DELRAY BEACH, Florida (14 August 2006) -- An environmental group Monday announced plans to go to court to prevent the state from renewing a permit for a Delray Beach sewage outfall pipe it says is killing a coral reef. The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Florida Department of Environmental Protection if the department goes ahead with plans to issue a new permit for the South Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, which serves Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. The group says the plant's outfall pipe, which sends about 13 million gallons of treated sewage a day into the ocean, fertilizes the growth of algae that's smothering the nearby Gulf Stream Reef.

Read full article: ''Stop the shit' Reef Rescue tells Florida state'

Read full article: 'Ocean Noise has Increased Considerably Since 1960s'

Read full article: 'Brits Arrive to Assess Philippines Oil Spill'

Read full article: 'Carbon dioxide killing ocean life'

By Dolly Aglay

TAKLONG ISLAND, Philippines (Reuters) - The waters of the Taklong marine reserve in the central Philippines glisten in the sunlight but stink of fuel as thick sludge washes ashore.

As disaster workers and residents of nearby villages tried again on Thursday to contain last week's oil spill from a sunken tanker off the island of Guimaras, worries were growing about the impact on fish, plants, people and tourism in the area.

Read full article: 'Fuel stench hangs over Philippine marine park'

Read full article: 'Phillipines Oilspill'

KEY LARGO, Fla. — Marine scientists hope "test-tube coral babies" will take root to help restore a tract of reef ravaged by a 1984 ship grounding in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

A team of University of Miami marine science researchers is collecting coral eggs and sperm all this week during an annual reproductive ritual, dubbed coral spawning.

Read full article: 'Test-Tube Coral Babies May Mend Reefs'

Guimara, Philippines (Aug 15, 2006 10:07 EST) The island province of Guimaras has declared a "state of calamity" following what authorities have called the country's worst oil spill, as international lobby group Greenpeace urged the government to hold petroleum firm Petron and its partners “accountable” for the disaster.

"This is a very serious concern and we need all the help we can get because we have had no oil spill of this magnitude," Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes told reporters in central Bacolod City close to Guimaras Island.

Read full article: 'Philippines Island Declares 'State of Calamity''

Nila, Philippines (Aug 16, 2006 15:48 EST) The Philippines Wednesday appealed for urgent help to combat the country's worst-ever oil spill, which has polluted a major marine reserve and threatened the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen.

Coastguard officials said that they were struggling to cope with the scale of the environmental disaster caused by the sinking of the tanker Solar I last week with over 520,000 gallons of industrial fuel on board.

The ship went down Friday in rough seas in the Panay Gulf between the central islands of Panay and Guimaras. Eighteen of the crew were rescued but two remain missing, the coastguard said.

Read full article: 'Philippines Struggles to Deal with Massive Oil Spill'

A Japanese tanker travelling from the Middle East to Japan spilled about 4,500 tonnes of crude oil in the Indian Ocean, according to its operator.

The spill happened around 290 miles (470 km) off India's Great Nicobar Island when the tanker went to assist another vessel.

Read full article: 'Japanese supertanker collides with ship in the Indian Ocean'

Federal authorities have unveiled a proposal to double the size of no-fishing zones around the Channel Islands off Southern California to protect marine life.

About 20 percent of the waters surrounding five islands off Ventura and Santa Barbara counties would be closed to harvest under the plan. No-fishing zones would grow to 309 square miles, and an additional 12 square miles would be set aside as a marine conservation area.

The reserves would be established in deep water to complement the shallower refuges California created around the islands three years ago. The strategy seeks to protect a variety of species, including lobsters, rockfish and abalone.

Read full article: 'Plans to Increase California No-Fishing Zones'

By Hannah Allam
McClatchy Newspapers

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A massive oil spill off the coast of Lebanon is choking marine life, polluting the air as it evaporates and threatening to produce a long-lasting ecological disaster if Israel doesn't allow cleanup crews into the sea soon, environmental officials here warned Friday.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil poured into the Mediterranean Sea after Israeli jets bombed a power plant south of Beirut in mid-July, during the first days of the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants. A month later, Israel's maritime blockade is still in place, making Lebanese coastal waters far too dangerous for specialized teams to get to work on the spill, environmental officials and activists say.

Read full article: 'Huge oil spill off Lebanon'

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in his capacity as the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, has issued an Emiri Decree declaring a group of islands off the Western Region as a Marine Protected Area.

The group of islands consist of Upper Al Yasat, Lower Al Yasat, Esam and Karsha, covering a total area of 482sq km declared a no-take zone a Marine Protected Area (MPA) where catching or removal of organisms are prohibited.

Read full article: 'New Marine Protected Area named in Abu Dhabi'

CAMBRIDGE, England, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Twenty marine scientists, including prominent Britons, are asking the world's governments to regulate the live fish trade to help protect coral reefs.
     
With the health of tropical coral reefs facing a serious threat from the burgeoning live fish trade in areas like Hong Kong, a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge have joined with other marine specialists to ask that governments regulate the harvesting of reef fish worldwide, said the journal Science.

Read full article: 'Scientists call for coral reef regulations'

By Erika Pesantes
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 3 2006

Delray Beach · A coral reef system is slowly dying off the shores of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach and scientists are trying to figure out what's to blame.

The South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant has presented a plan to test the 13 million gallons of partially treated sewage it discharges daily into the ocean to determine whether that's causing the decay of the nearby Gulf Stream coral reef.

Read full article: 'Florida's dying reefs'