Some moments define an era: the Moon landing, 9/11. For the natural world, a new milestone has surfaced from the ocean’s past, the oldest known recording of a humpback whale. Listen to the historic recoding played over a modern video of whales, above.

Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), one of the world’s leading marine research centers, have uncovered a recording captured on March 7, 1949, near Bermuda.

The sound was preserved on a fragile but remarkably intact audograph disc found in the institute’s archives. At the time, researchers aboard the research vessel Atlantis were testing sonar systems, measuring explosive charges, and conducting acoustic experiments in collaboration with the US Office of Naval Research.

Underwater recording technology was then in its infancy, and scientists still struggled to identify the sources of many ocean sounds.

Around that same period, WHOI scientist William Schevill and his wife Barbara Lawrence — a pioneering mammalogist — were laying the foundations of marine mammal bioacoustics. In 1949 they used a crude hydrophone and dictating machine to record beluga whales from a small boat in Canada’s Saguenay River, the first confirmed recording of wild marine mammals. Many recordings from the late 1940s were poorly preserved or lost, reflecting how early ocean acoustics research struggled with both technology and storage.

“Data from this time period simply don’t exist in most cases,” said Laela Sayigh, a marine bioacoustician and senior research specialist at WHOI. “The ocean is much louder now, with increases in both the number and types of sound sources. This recording can provide insight into how humpback whale sounds have changed over time, and serve as a baseline for measuring how human activity shapes the ocean soundscape.”

Today, WHOI scientists deploy passive acoustic buoys, Slocum gliders, and autonomous hydrophones to monitor ocean soundscapes at scale. These systems generate vast datasets used to study marine life, track ship noise and industrial impacts, and understand long-term environmental change.

The WHOI-led Robots4Whales program focuses specifically on protecting marine mammals using autonomous ocean robots equipped with the Digital Acoustic Monitoring Instrument (DMON). These systems detect whale calls in real time by tracking frequency changes in sound — producing “pitch tracks” from spectrograms that can be matched to known species libraries and transmitted ashore via satellite.

“Underwater sound recordings are a powerful tool for understanding and protecting vulnerable whale populations,” said marine bioacoustician Peter Tyack, emeritus research scholar at WHOI. “By listening to the ocean, we can detect whales where they cannot easily be seen. At the same time, these acoustic tools let us track how human activity — from shipping to industrial noise — alters the ocean soundscape and affects how whales communicate, navigate, and survive.”

Unlike most recordings from this era, which were lost as early media deteriorated, the audograph discs survived and appear to have been uniquely used for underwater sound — making them a rare, possibly singular example of early ocean listening preserved from the dawn of marine acoustics.

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Widespread mortality of warm-water coral reefs under way, as world reaches first tipping point

The world faces a “new reality” as we have reached the first of many Earth system tipping points that will cause catastrophic harm unless humanity takes urgent action, according to a landmark report released by the University of Exeter and international partners.

With ministers gathering ahead of the COP30 summit, the second Global Tipping Points Report finds that warm-water coral reefs – on which nearly a billion people and a quarter of all marine life depend – are passing their tipping point. Widespread dieback is taking place and – unless global warming is reversed – extensive reefs as we know them will be lost, although small refuges may survive and must be protected.

We are on the brink of more tipping points, with devastating risks for people and nature: the irreversible melting of polar ice sheets, the collapse of key ocean currents and the dieback of the Amazon rainforest – where COP30 will be held.

With global warming set to breach 1.5°C, the report – by 160 scientists at 87 institutions in 23 countries – argues that countries must minimise temperature overshoot to avoid crossing more tipping points. Every fraction of a degree and every year spent above 1.5°C matters.

Green Prophet published an IRENA report today that shows while we’ve made progress in renewables, we aren’t going to make targets unless we double up.

Action to trigger “positive tipping points” of self-propelling change – such as the rollout of green technologies – now offers the only credible route to a safe, just and sustainable future, the report says.

The researchers are working with Brazil’s COP30 Presidency to ensure that tipping points are on the agenda at the summit.

Professor Tim Lenton, from the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, said: “We are rapidly approaching multiple Earth system tipping points that could transform our world, with devastating consequences for people and nature. This demands immediate, unprecedented action from leaders at COP30 and policymakers worldwide.

“In the two years since the first Global Tipping Points Report, there has been a radical global acceleration in some areas, including the uptake of solar power and electric vehicles. But we need to do more – and move faster – to seize positive tipping point opportunities. By doing so, we can drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions and tip the world away from catastrophic tipping points and towards a thriving, sustainable future.”

Dr Mike Barrett, chief scientific advisor at WWF-UK and co-author of the report, said: “The findings of this report are incredibly alarming. That warm-water coral reefs are passing their thermal tipping point is a tragedy for nature and the people that rely on them for food and income. This grim situation must be a wake-up call that unless we act decisively now, we will also lose the Amazon rainforest, the ice sheets and vital ocean currents. In that scenario we would be looking at a truly catastrophic outcome for all humanity.

