Climate change Archives - Page 76 of 139

Smaller-than-expected Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ measured

August 5, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA-supported scientists have determined this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”— an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is approximately 2,116 square miles, or equivalent to 1.4 million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species.

The measured size of the dead zone is the third smallest in the 34-year record of surveys. The average hypoxic zone over the past five years is 5,408-square miles, which is 2.8 times larger than the 2035 target set by the Hypoxia Task Force.

The annual dead zone survey was led by scientists at Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium during a research cruise from July 25 to August 1 aboard the R/V Pelicano.

Read the full release here

New research plan sets the course for NOAA’s ocean acidification science

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA unveiled its new 10-year research roadmap to help the nation’s scientists, resource managers, and coastal communities address acidification of the open ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

“Ocean acidification puts the United States’ $1 billion shellfish industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk,” said Kenric Osgood, Ph.D., chief of the Marine Ecosystems Division, Office of Science and Technology at NOAA Fisheries Service. “Understanding how ocean acidification will affect marine life and the jobs and communities that depend on it is critical to a healthy ocean and blue economy.”

The research plan sets out three major objectives for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes acidification research, and includes regional chapters for coastal zones around the U.S., Great Lakes, territories – including Puerto Rico and American Samoa – and deep ocean regions. The three national research objectives are:

1) Expand and advance observing systems and technologies to improve the understanding of and ability to predict acidification trends and processes;

2) Understand the ways acidification is impacting ecologically and economically important species and the ecosystems they live in, and improve our ability to predict how these ecosystems and species may respond to acidification and other stressors; and

3) Identify and engage stakeholders and partners, assess needs, and generate products and tools that support management decisions, adaptation, and resilience to acidification.

Read the full release here

Sharks are “functionally extinct” from many of the world’s reefs, new global survey finds

July 28, 2020 — Sharks are absent on many of the world’s coral reefs, suggesting that they are “too rare to fulfill their normal role in the ecosystem, and have become ‘functionally extinct,’” according to a new landmark study.

Conducted by Global FinPrint and published in the journal Nature, the study involved surveying 371 reefs in 58 countries. Sharks were not found on nearly 20 percent of reefs, “indicating a widespread decline that has gone undocumented on this scale until now,” Global FinPrint said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation: A Habitat Worth SAV-ing

July 27, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The term used for a rooted aquatic plant that grows completely under water is submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). These plants occur in both freshwater and saltwater but in estuaries, where fresh and saltwater mix together, they can be an especially important habitat for fish, crabs, and other aquatic organisms. We work to protect this important habitat, ensuring that it remains healthy and has a chance to thrive.

NOAA: Lobsters will look for cooler water

July 24, 2020 — Cape Cod is known for its lobsters as much as for its oysters and quahogs. But it’s getting too warm in these waters for the tasty crustacean.

Researchers have projected significant changes in the habitat of commercially important American lobster and sea scallops on the Northeast U.S. continental shelf. They used a suite of models to estimate how species will react as waters warm, and it suggests that American lobster will move further offshore and sea scallops will shift to the north in the coming decades, a recent statement from NOAA Fisheries warned.

Findings from the study were published recently in Diversity and Distributions. They pose fishery management challenges as the changes can move stocks into and out of fixed management areas. Habitats within current management areas will also experience changes — some will show species increases, others decreases, and still others no change.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

How Ultra-Black Fish Disappear in the Deepest Seas

July 16, 2020 — Alexander Davis admits that he can be a glutton for punishment. He staked part of his Ph.D. on finding some of the world’s best-camouflaged fishes in the ocean’s deepest depths. These animals are so keen on not being found that they’ve evolved the ability to absorb more than 99.9 percent of the light that hits their skin.

To locate and study these so-called ultra-black fishes, Mr. Davis, a biologist at Duke University, said he relied largely on the luck of the draw. “We basically just drop nets and see what we get,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to pull up.”

When he and his colleagues did cash in, they cashed in big. In a paper published Thursday in Current Biology, they report snaring the first documented ultra-black animals in the ocean, and some of the darkest creatures ever found: 16 types of deep-sea fish that are so black, they manifest as permanent silhouettes — light-devouring voids that almost seem to shred the fabric of space-time.

“It’s like looking at a black hole,” Mr. Davis said.

