Hanoi - With Vietnam's scuba diving capital of Nha Trang hosting a week-long maritime festival, a local marine biology expert said Tuesday the area could lose all of its coral within 30 years.

'The coverage of coral in Nha Trang Bay shrank from 52.4 per cent in 1994 to 21.2 per cent in 2005,' said Nguyen Van Long, head of the seafood resource department at the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute. 'The bay may not have any coral left in 30 years if the coverage keeps shrinking at that pace.'


Read full article: 'Nha Trang rapidly losing coral'

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Map, News) - Six species of reef-building coral could vanish from the Caribbean due to rising temperatures and toxic runoff from islands' development, according to a study released Thursday.

Nearly two dozen scientists from U.S. and Caribbean universities, as well as nonprofits, identified the threatened species while reviewing studies and scientific data at a March conference in Dominica.


Read full article: 'Caribbean's Reef-Building Coral at Risk'

By MIKE CORDER

THE HAGUE, Netherlands --The U.S. is leading a push to protect a type of red coral that grows deep in the world's oceans and seas, putting it at odds with Italian fishermen who have harvested the species for generations to make artwork and jewelry.

Under the U.S. proposal up for debate at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting in The Hague, trade in several species of red coral, or corallium, would be regulated for the first time to ensure harvesting and global sales do not threaten their survival.


Read full article: 'U.S. pushes to protect red coral species'

FARMING in coastal areas near the Great Barrier Reef has killed off inshore reefs and boosted algal growth, a new study shows.

The Queensland coastline was one of the most intensively farmed regions bordering a coral reef, said oceanographer Guy Marion of the University of Queensland and a research team spokesman for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.


Read full article: 'Great Barrier Reef hurt by farming'

By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
KIHEI – When state aquatics biologist Russell Sparks goes diving in Maalaea he sees a slippery, slimy invasive algae growing on the reef that was once healthy coral.

Gone is the coral ecosystem that is a habitat for a variety of reef fish.

Sparks said a reason for the overgrowth of invasive algae is an increase in nutrients from land-based sources. Research data indicate there is a “correspondence” between algae blooms and wastewater injection wells pumping treated effluent deep into the ground, from where the nutrient-rich water is seeping out into the ocean.


Read full article: 'Invasive algae blooms, hurts isle reefs'

In a major initiative announced today by Reef Check, California’s dive community has joined together to help support volunteers working to protect our nearshore reef ecosystems. Top dive shops across the state have agreed to provide free air to Reef Check divers as part of the Reef Check “Buddy Breathing” program. Divers who show their NAUI or PADI Reef Check EcoDiver specialty card will receive free air fills for Reef Check survey and monitoring work.


Read full article: 'BUDDY BREATHING Program'

An Interstate 10 bridge that once stretched across Escambia Bay is slowly being transformed into a massive underwater reef.

Construction crews are placing the rubble from the span about 15 miles offshore from Pensacola. Much of the bridge was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and it was featured in a prominent picture that showed a tractor trailer hanging off the storm-damaged roadway.


Read full article: 'Panhandle bridge to become artificial reef'

KEY LARGO -- Harold Hudson has logged more time underwater than many fish.

Most of those thousands of hours in diving gear have been at the world's reefs, conducting groundbreaking research.

But the 71-year-old biologist is best known for his pioneering work in reef restoration: repairing corals damaged by grounded ships, careless tourists, global warming, marine pollution and nature's wrath.


Read full article: ''Reef doctor' is taking a big plunge'

LOS ANGELES -- The current outbreak of toxic algae off the Los Angeles Harbor is the most virulent on record, leaving animal rehabilitation centers so overburdened that some sick sea lions are temporarily left to fend for themselves at local beaches, it was reported Thursday.

"We just don't have the space to accommodate them all," Lauren Palmer, staff veterinarian at San Pedro's Marine Mammal Care Center told The Times. The center is crammed with seals and sea lions that have suffered convulsions brought on by the algae's powerful neurotoxin.


Read full article: 'Toxic Algae Outbreak Off LA Harbor Is Most Virulent Ever'

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI

A CALL for an investigation into reports that Fasht Al Jarem, Bahrain's largest constellation of coral reefs, is to be sold for $785 million (BD295m) went out yesterday from Bahrain's biggest political body.

Al Wefaq National Islamic Society said it was surprised at reports that the reef area, extending to 260 kilometres and located 20 kilometres north of Bahrain's mainland, was being sold to non-Bahraini investors.

"No one knows where the money will go - whether into the government's budget or someone's pocket," said MP Sayed Haidar Al Sitri, who is handling the coasts and fishing file for the bloc.


Read full article: 'Bahrain's Biggest Reef Is Sold'

The Bush administration has delivered proposed legislation to Congress calling for stepped-up protection for the nation's coral reefs, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The bill, the Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Amendments Act of 2007, reauthorizes the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and adds protections for coral reefs while improving marine debris removal efforts and increasing the government's ability to work through partnerships.


Read full article: 'Bush administration seeks stepped-up reef protection'

LOS ANGELES -- The current outbreak of toxic algae off the Los Angeles Harbor is the most virulent on record, leaving animal rehabilitation centers so overburdened that some sick sea lions are temporarily left to fend for themselves at local beaches, it was reported Thursday.

"We just don't have the space to accommodate them all," Lauren Palmer, staff veterinarian at San Pedro's Marine Mammal Care Center told The Times. The center is crammed with seals and sea lions that have suffered convulsions brought on by the algae's powerful neurotoxin.

Read full article: 'Toxic Algae Outbreak Off LA Harbor Is Most Virulent Ever'

Biologists fighting aggressive alien seaweeds that destroy Hawaiian reefs are turning to sea urchins and fish that graze on the plants in hopes that their feeding will help control the invaders.

"If people can raise herbivore (plant-eating) stocks quite substantially, I believe it will have a big impact," said coral reef ecologist Ivor Williams, of the Hawai'i Coral Reef Initiative and the state Division of Aquatic Resources.


Read full article: 'The fight against invasive seaweed'

Chapel Hill, North Carolina (May 8, 2007 15:49 EST) An international team of scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has found a clear link between coral disease and warmer ocean temperatures.

Worldfirst research at 48 reefs spread along 1500 kilometres of the GBR combined with 6 years of satellite data on sea temperatures has revealed “a highly significant relationship” between ocean warming and the emergence of a disease known as white syndrome.

White syndrome is one of a number of unexplained coral diseases which scientists have observed to be on the increase globally in recent years.


Read full article: 'Rising Sea Temps, Overcrowding Helping To Spread Coral Disease'

Snapper, blue maomao and parore swarm near the rocks as a hundred visitors stand and watch. In the shadows of the kelp behind them, much larger snapper lurk.

Stories from several generations ago told of all the coast being like this, but today only the coastal waters of the Cape Rodney to Okakari Point Marine Reserve - best known as Goat Island - have fish schools like this.


Read full article: 'Goat Island: Marine life as it once was'