Marine Conservation
MarineBio is deeply committed to the conservation of the ocean and its marine life. We encourage you to get involved in marine conservation, whether you spend a weekend cleaning up a beach or writing your elected representatives to support environmental legislation. Unfortunately, the health of the ocean and marine life are so often taken for granted, perhaps because the ocean seems so big that it must be invincible.... But, mainly due to our increasing numbers and wasteful practices, the ocean appears to be as vulnerable to harm by human activities as any other environmental realm—and maybe even more so based on the severity and scale of the threats discussed below.
101 Ways to Make a Difference
No matter what your economic standing, you can help save/restore/protect the environment and save money at the same time. You the consumer drive the market; products are made because you buy them. If you buy products that are better for the environment it will become profitable for companies to respond to the demand for environmentally-friendly products. It really is that simple »
Also see What you can do to save wildlife by Dr. Peter Moyle.
A Sea Ethic
Launching a Sea Ethic was Dr. Carl Safina's call for a stronger sense of right and wrong when it comes to the way we treat the ocean and marine life. It was a proposition for all to treat the ocean and its creatures with the same conservation ethic as many have for land and its creatures. It simply means that we should manage the sea's resources sustainably, that we should take strong measures to avoid destruction of habitats, species depletion, pollution, and other threats faced by the ocean that often goes unnoticed because the scars are not as evident as they are on land.
Truly magnificent—Safina has done as much as anyone save Cousteau to change our relationship with the aquatic world. - Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe
MarineBio also highly recommends Dr. Safina's books, which describe many of our ocean's problems in ways that urges all of us to find equitable solutions. These books read like entertaining travel narratives, yet they powerfully convey important messages in an objective, eloquent, and compelling manner. » more...
Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity
Humans are terrestrial animals, and our capacity to see and understand the importance and vulnerability of life in the sea has trailed our growing ability to harm it. While conservation biologists are working to address environmental problems humans have created on land, loss of marine biodiversity, including extinctions and habitat degradation, has received much less attention. At the same time, marine sciences such as oceanography and fisheries biology have largely ignored issues of conservation.
Marine Conservation Biology brings together for the first time in a single volume leading experts from around the world to apply the lessons and thinking of conservation biology to marine issues. Contributors including James M. Acheson, Louis W. Botsford, James T. Carlton, Kristina Gjerde, Selina S. Heppell, Ransom A. Myers, Julia K. Parrish, Stephen R. Palumbi, and Daniel Pauly offer penetrating insights on the nature of marine biodiversity, what threatens it, and what humans can and must do to recover the biological integrity of the world's estuaries, coastal seas, and the ocean.
Sections examine: distinctive aspects of marine populations and ecosystems; threats to marine biological diversity, singly and in combination; place-based management of marine ecosystems; the often-neglected human dimensions of marine conservation.
Marine Conservation Biology breaks new ground by creating the conceptual framework for the new field of marine conservation biology—the science of protecting, recovering, and sustainably using the living sea. It synthesizes the latest knowledge and ideas from leading thinkers in disciplines ranging from larval biology to sociology, making it a must-read for research and teaching faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Even as humankind spends billions of dollars in the hope of detecting the faintest echoes of life on Mars, the only place in the universe where we know that life exists has rapidly been losing its distinguishing characteristic, its biological diversity, the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems. - Heywood 1995; Norse and McManus 1980; Norse et al. 1986; Office of Technology assessment 1987; Wilson 1988
Elliot A. Norse is the founder and president of Marine Conservation Institute in Redmond, Washington. Larry B. Crowder is Stephen Toth Professor of Marine Biology at Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina. » Order Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity
Sustainable Fisheries
70% of the earth's commercially targeted fish species have been overfished to the point where their stocks are in grave danger of being depleted. Fish harvests have quadrupled since the 1950s and the competition for marketable catches has increased to the point where competition is driving governments to subsidize fishing vessels. How can this problem be resolved and who is working to resolve it? Can the fishing industry and conservation concerns reach consensus to find a sustainable solution?
