Ocean Conservation & Tidalpunk

More than half the Commonwealth members are small countries and many face significant, some even existential, threats from rising seas

A group of marine scientists is calling for focused research that provides “incontrovertible evidence” of how ocean acidification impacts marine life.

In a report published Oct. 16., the scientists say that studies establishing a direct causal link between acidification and marine life are currently lacking, but are needed so policymakers can make informed decisions.

Note: If this tiny part of 30% around the Azores is really the largest network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the North Atlantic, this tells me that much-much more needs to be done and soon. Please don't get me wrong, I believe it's totally great they did this.

New research has uncovered what could very well be the key to our very existence.

A special conference on the sidelines of the UN Biodiversity Conference later this month has been called for to urgently address the crisis coral reefs face due to climate change.

Top 10 eco-friendly diving practices. Eco-friendly diving more than just following a set of rules; it’s a mindset to care for the ocean and its inhabitants.

Residents and marine scientists unable to identify pale masses, as myriad theories are blown out of the water

Marine Protected Areas are key to sustaining long-term fish populations

Research by Professor Joshua Cinner, looking at data from more than 2600 coral reefs across the globe, shows that marine conservation efforts have had a modest effect on fish stocks but more needs to be done to meet international commitments.

Looking at fish survey data across nearly 2,600 tropical reef locations, the team developed a model that showed approximately 10 percent of fish biomass (the number and size of fish in an area) can be attributed to existing protections.

At the UN Biodiversity Conference in 2022, 196 countries adopted the Global Biodiversity Framework and committed to protecting 30 percent of the world’s terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine areas by 2030 – an initiative commonly referred to as 30x30. The authors hope their study will help maximise the benefits from this initiative.

The Joides Resolution has contributed to our understanding of climate crisis, the origin of life, earthquakes and eruptions. But funding cuts mean it may have sailed its last expedition

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/16468312

Over the past decade, however, scientists have become reacquainted with the historical reach of Australian flat oyster reefs, which decorated about 7,000 kilometers of the country’s coastline from Perth to Sydney and down around Tasmania. Australian flat oysters—not to be confused with the far more common European flat oyster, commonly known as the native oyster—form gigantic reefs comprised of billions of individuals that can be found as deep as 40 meters. “They’re like the trees in a forest or the coral in a tropical sea,” McAfee says. Besides providing habitat and boosting biodiversity, oyster reefs are known to filter water and bolster fish production.

On the back of this learning, scientists have been working to restore these lost ecosystems—an endeavor that got a major boost in 2020 when the nonprofit the Nature Conservancy Australia teamed up with the government of South Australia on an ambitious project to bring flat oyster reefs back to the coastline near Adelaide, one of the country’s biggest cities. That project, as McAfee and his team show in a recent study, has been a resounding success so far, with the restored reef now hosting even more Australian flat oysters than the last remaining natural reef in Tasmania. “It’s quite astonishing,” says McAfee.

Abstract

Drawing upon interviews with experts involved in mCDR research projects both academic and entrepreneurial, we highlight four thematic tensions that orient their thinking but are often unstated or left implicit in scientific and technical assessments:

1. the relevance of ‘naturalness’ as a criterion of evaluation for mCDR approaches;
2. the perceived need to accelerate research and development activities via alternative paradigms of evidence-building;
3. a framing of mCDR as a form of waste management that will, in turn, generate new (and currently poorly understood) forms of environmental pollutants; and
4. a commitment to inclusive governance mixed with difficulty in identifying specific stakeholders or constituencies in mCDR interventions.

Introduction

The prospect of deploying new technologies for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) has gained considerable attention, as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions fail to keep pace with climate stabilization targets (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2023). (...)

Conclusions

(...) Our examination of these tensions leaves us with a number of outstanding questions.

1. If we acknowledge that mCDR cannot return oceans to a pristine or natural state, and that it inevitably introduces significant changes in marine environments, how much change to the oceans is ‘too much’?
2. If we must urgently develop an appropriate knowledge base to decide on mCDR deployment, how do we ensure that research acceleration does not occur to the detriment of understanding the full range of impacts and involving affected groups?
3. Even if we conceive of mCDR as a form of planetary waste management, how do we ensure adequate attention to understanding and mapping the material impacts and byproducts that it will generate, and what mechanisms could prevent burdening vulnerable communities with these new environmental harms?
4. Finally, who should ‘count’ as a relevant public for mCDR projects, and what should be the manner of their involvement in governance processes? None of these questions can be ‘resolved’ simply by expanding empirical research efforts, but they can be formulated with greater precision, and in ways that allow a fruitful dialogue among experts, and between them and the larger public.

Stavanger, Norway – Greenpeace International released a new report "Gambling with the deep sea - Those betting on mining the Arctic" exposing the Norwegian government and companies' efforts to start deep sea mining in the Arctic, today. At the time of release, activists from Greenpeace Nordic launched a protest action against Loke Marine Minerals, a Norwegian company that wants to start deep sea mining in the depths of the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans. Loke has been outspoken in its ambition to become the world's largest producer of controversial seabed minerals.