From Viet Nam News.

KHANH HOA — The coral reefs and the rich marine biodiversity of the Ran Trao coastal region, a tourist hot spot, in Khanh Hoa Province have found unlikely saviours in a bunch of fishermen, who despite their many handicaps are protecting this ecologically sensitive area for future generations.

Maldives coral reefs undamaged by Asian tsunami

By Dive South Africa

Many television viewers have seen for themselves the destructive power caused by the Asian tsunami. But what kind of damage did it cause to the underwater ecology in places like the Maldives?

Probing reefs' survival instincts

The Christian Science Monitor

TOWNSVILLE, Australia — In examining the status of coral reefs worldwide, a grim picture emerges. Because of overfishing, soil and nutrient runoff from land, and climate change...

Marine researchers deliver blueprint for rescuing America's troubled coral reefs

From EurekaAlert

An international team of marine ecologists is urging the United States to take immediate action to save its fragile coral reefs. Their message is contained a strongly worded essay titled, "Are U.S. Coral Reefs on the Slippery Slope to Slime?" that appears in the journal Science. "We're frustrated with how slowly things are moving with coral reef conservation in the United States," said Stanford University biologist Fiorenza Micheli, co-author of the essay.

State's coral reefs face extinction, scientists say

Orlando Sentinel. Overfishing, pollution and global warming are taking a heavy toll, experts find.

FORT LAUDERDALE -- The coral reefs of South Florida will continue to decline, becoming little more than "rubble, seaweed and slime," unless the government takes stronger steps to protect them, according to an article published Friday in the journal Science.

Phuket governor told to halt destruction of coral

From mcot.org.

PHUKET, Mar 23 (TNA) – Local fisheries officials in Thailand's southern resort province of Phuket yesterday promised to closely monitor the activities of trawler vessels, following the discovery that trawlers are destroying coral reefs which provide essential monsoon shelter for dolphins.



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Octopus Uses Two Arms to "Walk Away" from Trouble

From The National Science Foundation.

A diving trip always reveals amazing undersea creatures, but in 2000, while helping a film crew in the waters off an Indonesian island, a University of California, Berkeley, biologist did a double take when she saw an octopus walk by on two arms! Further exploration of tropical waters revealed that at least two octopus species can raise six of their arms and walk backward on the remaining two.

Tsunami Silt Threatens Indian Ocean's Coral

From enn.com.

KOH PHI PHI — Three months after the Indian Ocean tsunami, divers are still pulling mattresses and metal from the coral-lined bays of Thai paradise isles, although experts say overall reef damage is not that bad.

Tsunami damaged coral reefs could take centuries to recover

From Cyber Diver News Network

PHUKET, Thailand (25 Mar 2005) -- Three months after the Indian Ocean tsunami, divers are still pulling mattresses and metal from the coral-lined bays of Thai paradise isles, although experts say overall reef damage is not that bad.

Is the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force Failing in their Mission?

From Shifting Baselines Blog.

They don't think so. An article this month in Science by lead author John Pandolfi says Florida's coral reefs are "well over halfway toward ecological extinction." They concluded that government efforts to protect coral reefs have been, "piecemeal and ineffective." But Andy Bruckner of NOAA said the article's criticism of efforts to protect reefs wasn't "entirely fair." Check out this article about it all in the Contra Costa Times.

Corals Hurting from Halimeda

From Earthwatch Radio.

A marine plant apparently helps spread a disease across the Caribbean, and scientists want to find out how the plant does it.

Damage to Coral Reefs on Indian Government's Radar

From enn.com.

NEW DELHI — The threat of a second tsunami in three months proved an empty one but the country still has to wrestle with the ecological damage wrought by the first one.

Coral shows life after first aid

From The Honolulu Advertiser.

The emergency reconstruction of the ocean floor off Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor, where the ship Cape Flattery ran aground in February, has gone smoothly —except for one incident in which a moray eel attacked a diver's hand.



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An (ecological) origin of species for tropical reef fish

From EurekAlert!

Dealing a new blow to the dominant evolutionary paradigm, Luiz Rocha and colleagues from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Harvard University the University of Florida and the University of Hawaii, report coral reef fish from neighboring habitats may differ more from one another than from fish thousands of miles away. An ecological speciation model for coral reef organisms may spur the development of a more synthetic treatment of speciation on land and sea.