» Sustainable seafood – there's an app for that
» Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood - The Blue Ocean Institute
» Seafood Watch List - Monterey Bay Aquarium
» The Empty Ocean: Plundering the World's Marine Life
Pollution is a worldwide problem, and our fish comes from around the world, said Kate Mahaffey, toxins expert at the US Environmental Protection Agency. No one is immune. With contaminants in fish, she warned, there is a very narrow range between levels with no effects, subtle effects and severe effects.
Governments tend to be more preoccupied with protecting national quotas against efforts to curb catches and preserve fish stocks, and are reluctant to spend the large sums necessary to test adequate samples in open waters.
Even when data is convincing, experts say, action falls short. Despite the clear risk from such long-lived large fish as swordfish, shark and types of tuna, public warnings are often not spelled out.
Smaller fish rich in fat can also be hazardous, although they are seldom flagged. Norwegian researchers say Baltic Sea herring carry up to 10 times as much contamination as salmon. A growing trend toward fish-farming adds new dangers, according to the specialists. » more...
Marine Biodiversity
Pulitzer prize winning biologist Dr. E. O. Wilson, widely known as the father of biodiversity, said that the loss of biodiversity is the "folly for which our descendants are least likely to forgive us." What will our children say when they discover that generations before them destroyed what can never be replaced? Biological diversity in the ocean is much greater than biodiversity on land—a staggering concept, considering the abundance and variety of life on land—yet much more is known about terrestrial biodiversity. The ocean is not as accessible which accounts for part of the problem, but in addition, only in recent years has interest in marine biodiversity increased, likely due to the critically low populations of several key marine species. Threats to biological diversity in the ocean abound as commercially targeted species are overfished and fishing methods remain indiscriminate against non-targeted species. The use of cyanide and dynamite to harvest reef fish is threatening those communities at an alarming rate. Find out why preserving biodiversity is important and what is being done about it.
Today's mass extinctions are unlike mass extinctions in the geologic past, in which tens of thousands of species died out following massive catastrophes such as asteroid collisions with the Earth and dramatic temperature changes—today's extinctions have a human face. - Richard B. Primack, Boston University, Essentials of Conservation Biology, p. 3, 2002
» 15,589 Species at Risk of Extinction
It is clear that the situation facing our species is serious and getting worse. We must refocus and rethink the way in which society must respond to this global threat, says Achim Steiner, IUCN's Director General. While most threats to biodiversity are human-driven, human actions alone can prevent many species from becoming extinct.
» Chapter 4: Biodiversity by Dr. Peter Moyle
» Marine Conservation Institute
» Planetary Biodiversity Inventories - Mission to an (almost) unknown planet (NSF Fact Sheet) - What kinds of living things exist? Where do they live? How are they related? These are simple questions, but have few answers. Were life to be discovered today on another planet, resources would quickly be mustered to inventory its diversity. Yet we remain ignorant about most of the diversity of life on Earth. To date, only 5 to 15 percent of all life on our home base has been discovered and described.
» Nova Scotia Grey Seal Hunt, 2004 - How, exactly, to Kill an Ocean, by Debbie MacKenzie
The sudden decline in the Nova Scotia offshore harbour seal population, and their apparent increasing presence near shore, echoes recent shifts in marine mammal populations that have been observed elsewhere in the world. The Steller sea lion population on Alaska's offshore Aleutian Islands has fallen away rapidly in recent years, also showing signs of “nutritional stress,” while those living near the mainland still maintain their numbers. South African seals no longer breed at their traditional offshore island rookeries, but are increasingly colonizing the mainland and running into conflict with terrestrial predators. Mass starvation of seal pups in South Africa occurs now on a regular basis. The Hawaiian monk seal, inhabiting waters around the small outer Hawaiian islands, is disappearing due to starvation…and starving sea lions now regularly inundate marinas and estuaries in California... - Debbie MacKenzie
Global Warming/Climate Change
The debate is finally over (and actually has been since at least 2001). Global warming is happening and is primarily caused by our fossil fuel emissions unnaturally increasing greenhouse gases (mainly CO2) in the earth's atmosphere. What impact does global warming have on the ocean? Two tangible effects are the sea level rise from the melting of ice sheets and glaciers at record levels and the overall acidification of the ocean. If this trend continues, sea level rise will impact the densely populated coastal areas all over our planet, and ocean acidification has worldwide possible impacts that include a complete breakdown of most marine food webs. What are the current theories on global warming and what is being done to reverse the trend? » more...
