August 10, 2020 — New research suggests contamination of oyster beds with plastics, paint, and baby formula in Asia could reveal a larger emerging global public health risk.
Scientists from the University of California, Irvine, in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund, Cornell University, and Australia’s University of Queensland, found traces of plastics, kerosene, paint, talc, and milk supplement powders in the beds on the eastern Andaman Sea of Myanmar.
December 9, 2019 — Countries from Egypt to Mexico could lose 95% of their income from coral reef tourism, and parts of West Africa could see their ocean fisheries decline by 85% by the turn of the century if planet-warming emissions continue to rise, oceans experts warned Friday.
“Action in reducing emissions really needs to be taken, or we will be facing very important impacts” on oceans and people, said Elena Ojea, one of the authors of a new paper looking at the potential impacts of climate change on ocean economies.
The study, released at the U.N. climate negotiations in Madrid, was commissioned by the leaders of 14 countries with ocean-dependent economies, and looked at ocean fisheries and seafood cultivation industries, and coral reef tourism.
It found that reef tourism, a nearly $36-billion-a-year industry today, could see more than 90% losses globally by 2100 under a high-emissions scenario.
Countries particularly dependent on coral reef tourism – Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Australia – could see income cut by 95%, the paper noted.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, an ocean expert at Australia’s University of Queensland and one of paper’s authors, said his country’s Great Barrier Reef tourism industry – worth billions a year a year – was already seeing losses as corals bleached and died.
August 21, 2019 — Longline fisheries around the world are significantly affecting migrating shark populations, according to an international study featuring a University of Queensland researcher.
The study found that approximately a quarter of the studied sharks’ migratory paths fell under the footprint of longline fisheries, directly killing sharks and affecting their food supply.
Dr Bonnie Holmes, from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, wanted to find out why shark numbers have been declining significantly over the past 20 years.
“We’re losing these incredible creatures, and we know so little about shark movements and what drives them,” she said.
“I joined an international research effort, using new technologies — like satellite tracking and big data analysis — to help answer some critical questions.”