corals
Latest News

Climate Change Is Killing the Great Barrier Reef

TOWNSVILLE, Queensland, Australia, April 18, 2018 (ENS) – Corals on the northern part of the world’s largest coral reef, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, experienced a catastrophic die-off following the extended marine heatwave of 2016, finds a new study published online today in the journal “Nature.” […]

coral
Latest News

New Kind of Insurance Protects Coral Reefs at Risk

CANCUN-PLAYA del CARMEN, Mexico, March 19, 2018 (ENS) – A new type of insurance to protect coral reefs introduced at the 2018 World Ocean Summit in Mexico earlier this month has raised hope once again for the survival of coral reefs devastated by hurricanes and bleaching due to climate change. […]

blue hole
Latest News

Belize Blocks Oil Development on Americas’ Longest Reef

BELMOPAN, Belize, February 2, 2018 (ENS) – While President Donald Trump intends to open nearly all U.S. waters to offshore oil development for the first time, the country with the largest coral reef in the Western Hemisphere has banned offshore oil drilling to protect its natural heritage and fishing industry. […]

tanker
At Risk

Giant Oil Spill Contaminates East China Sea

BEIJING, China, January 17, 2018 (ENS) – An Iranian tanker carrying a full load of natural gas condensate that sank Sunday has been found on the bottom of the East China Sea, China’s Ministry of Transportation reported Wednesday. Leaks from the wreck now cover a total of 101 square kilometers, Chinese marine officials say. […]

coral
Latest News

Oceans Dying With Too Much Heat, Too Little Oxygen

WASHINGTON, DC, January 8, 2018 (ENS) – The world’s coral reefs are dying due to global warming, finds a unique study published Friday in the journal “Science.” For the first time, an international team of researchers measured the escalating rate of coral bleaching at locations throughout the tropics over the past four decades. […]

vaquita
Latest News

Mexico Launches Vaquita Roundup Using U.S. Dolphins

SAN FELIPE, Mexico, October 13, 2017 (ENS) – An international team of experts has gathered in San Felipe at the request of the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, and has begun a unique plan to save from extinction the world’s smallest porpoise, the critically endangered vaquita. […]

beach
Latest News

Chile Safeguards Ocean at S. America’s Southern Tip

SANTIAGO, Chile, September 25, 2017 (ENS) – Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has pledged to create a new marine protected area in Admiralty Sound in Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America. The designation will safeguard marine wildlife and the area’s cultural heritage, while promoting artisanal fisheries and sustainable tourism. […]

Air/Climate

Giant Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica as Climate Warms

GREENBELT, Maryland, July 13, 2017 (ENS) – An iceberg weighing one trillion metric tonnes, one of the largest ever recorded, calved away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica sometime between July 10 and July 12 in what NASA classifies as a sign of global climate change. […]

reef
Latest News

World’s Largest Reef, Worth $56 Billion, Stressed Out

CANBERRA, Australia, June 28, 2017 (ENS) – Australian federal prosecutors are pursuing legal action against the master and owner of a ship they claim is responsible for an major oil spill near the Great Barrier Reef in 2015. The worth of the reef has just been calculated at $56 billion, prompting calls for greater protection. […]

UN
Latest News

All Nations Agree to Restore Ocean Health

NEW YORK, New York, June 12, 2017 (ENS) – The 193 Member States of the United Nations agreed by consensus to a 14 point Call for Action that will begin the reversal of the decline of the ocean’s health at the conclusion of the first-ever United Nations Oceans Conference. […]

whale
Latest News

UN Oceans Conference Opens on World Environment Day

NEW YORK, New York, June 5, 2017 (ENS) – “This is our environment. It is the keystone of a sustainable future. Without a healthy environment we cannot end poverty or build prosperity,” said Secretary-General António Guterres today in a video message for World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5. […]

beach Fiji
Latest News

Fiji’s Eco-Resorts Lead the Way to a Green Economy

SUVA, Fiji, May 31, 2017 (ENS) – The eco-resorts of Fiji blend the pristine ecology of the blue Pacific with the economical beauty of a simple life. They lead the world’s eco-tourism industry with a formula for sustainability, not solely for the benefit of tourists, nor just for profit. […]

ghost net art
Latest News

Ghost Net Art Can Save Marine Life

THURSDAY ISLAND, Australia, April 30, 2017 (ENS) – To raise awareness of the harmful impact that ghost nets can have on the marine environment, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority is working with Torres Strait artists to transform this waste into an educational tool. […]

rig
Energy

Trump Opens Offshore Continental Shelf to Oil Drilling

WASHINGTON, DC, April 28, 2017 (ENS) – President Donald Trump today signed an executive order that directs the U.S. Department of the Interior to study new oil and natural gas drilling off the coast of California, the Atlantic states, the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic, revising the schedule of proposed oil and gas lease sales “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” […]

Fiji
Latest News

Fiji Spearheads Development Beyond the Sustainable

SUVA, Fiji, April 21, 2017 (ENS) – Fiji and other island nations may leapfrog the developed countries, becoming models for a greater than sustainable future – a transformational future – one that cherishes the natural world while providing the resources that humanity needs and enjoys. […]

coral
Latest News

50 Reefs: A Global Plan to Save Corals from Extinction

SYDNEY, Australia, March 12, 2017 (ENS) – Ninety percent of the world’s coral reefs are expected to disappear by 2050 due to climate change, pollution and poor fishing practices. Now, a unique philanthropic coalition has launched 50 Reefs, a plan to save the most important reefs so once the climate stabilizes they can reseed the entire coral ecosystem. […]

gull
Latest News

UN Campaigns to ‘Turn the Tide’ on Ocean Plastics

BALI, Indonesia, February 26, 2017 (ENS) – An unprecedented global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter within five years was launched this week by UN Environment. The campaign is targeting microplastics in cosmetics and single-use plastics such as straws, bags and packaging materials. […]

Latest News

Japan Caught with Dead Whale in Australian Sanctuary

SYDNEY, Australia, January 15, 2017 (ENS) – Hours after Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull smiled for a photo with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sydney on Saturday, Japanese whalers were caught killing whales in the icy waters of the Australian Whale Sanctuary off Antarctica. […]

Chukchi
Latest News

Obama’s Rush to Save Oceans from Oil Development

WASHINGTON, DC, December 20, 2016 (ENS) – President Barack Obama is about to invoke a seldom-used provision of a 1953 law that gives presidents the power to withdraw U.S. waters from future oil and gas leasing, said two people who spoke to Bloomberg News anonymously because the decision has not yet been announced. […]