» United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
» By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says - By 2050, rising temperatures exacerbated by human-induced belches of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could send more than a million of Earth's land-dwelling plants and animals down the road to extinction, according to a recent study.
Threatened and Endangered Species
Until recently, humankind seemed to view the ocean as a source of infinite resources. Its apparent vast size and unlimited depth made the ocean appear invulnerable to overexploitation. The truth is that the populations of many species are decreasing at an unsustainable rate, and the number of species listed as endangered from marine life families such as whales, dolphins, manatees and dugongs, salmon, seabirds, sea turtles, and sharks to name a few, are on the rise. Although it is difficult to perceive because marine life is not as visible as animals on land, it is equally if not more vulnerable to problems such as habitat destruction and overexploitation. » more...
Habitat Conservation
Everyone knows that the northern spotted owl is threatened because of destruction to the forests of the Pacific Northwest - but what will happen to the Pacific seahorse if its habitat continues to decline? Due to the lack of a strong public sea ethic, marine life doesn't appear on the conservation radar screen as much as its terrestrial counterparts, but ocean habitats are in decline as well, and therefore the creatures they support are too (which in turn support us). Most marine habitat destruction is caused by pollution, commercial fishing equipment, coastal development, and other human activity. Much of it can be avoided with simple measures. Click here to learn more about this problem and what some organizations are doing about it.
» Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas
Alien Species
The introduction of non-native species to an ecosystem is one of the major causes of decreased biodiversity. Termed alien species, they are also known as exotic, introduced, non-indigenous, or invasive species. As the names imply, these species do not belong to ecosystems in which they are either intentionally or unintentionally placed. They tend to disrupt the ecosystem's balance by multiplying rapidly. These species are often plants, fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, algae, bacteria or viruses. » more...
Ocean Pollution
Although the ocean covers over two-thirds of the surface of the Earth, it is surprisingly vulnerable to human influences such as overfishing, pollution from run-off, and dumping of waste from human activity. This kind of pollution can have serious economic and health impacts by killing marine life and damaging habitats and ecosystems. Toxins from pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals used on farms contaminate nearby rivers that flow into the ocean, which can cause extensive loss of marine life in bays and estuaries, leading to the creation of dead zones. The dumping of industrial, nuclear and other waste into oceans was legal until the early 1970s when it became regulated; however dumping still occurs illegally everywhere. » more...
Ocean Resources
The ocean is one of Earth's most valuable natural resources. It provides food in the form of fish and shellfish—about 200 billion pounds are caught each year. It's used for transportation—both travel and shipping. It provides a treasured source of recreation for humans. It is mined for minerals (salt, sand, gravel, and some manganese, copper, nickel, iron and cobalt can be found in the deep sea) and drilled for crude oil. The ocean plays a critical role in removing carbon from the atmosphere and providing oxygen. It regulates Earth's climate. The ocean is an increasingly important source of biomedical organisms with enormous potential for fighting disease. These are just a few examples of the importance of the ocean to life on land. Explore them in greater detail to understand why we must keep the ocean healthy for future generations... » more...
Sustainable Ecotourism
Sustainable tourism, also known as ecotourism, is defined as leisure travel that provides tourists with an educational and adventurous experience visiting complex and fascinating ecosystems and their associated cultures and traditions. The concept of ecotourism began in the late 1980s and increased in popularity in 2002 during the United Nations "International Year of Ecotourism." According to environmental and other organizations, ecotourism should have a minimal impact on both the environment and the culture. Ecotourism should inform tourists about what's needed to sustain the environment they're visiting, and should also help local populations understand the importance and value of their home. » more...
