Oceans Get Gloomy Report

(NEWSER) - Snorkelers and scuba divers aren’t the worst threat to the embattled coral reefs of the world—climate change, commercial fishing, and pollution take top honors—but the casual tourist can lessen, and even mitigate, the damage he or she causes, Slate reports. Of course, snorkelers shouldn’t purposefully snap off pieces of the majestic underwater life forms. But carelessly dragging equipment across coral, or walking on it, while looking for a better view is equally destructive. More»

Climate-related trend mirrors causes of past massive extinction

(NEWSER) - The inhospitable oxygen-starved layers of the oceans, once relegated to the deep sea, are now encroaching on coastlines, reports the Los Angeles Times. The dead zones, linked to global warming, have moved up into continental shelves, a study in Science says. They interfere with commercial fishing and entice predators that thrive in such conditions such as the jumbo squid. More»

Pacific pollution—as big as Africa—is too deep and broad to fix

(NEWSER) - A noted oceanographer says the aquatic pollution in the Pacific Ocean is too significant to be cleaned up. “We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic,” Charles Moore said after showing that the amount of Pacific plastic has ballooned fivefold in the last 10 years. A garbage patch twice the size of Texas is old news, but Moore found a “highway” that makes the polluted area as large as Africa. More»

Study takes a look at the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'

(NEWSER) - Humanity has tossed a lot of plastic into the Pacific Ocean in the last 40 years. The level of small plastic pieces in the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased 100-fold over that span, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found in a new study. "We did not expect to find this," one researcher tells the BBC . "To find such a clear pattern and such a large increase was very surprising." More»

SEI report estimates 4-degree rise over the century

(NEWSER) - Unless action is taken to protect them, damage to the world's oceans could reach $1.98 trillion annually by 2100, according to a study released today by the Stockholm Environment Institute. The principle culprit: climate change, which will cause rising sea levels, ocean acidification, marine pollution, species migrations, and cause tropical cyclones, Reuters reports. The report assumes temperatures will rise about 4 degrees Celsius over the century, but if governments can limit that to, say, 2.2 degrees, SEI says that would "save" almost $1.4 trillion of those damages. More»