A new study may answer the question of why some corals bleach and others do not, even when exposed to the same environmental conditions.  The study suggests that the corals themselves play a role in their susceptibility to deadly coral bleaching due to the light-scattering properties of their skeletons.

A team from Northwestern University and The Field Museum of Natural History found that reef-building corals scatter light in different ways to the symbiotic algae that feed the corals. Corals that are less efficient at light scattering retain algae better under stressful conditions and are more likely to survive. Corals whose skeletons scatter light most efficiently have an advantage under normal conditions, but they suffer the most damage when stressed.

The findings could help predict the response of coral reefs to the stress of increasing seawater temperatures and acidity, helping conservation scientists preserve...

A Chinese boat that ran into a coral reef in the southwestern Philippines held evidence of even more environmental destruction inside: more than 22,000 pounds of meat from a protected species, the pangolin or scaly anteater.

Traditional community-run marine reserves and fisheries can play a big role in helping to restore and maintain fish numbers in stressed developing nations’ coral reef fisheries.

 

Using genetic ‘fin-printing’, an international team of scientists has gathered the first clear proof that small traditional fishing grounds that are effectively managed by local communities can help re-stock both themselves and surrounding marine areas. The finding has big implications for hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on coral reefs for food and livelihood.

 

In an article in Current Biology the researchers report finding the offspring of protected coral trout breeding in community-managed areas in Papua New Guinea were plentiful both in the managed area and in surrounding fishery tenures.

 

“This is a really important finding, because it shows that small community-run fisheries can preserve their fish stocks – and can boost fish stocks in a surrounding radius of...

Leading international marine scientists have called for the protection of more, large marine wilderness areas in a bid to shield the world’s dwindling stocks of fish from destruction.

 

Working in the world’s largest unfished marine reserve, the remote Chagos Archipelago in the central Indian Ocean, scientists from Australia and the US have shown there is a dramatic difference in the numbers, size and variety of fish compared with smaller marine parks.

 

Their findings in two new reports provide the world’s first clear evidence that large-scale marine wilderness reserves are better for conserving fish than the far more common, small marine protected areas (MPAs) that many governments and fishing communities are presently implementing.

 

“The bottom line is that we found six times more fish in the Chagos ‘no take’ area than we did in even the best-managed Marine Reserves elsewhere in the Indian Ocean,” says lead author of the reports, Dr Nick Graham of the ARC Centre of...

 A new study by a team of biologists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies has shown that isolated coral reefs can recover from catastrophic damage.  The study challenges conventional wisdom that suggested isolated reefs were more vulnerable to disturbance, because they were thought to depend on recolonisation from other reefs. Instead, the scientists found that the isolation of reefs allowed surviving corals to rapidly grow and propagate in the absence of human interference.



Scott Reef, a remote coral system in the Indian Ocean, has largely recovered from a catastrophic mass bleaching event in 1998, according to the study published in Science today.

Australia’s largest oceanic reef system, Scott Reef, is relatively isolated, sitting out in the Indian Ocean some 250 km from the remote coastline of north Western Australia (WA). Prospects for the reef looked gloomy when in 1998 it suffered catastrophic mass bleaching, losing around 80% of its coral cover. The study shows that it took just 12 years to recover.

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Nevada legislation that has been set for hearing in the Natural Resources Committee would make it a crime to sell, or give away, live animals at any “organized event” in the state. Assembly Bill 246 purports to ban the sale of animals at “swap meets” but that term is defined by the bill so broadly that it would literally include any “organized even at which two or more persons offer merchandise for sale or exchange.” Thus, any pet trade or hobby shows such as frag swaps, aquarium shows, dog shows, cat shows, reptile shows, and/or bird shows, at which any animals are sold would be prohibited.

 

This bill would establish a misdemeanor criminal offense for any person who sells “or attempts to sell, offers for adoption or transfers ownership of a live animal” at any organized event. Any vendor, attendee or other person is covered under the bill. 

 

Text of the bill can be found here.

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According to a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience by a team of climate scientists and coral ecologists from the UK, Australia and Panama, pollution from air particles resulting from burning coal or volcanic eruptions can shade corals from sunlight and cool the surrounding water resulting in reduced growth rates.

Corals have been responding to changes in the concentration of particulate pollution in the atmosphere,

Dr. Paul Halloran of the team explains: "Particulate pollution or 'aerosols' reflect incoming sunlight and make clouds brighter. This can reduce the light available for coral photosynthesis, as well as the temperature of surrounding waters. Together these factors are shown to slow down coral growth."

 

The authors used a combination of records retrieved from within the coral skeletons, observations from ships, climate model simulations and statistical modelling. Their analysis shows that coral growth rates in the Caribbean were affected by volcanic aerosol emissions...

Please read Matt Pedersen views on the proposed ESA coral listing, which can be found here:

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/04/04/commentary-noaas-20122013-66-coral-esa-proposal/

MASNA has officially submitted its response to the proposed listing of multiple coral species under the Endangered Species Act.   The full response can be viewed here:

response letter ESA listing v3.pdf

The MASNA Industry, Legislation and Conservation staff has been hard at work preparing MASNA's response to the proposed listing of 82 coral species under the Endangered Species Act  (“ESA”).   In connection with preparing the response, we have reviewed multiple scientific papers and reviews of the underlying Status Review Report (“SRR”), conducted an independent legal analysis of the proposed action under the ESA, and have worked closely with the legal and legislative issues staff of aligned organizations, including PIJAC (Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council).

The response letter will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service today, with a copy to be made available on MASNA's website.  Please remember that the deadline for submission of public comment on this critical issue is this Saturday, April 6, 2013.   MASNA recommends that public comment be submitted by April 5, 2013, as there may be some confusion as to what specific time on April 6 the public comment period expires. 

MASNA’s...