To qualify as ultra-black, a substance has to reflect less than 0.5 percent of the light that hits it. Some birds of paradise manage this, beaming back as little as 0.05 percent, as do certain types of butterflies (0.06 percent) and spiders (0.35 percent). A feat of engineering allowed humans to best them all with synthetic materials, some of which reflect only 0.045 percent of incoming light. (“Black” paper, on the other hand, returns a whopping 10 percent of the light it meets.)

Read the full story at The New York Times

Ocean investment could aid post-Covid-19 economic recovery

July 14, 2020 — As many countries roll out bailout packages to counter the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the report says investment in these four key ocean intervention areas could help aid economic recovery both now and in the future:

Conservation and restoration of mangroves
Decarbonization of the shipping industry
Scaling up offshore wind production
Increasing sustainable protein from the ocean close dialog

“They give jobs and livelihoods to people and communities and you’re doing so by investing in making your environment more sustainable,” said Manaswita Konar, lead author of the report. The study found that these four areas all give between five and 10 times the return on investment in terms of economic, environmental and health benefits, and could provide minimum net returns of $8.2 trillion over 30 years.

The report builds on research last year from the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy showing how ocean-based climate action can provide a fifth of the carbon emissions cuts needed to achieve the Paris Climate Accord goal of only 1.5 degrees of global warming.

Read the full story at CNN

MAINE: Microplastics are harming the Gulf of Maine’s baby lobsters, study finds

July 14, 2020 — A study by scientists at a marine research laboratory indicates that plastic pollution in the Gulf of Maine likely is creating problems for the lobster population.

Researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay examined how microplastics — pieces of plastic broken down into tiny particles — affect lobster larvae in the gulf. They found that lobster larvae, which float in the water column and typically are found in shallow water, get fibers caught under their shells and sometimes ingest particles.

The issue of pollution in the Gulf of Maine, where millions of pounds of lobster fishing gear is deployed each year, has environmental and economic implications for Maine. The commercial statewide lobster harvest in 2019 alone accounted for more than $485 million in fishing revenue in the state, nearly three-quarters of all of Maine’s fisheries landings value that year.

The study, published in the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, showed young larvae are more likely to get microplastic fibers trapped under their shells that protect their gills, and were the least likely to survive heavy concentrations of microplastics. Older larvae had less fiber accumulation under their shells but were shown to ingest the plastic, which could pose health consequences as they get older.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

ALEXIA AKBAY: Building A Post-COVID Oceans Economy For Hawaii

July 13, 2020 — The impact of COVID-19 is leading localities around the world to rethink their economies. With a record-high 39.4% of the workforce unemployed, Hawaii is no different.

As a global pandemic dries up tourist dollars and a climate crisis lurks in our future, it is clear that Hawaii’s economy, like our ohia forests and coral reefs, is a fragile ecosystem vulnerable to disruption.

A growing number of calls for a new economic model are gaining traction but they forget Hawaii’s crown jewel: 143,000 acres of mariculture-ready ocean and centuries of indigenous ocean stewardship knowledge.

As we consider Hawaii’s post-COVID economic future, we cannot miss this chance to build a blue economy that restores Hawaii’s self-sufficiency while bringing it forward to a climate-resilient future.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Lobsters, sea scallops are moving out of southern New England

July 13, 2020 — Researchers have projected significant changes in the habitat of commercially important American lobster and sea scallops along the Northeast continental shelf. They used a suite of models to estimate how species will react as waters warm. The researchers suggest that American lobster will move further offshore and sea scallops will shift to the north in the coming decades.

The study’s findings were published recently in Diversity and Distributions. They pose fishery management challenges as the changes can move stocks into and out of fixed management areas. Habitats within current management areas will also experience changes — some will show species increases, others decreases, and others will experience no change.

“Changes in stock distribution affect where fish and shellfish can be caught and who has access to them over time,” said Vincent Saba, a fishery biologist in the Ecosystems Dynamics and Assessment Branch at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study. “American lobster and sea scallop are two of the most economically valuable single-species fisheries in the entire United States. They are also important to the economic and cultural well-being of coastal communities in the Northeast. Any changes to their distribution and abundance will have major impacts.”

Saba and colleagues used a group of species distribution models and a high-resolution global climate model. They projected the possible impact of climate change on suitable habitat for the two species in the large Northeast continental shelf marine ecosystem. This ecosystem includes waters of the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, the Mid-Atlantic Bight, and southern New England.

Read the full story at EcoRI