Environmental News August 30 to September 15, 2016

Secretaries Pritzker, Jewell Applaud President’s Designation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Date: September 15, 2016
By: US Department of the Interior
Deep in the oceans exist some of the world’s oldest and most mysterious sea canyons and mountains, or seamounts. Formed millions of years ago by extinct volcanoes and sediment erosion, sea canyons and seamounts are biodiversity hot spots – home to many rare and endangered species.
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UK to ban fishing from a million square kilometres of ocean
Date: September 15, 2016
By: The Guardian, Adam Vaughan
The UK is to ban commercial fishing from a million square kilometres of ocean around British overseas territories, the government said on Thursday. In total, the government is creating marine protected areas around four islands in the Pacific and Atlantic, including the designation this week of one of the world’s biggest around the Pitcairn Islands.
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Will this be the decade of ocean protection?
Date: September 15, 2016
By: Bunny McDiarmid, The Huffington Post
I am attending the Our Ocean, One Future conference organized by the US State Department under the leadership of US Secretary of State, John Kerry. A number of major announcements are anticipated as States are expected to come to the table with specific ocean initiatives and achievements to share with their peers and the world.
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Who Are Tomorrow’s Leaders in Ocean Conservation?
Date: September 15, 2016
By: Julia Luthringer, the Huffington Post
Many of the solutions of today point to awe-inspiring success, yet they are usually local in scope. Where are today’s global-scale, transformative ocean solutions? Our problems are exponential, but our solutions have been linear. We need to increase the speed, scale, efficacy and sustainability of our conservation interventions.
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Larger marine animals at higher risk of extinction, and humans are to blame, Stanford-led study finds
Date: September 14, 2016
By: Stanford News Service
It today’s oceans, larger-bodied marine animals are more likely to become extinct than smaller creatures, according to a Stanford-led report. It’s a pattern that is unprecedented in the history of life on Earth, and one that is likely driven by human fishing
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New comprehensive approach in inland fisheries management
Date: September 14, 2016
By: Taylor and Francis, SciencDaily
Island fisheries managers are increasingly using Transboundary Fisheries Science as an interdisciplinary and holistic approach for understanding and managing ecosystems across larger scales, according to a new article.
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Underwater Video Aids Aquaculture and Marine Researchers
Date: September 14, 2016
By: Ocean news
Many aquaculture farms are discovering an underwater video system is a must-have tool for their operations. The camera allows the farmer to make quick decisions to keep his stock healthy, intact, and profitable.
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Whales might be hidden, but these new buoys can help find them
Date: September 13, 2016
By: NOAA
How do you find whales that dive so deep and spend so little time at the surface that some species have never been observed alive? Sometimes you just have to listen closely.
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Study Links Altered Brain Chemistry, Behavior Impairments in Fish Exposed to Elevated CO2
Date: September 12, 2016
By: The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Increased carbon dioxide concentrations alters brain chemistry that may lead to neurological impairment in some fish, a first-of-its-kind study demonstrates.
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New insights into the impacts of ocean acidification
Date: September 12, 2016
By: National Oceanography Centre
A new study recently published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles offers clues to the potential impact of ocean acidification deep-sea, shell-forming organisms. Increasing atmostpheric CO2 is also increasing Oceanic CO2. Ocean acidification is therefore one of the most important research areas regarding the effects of elevated CO2 on deep-sea marine calcifiers and the marine ecosystem in general, say the researchers.
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Everything you wanted to know about the horseshoe crab…
Date: September 9, 2016
By: Marine Science Today,
Despite their name, horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders. Horseshow crab’s unique number of eyes (10 plus photoreceptors) and limbs reflect its differences from other Crustaceans.
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The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay: A New National Marine Sanctuary?
Date: September 8, 2016
By: Marine Science Today
In the tidal Potomac River, about 30 miles downstream from Washington D.C., lay the remains of the “Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay” – over 100 wooden steamships built for the U.S. emergency Fleet as part of the nation’s engagement in WWI. The significance of the area was enough to warrant its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. Now it is in the running to become Maryland’s first national marine sanctuary.
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Coastal Occupation Affects Tropical Reefs in Brazil
Date: September 8, 2016
By: Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona
Researchers in Brazil warn of the negative environmental impacts of unplanned coastal occupation on tropical reefs and consequently on the conservation of marine biodiversity. Researchers state that this process has already taken place in Western Mediterranean.
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Improved high seas management need to protect coastal fisheries
Date: September 7, 2016
By: Marine Science Today
New research shows that closing fisheries in the high seas could increase catches in coastal waters by 10 percent. The high seas- defined as areas outside the jurisdiction of any country – make up about 2/3rds of the ocean’s surface.
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Nutrient pollution is changing sounds in the sea
Date: September 5, 2016
By: University of Adelaide
Nutrient pollution emptying into seas from cities, towns and agricultural land is changing the sounds made by marine life – and potentially upsetting navigational cues for fish and other sea creatures, a new study has found.
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Opening of the IUCN World Conservation Congress
Date: September 1, 2016
By: Rainforest Trust
Today saw the opening of the World Conservation Congress (WCC), a meeting held every four years by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is the world’s largest global environmental network. The IUCN creates a unique forum for governments and civil society groups, such as Rainforest Trust, to come together and work to address pressing issues affecting the survival of biodiversity.
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High seas fisheries management could recoup losses due to climate change
Date: August 30, 2016
By: University of British Columbia
Closing the high seas to fishing could increase fish catches in coastal waters by 10 percent, helping people, especially the most vulnerable, cope with the expected loses of fish due to climate change, new research finds.
Read more here.

Technique could assess historic changes to Antarctic sea ice, glaciers
Date: August 30, 2016
By: University of Plymouth
Historic changes to Antarctic sea ice could be unraveled using a new technique, say scientists. The new method builds on an existing technique developed over the last 10 years, which identified a means by which scientists could measure changes to sea ice in the Arctic.
Read more here.