Ocean Roundup: Australia Releases Great Barrier Reef Management Plan, West Coast Starfish See Hope for Recovery, and More - Oceana USA
Home / Blog / Ocean Roundup: Australia Releases Great Barrier Reef Management Plan, West Coast Starfish See Hope for Recovery, and More

September 22, 2014

Ocean Roundup: Australia Releases Great Barrier Reef Management Plan, West Coast Starfish See Hope for Recovery, and More

– Following a recent scare to conservationists worldwide that the Great Barrier Reef would become a dredge dumping site, the Australian government released a 35-year management plan last week for this World Heritage site. Many scientists are conservationists, however, are saying that the report isn’t comprehensive enough to restore the Reef and that it has “no measurable, deliverable action.”  The New York Times

Baltimore, Maryland’s Inner Harbor will soon be home to 165,000 baby oysters as part of the Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership, a program coordinated by several area schools and organizations. The move is part of an effort to make the Inner Harbor safe for swimmers and fishermen by 2020. Baltimore Business Journal

Long Read:

– Sea star wasting syndrome has decimated starfish populations along the West Coast of North America since its June 2013 outbreak. As scientists probe for exact causes of the disease, some recently spotted juvenile starfish along the West Coast and say it’s a glimmer of hope. Newsweek

– Many fisheries, like Jack mackerel and Atlantic cod, have been so overfished that that their populations are decimated. While that’s bad news for both the oceans and seafood lovers, this author argues that there’s one seafood alternative we’re not considering: jellyfish. Modern Farmer

Op-Ed:

– Some animals are able to cope with climate change by adjusting their range, while others, like polar bears, are believed to have hit the limit of their range. In this op-ed, one biologist stresses that “assisted migration” may give some species a fighting chance in climate change. LA Times