By BRIAN SKOLOFF

Smokers are littering shorelines and waterways worldwide with millions of cigarettes, and their filters topped the list of trash items culled during last year´s annual international coastal cleanup, according to a new report.

More than 350,000 volunteers removed about 7 million pounds of debris from 34,500 miles of coastlines and waterways, along with ocean, river and lake bottoms, The Ocean Conservancy said in the report, released Thursday.


Read full article: '7 Million Pounds of Trash Pulled From Waterways'

Strasbourg, France (Jun 8, 2007 15:14 EST) Monitoring the saltiness of the ocean water could provide an early indicator of climate change. Significant increases or decreases in salt in key areas could forewarn of climate change in 10 to 20 years time. Presenting their findings at a recent European Science Foundation (ESF) conference, scientists predicted that the waters of the southern hemisphere oceans around South Africa and New Zealand are the places to watch.


Read full article: 'Salty Oceans Provide Early Warning For Climate Change'

By Sunny Lewis

HONOLULU, Hawaii, June 8, 2007 (ENS) - Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, environmentalists say all is not well in America's first national marine monument on World Ocean Day, observed each year on June 8.

They are outraged at the recent decision of the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources, BLNR, to allow bio-prospecting in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.

Conservationists and native Hawaiians are attending the BLNR meeting today in Honolulu to demand a moratorium on all research permits in this far-flung island chain that stretches for 1,400 square miles north and west of the main Hawaiian islands.


Read full article: 'Trouble in Hawaiian Islands'

Australian authorities may today attempt to salvage the bulk carrier Pasha Bulker grounded on a New South Wales beach amid fears of an environmental disaster.


Fears remain that the vessel, which was last night still being pounded by huge seas at Nobbys Beach, could break up but there had been no breach of the hull, NSW Maritime spokesman Neil Patchett said.

A witness on Nobbys Beach had earlier said traces of fuel had begun to wash up on the beach.


Read full article: 'Salvage operation for grounded carrier'

A dramatic increase in the number of sightings of unauthorised fishing vessels in the western and central Pacific Ocean in the last three months is alarming fisheries officials meeting in Wellington this week.

The Executive Director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Andrew Wright, says mainly Latin American fishing boats are operating illegally across the Pacific.


Read full article: 'Alarming increase in Pacific illegal fishing'

BEIRUT: Last summer's fuel-oil spill into the Mediterranean Sea is not the main cause behind the Lebanese coast's pollution, despite what many people think. In fact, the key factor contributing to the pollution of the sea around Lebanon has never changed: sewage, according to an article in this month's issue of Environment and Development magazine.

Environment Hotline, an environmental research team affiliated with the magazine, said an analysis of samples from Lebanon's seawater showed the amount of oil had become inconsiderable and "does not endanger beachgoers' lives ... but high levels of the fecal coliform (FC) bacteria in sewage that is being dropped into the sea can lead to severe health problems, especially for children and elderly people, who have lower levels of immunity."


Read full article: 'Sewage remains primary pollutant in Lebanese waters'

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) today announced the release of their “Voluntary Standards for Marine Recreation in the Mesoamerican Reef System.” This guide provides marine tourism businesses, bulk purchasers of visitor excursions, and tourists with tested standards that will prevent recreational overuse and misuse of coral reefs.


Read full article: 'CORAL Unveils Sustainable Marine Tourism Standards'

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News

Weather disasters, economic pressures and other problems have disrupted the lives of Pacific Islanders to the point that they too are now mismanaging their natural resources, researchers say.

This shift has led to dangerous declines, and even collapses, of shark, other fish and marine stocks, according to a new study.


Read full article: 'Marine life at risk as traditions decline'

by Peg Van Patten - May 29, 2007

How do you evaluate how well a portion of the ocean is being protected?

Not an easy task, but Robert Pomeroy, an associate professor of agriculture and resource economics and Sea Grant fisheries specialist, is up to the challenge.

He is one of three authors who have created a 216-page guidebook to evaluate the success of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), called How is Your MPA Doing? A Guidebook of Natural and Social Indicators for Evaluating Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness.



Read full article: 'Guide to evaluate success of marine protected areas'

LAKE WORTH — The county's environmental arm has joined the list of experts, scientists and activists who want to preserve one of the area's most pristine reefs from harmful nutrients.

The Department of Environmental Resources Management has recommended that more research be done before Lake Worth is allowed to dump its reverse osmosis effluent about a mile offshore of Lake Worth Beach.


Read full article: 'County sounds alarm on reef plan'

VICTORIA'S little penguins - an attraction for thousands of tourists - have been devastated by an apparently abandoned shark net.

Twenty-three of the birds suffered agonising deaths when they were caught in the massive net. They drowned in the trap, which was floating in Port Phillip Bay off Queenscliff.


Read full article: 'Penguins die agonising deaths in shark net trap'

MIAMI Two Miami developers were selling, and buying, six acres of underwater real estate off the Coral Gables shoreline.

Warren Sands and Bob Robinson had a contract to buy underwater property from an 81-year-old widow and her family for $445,000. The family members say they didn't know about the developers' negotiations with the state to sell it for $7.2-million. The state lawyers say they didn't know about the family's contract, according to a Miami Herald investigation.

Read full article: 'Taxpayers Paid Millions For Underwater Real Estate'

POWERFUL computer models that simulate ocean circulation - a key factor in the global-warming equation - will have to be finetuned after scientists discovered a massive eddy in the current that sweeps around Antarctica.

The oceans play a vital role in global warming - the surface layers of the sea absorb heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Read full article: 'Churning sea spurs climate rethink'

EARTHDIVE - the web-based citizen science project for scuba divers - is building a baseline map of the state of the world's oceans, has integrated Google Earth into its observational mapping systems at www.earthdive.com

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through its World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) in Cambridge supports the project.


Read full article: 'EARTHDIVE AND GOOGLE'

More than 20 countries have agreed to work together to end a method of deep-sea fishing which they say causes huge damage to the environment.

The agreement covers a quarter of the world's oceans and will restrict fishing vessels from dragging huge weighted nets across the sea floor.


Read full article: 'Countries agree to end deep-sea bottom trawling'