Tag: "endangered species"

Green Sea Turtle.  Photo Credit: NOAA.

MPAs Succeed in Protecting Sea Turtles

Emily Tripp Senior Writer A new study shows that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are helping sea turtles survive. The study from an international team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter, explains that MPAs provide an ideal habitat for foraging and protects turtles from the negative aspects of fishing.  The research team found that [...]

Aquarius Underwater Laboratory. Photo Credit: NOAA.

Research Team Spends Ten Days in Aquarius Underwater Lab to Study Coral Reefs

Emily Tripp Senior Writer A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology is using the Aquarius underwater lab off the coast of Florida to study how the diversity of seaweed-eating fish affects endangered coral reefs in the Caribbean. The research team, led by Georgia Tech Professor Mark Hay, is living 50 feet below [...]

Endangered Fin Whale Products Exported from Iceland

Endangered Fin Whale Products Exported from Iceland

Emily Tripp Senior Writer It was revealed today that Iceland’s commercial whaling industry exported an additional 133 metric tons of endangered fin whale products to Japan in July of this year. “There is a line in the sand that Iceland has just crossed,” said Allan Thornton, President of the Environmental Investigation Agency. “The Icelandic killing [...]

Pop-up satellite tag deployed on an adult sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus). Windward Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. Sandbar sharks are listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List.  Photo by Dean Grubbs, courtesy of Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Third of All Sharks, Rays Threatened – New VIMS Study

Editor’s Note — This article was written by David Malmquist and provided by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Dr. Jack Musick, emeritus professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has overseen a global study suggesting that 33 percent of shark, skate, and ray species are threatened with extinction. The work is part of [...]

Green Sea Turtle - NOAA's Coral Kingdom Collection - Photographer: Dr. Dwayne Meadows, NOAA/NMFS/OPR

Sea Turtles: Pilot Study Hopes to Help Reduce Bycatch

Researchers are using modern technology to learn more about turtle behavior in commercial fishing areas and to develop new ways to avoid catching turtles in fishing gear, namely a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and satellite-linked data loggers.

Polar bear, Ursus maritimus, with cub - Credit: FWS

128 Million Acre Critical Habitat for Polar Bears

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to designate more than 128 million acres (200,541 square miles) of coastal lands and waters along the north coast of Alaska as “critical habitat” for the polar bear, the worlds largest carnivore species found on land and listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act since May 2008.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle - courtesy of Anand

One Step Towards Leatherback and Loggerhead Sea Turtle Increased Protection

The Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network reached an agreement with the federal government in a lawsuit over violations of the Endangered Species Act last week.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service have agreed to respond to the groups’ petitions for increased protections for both leatherbacks in the waters off California and Oregon as well as North Pacific and western North Atlantic loggerheads.

Curious young manatee checking out a kajak

Full Review of Endangered Manatees’ Critical Habitat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that new critical habitat protections may be warranted for the Florida manatee, meaning they will conduct a full review of scientific information to determine whether additional critical habitat protections are needed.

Shark net example - Wikipedia

Australian Shark Control Programs Indiscriminately Catch Marine Life

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) today condemned Queensland and New South Wales’ Shark Control Programs for their indiscriminate catch of marine wildlife, including rare and threatened species.

Fossilized seahorse specimen - Courtesy of Jules Zalohar

Hippocampus: Some Help for Imperiled Seahorses

Seahorse Ways Co. runs a culturing farm of seahorses in Minami-Kyshu, Japan hoping to help reverse the decline of the species.

The oldest fossils date back 13 million years to the Middle Miocene (found in the Tunjice Hills in Slovenia) and are of two pipefish-like species.