November 2014 - Oceana USA

ICCAT Moves to Properly Manage Bluefin Tuna, but Doesn’t Take Action for Sharks and Swordfish

Earlier this month, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) concluded its meeting in Genoa, Italy to discuss protections for various marine species, including bluefin tuna, sharks, and swordfish. At the same time, the IUCN World Parks Congress concluded its once-a-decade meeting with new protections for marine habitat and other developments for … Read more

Sea Turtles Can Get the Bends after Capture in Fishing Gear, Says New Study

If you’re an avid scuba diver, you’re probably all too familiar with decompression sickness (DCS)—more commonly known as the bends—a disease that can strike astronauts, divers, and others, and arises after inadequately recompressing after changes in pressure gradients. In the marine environment, scientists long thought that many diving vertebrates—like sea turtles and marine mammals—were immune … Read more

Video: Watch the Incredible Migration of Thousands of Giant Spider Crabs in Australia

Australia is famous for its teeming, colorful biodiversity like sea turtles, giant clams, and coral, but it’s the Great Barrier Reef that often receives the most attention for its wildlife. Of course, other areas around Australia boast an incredible amount of unique wildlife, like the Ningaloo Marine Park along Australia’s West Coast, for example, that … Read more

Ocean Roundup: Dolphins Use Whistles as Names, Conservationists Call for Removal of Queensland Shark Nets, and More

– A new study has unlocked a key to dolphin communication: The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin and the common bottlenose dolphin use whistle sounds as names for each other, even in the wild. The researchers say this is an important step to understanding how human activity may be affecting these species. Phys.org – Australian conservationists are … Read more

Oceana in Chile Submits Recommendations for Lowering Common Hake Catch Quotas

Last week, Oceana in Chile recommended that the Chilean government lower the total annual catch quota for common hake—a severely overexploited species— in 2015 by about 1,000 tons because of declines. According to Chile’s Fisheries Development Institute, common hake biomass declined by over six percent this year. “Increasing the quota for hake will only accelerate … Read more

Ocean Roundup: North Atlantic Right Whales Calving in Southeast, New Shark Repellent Tested in South Africa, and More

– In a high-tech experiment off of South Africa, researchers have started testing an electronic cable attached to the seafloor as a shark repellent. Because of sharks’ acute sense of electroreception, the researchers expect sharks to be able to detect the low-frequency field emitted from the cable. Reuters – Scientists say that Queensland, Australia’s pink … Read more