Using explosives to catch fish harms coral reefs, tourism in Indonesia

From NewsTarget.com.

Though using explosives to catch fish, known as blast fishing, is outlawed in Indonesia, it is still used by fishermen looking to make a quick profit. Unfortunately, these underwater explosions destroy coral reefs, causing damage that is slow to heal. The damage this causes to coral reefs hurts tourism because tourists want to visit reefs, not rubble fields.

Rare clams stolen from Waikiki Aquarium

From the Honolulu Adviser.

The giant clam heist came to light early Saturday morning when a Waikiki Aquarium staffer noticed seven of the rare, magnificently colored creatures were missing from their special Aquarium Lawn exhibit.

In Ruskin, farmers are raising ... coral, which they hope will head to open water to inspire fish and tourists.

From the St. Petersburg Times

TAMPA - The little squares of coral don't look like much.

They're mostly brown with a smattering of algae - a far cry from the picturesque undersea monuments that beckon divers.

But researchers in Tampa, Ruskin and the Florida Keys hope these modest slabs will one day be the building blocks for new coral reefs populated by colorful marine life and plants.

Coral reef rescue underway in Thailand

From Asia Times Online

RACHA YAI ISLAND, Thailand - On a beach alive with tropical delights and smooth, white sand washed by calm, turquoise waters, Bas Toeter cuts an odd figure in a T-shirt, shorts and wide-brimmed hat.

Instead of lounging on the beach or swimming in the sea, as is the case with the few dozen European tourists here, the lanky Toeter sweats under the afternoon sun in the company of other foreigners with work on their minds.

Scientists find Nemo with sound

Science News, SCIENTISTS have found the secret of luring fish back to threatened coral reefs - speaking to them.

Research by marine biologists from Edinburgh University found that noisy reefs attract far more fish than quiet ones.

So the team, working with scientists in Australia and New Zealand, developed a "pied piper" technique by playing recordings of fish and shrimp noises through huge underwater speakers.

Mutant clams 100 times more toxic

From ScienceBlog.com

Exposure to toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning can result in a mutation that makes clams much more resistant to the toxin than other clams, making them more dangerous to humans, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature. Paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) are produced by algae that appear in certain coastal areas in the United States in an event known as an algal bloom, commonly called a "red tide." People who eat clams exposed to the PSTs can suffer the paralytic effects of the toxins, and there is no cure for the poisoning.

Aquarium's giant clams back 'cold, but ... healthy'

From the HonoluluAdviser.com

The case of the giant clam caper is closed.

Someone returned the seven magnificently colored clams on Saturday and a security guard discovered them inside the jellyfish theater at the Waikiki Aquarium. They were in a round plastic container filled with seawater, stashed inside a plain plastic bag.

Reef faces extinction from large colony of star fish

From the Inquirer News Service

BULAN, Sorsogon, Philippines -- Six to seven hectares of a coral reef that is home to the world's largest manta rays are facing extinction if authorities do not move fast.

A large colony of crown of thorns, a kind of starfish, has invaded the Tacdugan Reef, 13 km off the coast of this town.

The vicious giant Dosidicus gigas, the Humboldt squid, seems to be finding a new home right off our shores.

From montereycountyweekly.com

There is an alien intelligence residing deep within the Monterey Bay, a bizarre life form that appears to be proliferating by the thousands in cold black waters far below the surface. It resides within creatures that have three hearts, primate-like stereoscopic eyes, blue blood and brains large enough to suggest they are among the smartest creatures on earth. They are giant raptorial predators with a taste for flesh. Growing up to seven feet long and occasionally bigger—possibly much bigger—these carnivores seize their prey with two lightning-fast, hook-laden tentacle clubs, draw it into a squirming nest of eight arms and proceed to tear chunks of flesh from its body with a disproportionately large, razor-sharp, parrot-like beak.

More Jumbo Squid Beach Themselves

From NBCSandiego.com

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Biologists are continuing to question why jumbo squid are washing ashore on Orange County beaches.

At least 10 of the South American natives have been stranded in South Orange County since Saturday. The squid first appeared off the Southern California coast in January. Scientists at the Ocean Institute suspect they never left. Biologists say the squid normally feed out in the deep sea. Between 600 and 2000 feet would be where they find food. They find it even more odd that they would land in a harbor where the water is shallow.



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