Gaze out from the deck of a boat and you will see an ocean that was, in Henry David Thoreau’s phrase, “equally wild and unfathomable always”. There’s a stark contrast in appearance here between the apparently…
After mass bleaching in 1998, more than half of coral reefs in the Seychelles have slowly recovered.
Nick Graham
Coral reefs are the poster child for the damage people are doing to the world’s oceans. Overfishing, pollution and declining water quality have all taken their toll on reefs around the world. Perhaps the…
Coral reefs are like an underwater metropolis – and function in similar ways.
Simon Gingins
Consensus is growing that we are steering towards a sixth mass extinction event. There are calls for increased efforts to stop the accelerating loss of plants and animals. But do we really need to protect…
It has long been news that overfishing persists in many of the world’s oceans. Fish and invertebrate stocks have been over-exploited for our ever-hungry, growing human population, leaving some species…
Open wide: don’t be fooled by the appearance of a Leatherback’s mouth, they eat only jellyfish.
Tom Doyle
Going to the beach this summer? If you’re in southern Australia, keep your eyes peeled for the world’s largest turtle, the leatherback. If you do, you can report sightings to researchers at Deakin University…
For a month or two every summer, beaches across the south-eastern Mediterranean might be packed but the inviting seas remain suspiciously empty. It’s jellyfish season, and the “nomads” are out in force…
Phytoplankton are responsible for half the world’s productivity. Here, a phytoplankton bloom in the northern Pacific.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr
You may not have heard of them or given them much thought, but phytoplankton — the microscopic plants that grow throughout the world’s oceans — are the foundation of oceanic food webs. Although tiny, they…
But I didn’t do it on porpoise, your honour.
jidanchaomian
It’s one of the big mysteries in my career as a marine biologist. Something lurking in the seas off Britain has been chomping away at local porpoises and none of the usual suspects fit the bill. Now scientists…
Young Steller sea lions in Prince William Sound, Alaska. NMFS Permit 14336.
Markus Horning
A decade ago, we set out to unravel deep ocean crime scenes we weren’t even sure existed. The crime? Endangered Steller sea lions were rapidly disappearing in parts of Alaska. Their numbers dropped by…
An Ochre starfish, in healthier times.
Amanda Bates
We live in a time when our climate is warming more rapidly than ever before. Rising temperature and associated changes in weather are driving shifts in the distributions of species on Earth. Some are thriving…
Antarctica has actually been protected from sea ice melt by the ozone hole.
Vassil Tzvetanov
Many people think of sunburn and skin cancer when they hear about the ozone hole. But more ultraviolet (UV) radiation isn’t the only problem. The ozone hole has also led to dramatic changes in Southern…
Marine parks need to be big enough to safeguard wide-ranging species, like the sharks being studied here.
Manu San Felix/National Geographic Pristine Seas Expedition
Top scientists, senior government managers, industry representatives, conservationists and even some nations’ presidents are currently in Sydney for the World Parks Congress. This major international meeting…
About 18% of the world’s seagrass stocks have disappeared over 20 years.
Richard Unsworth
Seagrass is one of the most important coastal habitats where young ocean-going fish such as Atlantic cod can grow and develop before setting out on the journey of life. But these critically important habitats…
Apollo Bay in Victoria. Australia’s coastal towns are vulnerable to changes in the surrounding seas.
ccdoh1/Flickr
Australia’s coastal towns, many built around fisheries and tourism, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. South east and south west Australia are marine hotspots — they are warming much faster…
Australia’s Commonwealth marine parks were designed to protect marine life, including important foraging areas for sea birds.
In June 2012 the Labor government announced the “world’s largest” system of marine parks, adding 2.3 million square kilometres and taking the overall size of Australia’s Commonwealth marine reserves to…
Shark Bay is one of Australia’s 19 World Heritage Areas, home to dolphins, dugongs, and sharks.
Matthew Fraser
In the summer of 2010-2011 Western Australia experienced an unprecedented heatwave — but not on land. Between December 2010 and April 2011, sea temperatures off the WA coast reached 3C above average, and…
An idyllic vision of Sydney’s future?
Adriana Verges
Welcome to tropical Sydney, where colourful surgeonfishes and parrotfishes are plentiful, corals have replaced kelp forests, and underwater life seems brighter, more colourful and all-round better. Or…
The speed and scale of China’s rapid economic growth has led to widespread degradation of its densely inhabited coastlines, according to an analysis of 60 years of social, economic and environmental data…