Mirage News

May 4, 2020

Researchers from Senckenberg am Meer (Senckenberg by the Sea) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources developed a new method intended for establishing protection zones for the deep-sea fauna in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone.

The abyssal plain is earmarked for the potential extraction of manganese nodules. In their study, published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the team advocates the timely establishment of preservation zones from which deep-sea species can recolonize destroyed areas.

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CNN

April 2, 2020
Marine life in the world's oceans could recover to healthy levels in the next thirty years if decisive and urgent action is taken, an international review has found.

A team of scientists from around the world found marine life to be "remarkably resilient" despite damage caused by human activity and interference, they said in a review published Wednesday in science journal Nature.

Researchers said ocean populations could be restored as soon as 2050, but warned that there is limited time to achieve this change.

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Euronews

April 1, 2020

Scientists estimate that roughly one million land and marine species may become extinct in the foreseeable future. Many within decades.

What are the main reasons for the decline of underwater ecosystems?

Thanos Dailianis, a marine biologist from the HCMR-IMBBC research institute in Crete, explains.

“Marine ecosystems are threatened both locally and globally. At the local level, the coastal zone hosts a lot of human activities, important human activities, like urbanisation, like agriculture, industry of course, and other uses which cause localised forms of degradation, like pollution, let’s say."

"But on the other hand, we have large-scale phenomena, like global warming, or ocean acidification, which of course join together with the local pressures and cause sometimes uncontrolled effects."

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Oceanographic

March 11, 2020
Sir David Attenborough has urged countries to halt plans to mine the deep sea. This comes in light of a recently published report from scientists at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) warning that deep sea mining is likely to cause significant disruption to the ocean’s life-support systems, its carbon capture and a loss of biodiversity.

The report is the first to comprehensively assess the risks and potential impacts of mining the deep seabed for minerals. Its publication comes ahead of a July meeting of key countries hoping to finalise the rules that will govern deep sea mining.

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Climate Home News

March 11, 2020
Observers say additional time could help countries agree on rules to create marine protected areas in parts of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdiction.

The UN has postponed deadlocked talks on a global treaty to protect marine biodiversity in the high seas because of the coronavirus, giving countries extra time to seek compromise.

Governments had been due to agree a global treaty in April to safeguard life in seas beyond the national jurisdiction of coastal states, a poorly regulated region accounting for two-thirds of the global ocean.

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EU Commission News

February 28, 2020
The European Commission and the Oceanographic Institute, Prince Albert I of Monaco Foundation organise a high-level ceremony to celebrate the coalition of "World aquariums against plastic pollution" at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco on Tuesday 3 March, World Wildlife Day.

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, and Inger Andersen, United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director will attend and speak at the event.

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Phys.org

February 14, 2020
Governments must provide larger spatial protections in the Greater Caribbean for threatened, highly migratory species such as sharks, is the call from a diverse group of marine scientists including Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) Ph.D. Candidate, Oliver Shipley, and led by the conservation NGO Beneath the Waves in a letter to published in Science.

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UPI

October 28, 2019
For marine biodiversity, some regions of the ocean are more important than others. In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists compiled the findings of multiple studies to identify all of the most important marine areas.

The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, showed several important marine areas remain unprotected.

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The Costa Rica Star

October 26, 2019
This is a big year for Costa Rica’s one and only Isla del Coco, Cocos Island National Park, as it received this week the “Blue Park” award for its condition as Global Ocean Refuge in the Gold category of the Marine Conservation Institute which promotes Marine Protected Areas that comply with certain standards of management and effectiveness.

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