Marine Conservation Organizations
MarineBio has compiled an evolving list of conservation organizations working on a variety of issues related to marine conservation. We encourage you to read through them and support the organizations doing work in areas that you feel strongly about. In our increasingly conservative economic climate, funding by private foundations and institutions is scarce. Making a donation is one of the best things you can do to help make sure these organizations are able to accomplish their goals. You can also write to your elected representatives to encourage them to support legislation that will protect marine life and the ocean. Many of the organizations listed will help you compose a letter, and can even tell you who your representatives are! » more...
The Future
From our beaches and coastlines to the remotest reaches of the open oceans, human actions are despoiling the sea no less than the land. Scientists have documented the disappearance of species from whale-sized Steller's sea cows (Hydrodamalis gigas) to fingernail-sized eelgrass limpets (Lottia alveus), but this is just the tip of the iceberg. » more...
Brave New Ocean: World's Oceans & Coral Reef webcast
50 Ways to Save the Ocean
The oceans, and the challenges they face, are so vast that it's easy to feel powerless to protect them. 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, written by veteran environmental journalist David Helvarg, focuses on practical, easily-implemented actions everyone can take to protect and conserve this vital resource. Well-researched, personal, and sometimes whimsical, the book addresses daily choices that affect the ocean's health: what fish should and should not be eaten; how and where to vacation; storm drains and driveway run-off; protecting local water tables; proper diving, surfing, and tide pool etiquette; and supporting local marine education. Helvarg also looks at what can be done to stir the waters of seemingly daunting issues such as toxic pollutant runoff; protecting wetlands and sanctuaries; keeping oil rigs off shore; saving reef environments; and replenishing fish reserves.
Essays on Wildlife Conservation
MarineBio is proud to present Essays on Wildlife Conservation written and edited by Dr. Peter Moyle, et al. for an introductory course on wildlife conservation taught at the University of California, Davis. The essays were written for students who are not only biology majors and are broad in scope. These chapters provide an introduction to the history of wildlife in North America, biodiversity, natural selection, conservation biology, ecology, conservation legislation, alien species, wildlife and pollution, and things we can all do to save wildlife. We think you will find that they are not only fascinating to read but also very useful toward understanding the myriad of issues concerning conservation efforts today. » more...
- Roots of the modern environmental dilemma: A brief history of the relationship between humans and wildlife
- A history of wildlife in North America
- Climatic determinants of global patterns of biodiversity
- Biodiversity
- Natural selection
- Principles of ecology
- Niche and habitat
- Conservation biology
- Conservation in the USA: legislative milestones
- Alien invaders
- Wildlife and Pollution
- What you can do to save wildlife
Please feel free to contact us if you have any comments or suggestions.
The Plankton Forums: Marine Conservation Forum
The Father of All Mass Extinctions - Peter Ward
Is The World Ready To Accept Responsibility And Take The Action Needed To Protect Our Marine Resources?
Man has become by far the greatest predator of all time. As populations mount and land-grown food supplies are unable to feed the growing numbers of the hungry, man is turning more and more to the sea for his food. On land man has slowly learned to conserve the soil lest it stop producing crops. But on the ocean, man is a hunter only. He takes but returns little. If the bounty of the sea is not to be exhausted, man must learn to farm it as he farms the land, by sowing as well as reaping. - The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau, 1975
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. Rachel Carson
He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. - Immanuel Kant
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. - Henry Beston, 1928
Feedback?
Something missing or incorrect in the above? Let us know!
Sea Life News :: ScienceDailyLessons in coral reef survival from deep time
Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today's coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth's systems. Today's complex relationship between fishes and corals developed relatively recently in geological terms -- and is a major factor in shielding reef species from extinction, say experts.
Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy'
Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says a professor.
Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool
For the first time scientists have shown that corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae can have different levels of thermal tolerance -– a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae.
