Latest news from EarthWire/marine

Scientists dusting off half-century old archives of sea urchins have discovered seven new species they didn't know existed in New Zealand waters. The dramatic finds include a clarification over the mystery of one giant deepwater species.

Decomposing oyster shells, made of calcium carbonate, act like an antacid pill and help generate alkalinity in the increasingly acidic oceans, a study finds.

A new study, published online May 19 in the journal Nature Geoscience, looks to the past to learn about the future of tropical climate change, and our ability to simulate it with numerical models.

The protection afforded to blue whales in New Zealand waters may need to be increased, now a study has found they may be more regular visitors to the South Taranaki Bight than previously thought.

Otago commercial fishermen have reacted with anger to a proposal to extend a ban on set-net fishing around the Otago Peninsula to help preserve yellow-eyed penguin colonies.

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don't ...

The Indo-Pacific warm pool was much dryer during the last ice age than today, because lower sea level exposed the Sunda Shelf. The large landmass, in place of the warm ocean, altered the atmospheric circulation, shifting convection further west i ...

The first SIDS DOCK Pacific Regional Meeting reviewed the current work of the first phase of the SIDS DOCK Support Programme and discussed its next phase. SIDS DOCK is an initiative developed by small island developing States (SIDS) for SIDS to p ...

The UK's first "community supported fishery", the cooperative Catchbox scheme, has been nominated for an Observer Ethical Award in the Big Idea category.

THE Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT) has welcomed today's publication of an in-depth study by leading fisheries scientists into the impact and serious implications of man-made reduced marine biodiversity, in particular greatly reduced n ...

Extending a ban on set net fishing around the Otago Peninsula will stem the deaths of one of the rarest penguin species in the world, the native yellow-eyed penguin, Forest and Bird says.

The prospect of a deep sea "gold rush" opening a controversial new frontier for mining on the ocean floor has moved a step closer.

GPS data could provide faster and more accurate early warning systems for tsunamis, a German team of scientists suggest.

A puffin census is under way on the Farne Islands to determine how many breeding pairs of the birds live at the main breeding site. Rangers are also installing cameras in the birds burrows to study the birds.    

Patrick Barkham heads to the north-east of England to visit the Farne Islands, where the National Trust is embarking on an epic census of the puffin population.

Residents in Chile discover around 600 dead animals washed up on the shore in Punta Choros, on the country's northern coast

Nipped fingers and handfuls of guano will be the order of the day for wildlife rangers on the Farne Islands as they embark on an epic census on Friday to discover whether puffin numbers have plummeted after a year of extreme weather. The 10 Natio ...

The Iceland Ministry of Industries and Innovation has responded to the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) rating of Icelandic pelagic caught mackerel as 'least sustainable?, which has been based on seven justifications.

Over the last two days (15-16 May), representatives from the industry, the EU institutions, EU Member States, civil society as well as from the scientific community have gathered in Edinburgh to optimise the management of deep water fishing.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has upgraded European and Norwegian mackerel to a yellow 'three' rating on its Fish to Eat List, meaning people can eat it occasionally without endangering the species.