Inventory lists 19,232 newly discovered species during latest count
More than half of the 19,232 species newly known to science in 2009, the most recent calendar year of compilation, were insects -- 9,738 or 50.6 percent -- according to the 2011 State of Observed Species.
Extremely rare turtle is released into the wild
Biologists have successfully released a Southern River terrapin (Batagur affinis) – one of the most endangered turtles on Earth – into the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia.
Breakthrough model reveals evolution of ancient nervous systems through seashell colors
Determining the evolution of pigmentation patterns on mollusk seashells -- which could aid in the understanding of ancient nervous systems -- has proved to be a challenging feat for researchers. Now, however, through mathematical equations and simulations, researchers have used 19 different species of the predatory sea snail Conus to generate a model of the pigmentation patterns of mollusk shells.
Wandering albatross alters its foraging due to climate change
Wandering albatrosses have altered their foraging due to changes in wind fields in the southern hemisphere during the last decades. Since winds have increased in intensity and moved to the south, the flight speed of albatrosses increased and they spend less time foraging. As a consequence, breeding success has improved and birds have gained 1 kilogram.
Can we save the whales by putting a price on them?
Every year, anti-whaling groups spend millions of dollars on activities intended to end commercial whaling. And every year, commercial whaling not only continues, but grows. While protests, education, lobbying and dangerous confrontations on the high seas have saved some whales, the whaling industry shows no sign of shutting down -- or slowing down. Now, an economist and two marine scientists suggest a new strategy that they believe could save whales by putting a price on them.
Lake Erie algae and ice make a nice mix in winter
Scientists have studied Lake Erie over the past five winters during mid-winter, a time when the lake is more than 70 percent covered by ice. They've documented very high concentrations of algae thriving in the water below the ice -- even in the ice itself.
Fish offspring grow best at same temperature as parents
Fish parents can pre-condition their offspring to grow fastest at the temperature they experienced, according to new research.
World's most extreme deep-sea vents revealed: Deeper than any seen before, and teeming with new creatures
Scientists have revealed details of the world's most extreme deep-sea volcanic vents, five kilometers down in a rift in the Caribbean seafloor. The undersea hot springs, which lie 0.8 kilometers deeper than any seen before, may be hotter than 450 °C and are shooting a jet of mineral-laden water more than a kilometer into the ocean above.
Bycatch-22: Protecting Butterfish
Scientists work to assist fishermen in ways to avoid accidentally hauling in butterfish, a species protected by fishing limits. The researchers develop models to predict where the fish will be.
Paddlefish sensors tuned to detect signals from zooplankton prey
Neurons fire in a synchronized bursting pattern in response to robust signals indicating nearby food.
Harp seals on thin ice after 32 years of warming
Warming in the North Atlantic over the last 32 years has significantly reduced winter sea ice cover in harp seal breeding grounds, resulting in sharply higher death rates among seal pups in recent years, according to a new study.
Fish mimics octopus that mimics fish
Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish and the mimic octopus.
Salt water alone unlikely to halt Burmese python invasion
Invasive Burmese python hatchlings from the Florida Everglades can withstand exposure to salt water long enough to potentially expand their range through ocean and estuarine environments.
'Lost world' discovered around Antarctic vents
Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discoveries include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.
Molecular mechanism links temperature with sex determination in some fish species
Researchers have found the epigenetic mechanism that links temperature and gonadal sex in fish. High temperature increases DNA methylation of the gonadal aromatase promoter in females.
Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herring
The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study.
Bacteria's move from sea to land may have occurred much later than thought
A new analysis indicates the shift of soil bacteria Azospirillum may have occurred only 400 million years ago, rather than approximately two billion years earlier as originally thought.
Help us continue to share the wonders of the ocean with the world, raise awareness of marine conservation issues and their solutions, and support marine conservation scientists and students involved in the marine life sciences. Join the MarineBio Conservation Society or make a donation today. We would like to sincerely thank all of our members and donors, we simply could not have achieved what we have without you and we look forward to doing even more.