“As we head into the COP30 climate negotiations it’s vital that all parties grasp the gravity of the situation and the extent of what we all stand to lose if the climate and nature crises are not addressed. The solutions are within our reach. Countries must show the political bravery and leadership to work together and achieve them.”

The report says that the nature of abrupt and irreversible Earth system tipping points mean that they pose a different type of threat to other environmental challenges, and that current policies and decision-making processes are not adequate to respond. Global action must include accelerating emissions reductions and scaling up carbon removal to minimise temperature overshoot. The expected impacts of tipping processes need to be considered in risk assessments, adaptation policies, loss and damage mechanisms and human rights litigation.

Dr Manjana Milkoreit, from the University of Oslo, said: “Current policy thinking doesn’t usually take tipping points into account. Tipping points present distinct governance challenges compared to other aspects of climate change or environmental decline, requiring both governance innovations and reforms of existing institutions.

“Preventing tipping points requires ‘frontloaded’ mitigation pathways that minimise peak global temperature, the duration of the overshoot period above 1.5°C, and the return time below 1.5°C. Sustainable carbon dioxide removal approaches need to be rapidly scaled up to achieve this.”

 

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Ocean Acidification Has Quietly Crossed a Planetary Boundary — And It’s Worse Than We Thought

Fresh analysis from a global team of researchers—including the UK’s Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), NOAA, and Oregon State University—reveals a troubling truth: ocean acidification has already breached a planetary boundary, and alarmingly, this occurred around five years ago.

The planetary boundary framework defines Earth’s “safe operating space,” with nine environmental limits. Until now, ocean acidification had remained within this zone—barely. New findings, however, show that by about 2020, global seawater conditions had exceeded the boundary, defined as a >20 % decline in calcium‑carbonate saturation relative to pre‑industrial times.

Disturbingly, at depths of 200 m—where much ocean life thrives—60 % of waters have passed that threshold.

This creeping acidity threatens organisms that build calcium‑carbonate shells—corals, molluscs, crustaceans, pteropods, oysters—and the ecosystems and economies that depend on them.

As PML’s marine ecologist and Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network co‑chair Prof Steve Widdicombe starkly warns: “Ocean acidification isn’t just an environmental crisis —it’s a ticking time‑bomb for marine ecosystems and coastal economies.”

Deep Waters, Deeper Problems
Lead author Helen Findlay from PML highlights that acidification isn’t confined to surface waters. She notes: “Most ocean life doesn’t just live at the surface … the waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals. Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts … could be far worse than we thought.”

Indeed, coral reef habitats are already shrinking: a 43 % habitat loss in tropical/subtropical corals, up to 61 % for polar pteropods, and 13 % for coastal bivalves.

Lower ocean pH hampers shell formation, metabolic functions, reproductive success, and resilience. The Guardian underscores that acidification is accelerating, exacerbating threats to biodiversity and coastal industries like oyster farming—already suffering in the Pacific Northwest .

Marine ecologist Widdicombe tells Oceanographic Magazine: “If we could see ocean acidification, we’d be way more scared. … Couple ocean acidification with warming temperatures … you’ve got a way bigger problem than plastics.”

What’s Being Done—and What Still Needs to Happen
The study, published in Global Change Biology, combines ice‑core chemistry, historical ocean samples, and advanced modeling to track trends over 150 years .

Researchers advocate for:

• Deep CO₂ emissions cuts to halt further acidification.
• Targeted conservation of reefs and vulnerable habitats.
• Upping acidification on policy agendas—it’s still largely sidelined.

Some are even exploring local fixes—like alkalinity enhancement—but scientists stress these remain unproven, and the real solution is still cutting fossil fuels out of our diet. Some companies like Make Sunsets in the US is going ahead and geo-engineering our planet, to the ire of ocean conservationists –- as we write here in this article.

Ocean acidification is dubbed the “evil twin” of climate change—and it has stealthily crossed a planetary limit, with cascading impacts on every layer of marine life, from shellmakers and corals to coastal economies. Professor Steve Widdicombe’s warning rings true: humanity is “gambling with both biodiversity and billions in economic value every day that action is delayed.”

We’re out of time. Reducing CO₂ emissions—and integrating acidification into global climate and biodiversity strategies—is no longer optional; it’s essential for the health of our oceans and ourselves. Greta Thunberg, can you come back to work?

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Meet Andreas Weil, founder of EcoOcean, Israel’s leading marine conservation organization which has reached hundreds of thousands and brought the concept of Blue Flag beaches to Israel.

Under the blue, sparkling surface of the Mediterranean Sea lies an aquatic world teeming with life, history, and untold stories. For Andreas Weil, founder of the marine protection NGO EcoOcean, this vast marine expanse is more than just a sea; it represents a lifelong passion and mission. Growing up in Sweden, Weil has always had a passion for the environment. Weil explained his reasons for coming to Israel as “I’m going to have fun and do good for the country.”

He began his time in Israel studying Environmental Studies at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. He began to discover his purpose and his reason for being.

When Weil settled in Israel, he noticed a stark contrast between his homeland of Sweden and his new home of Israel. While Sweden was one of the first countries to expand, promote, and participate in green initiatives and recycling, Israel was lagging. There was no awareness, education, or environmental culture in the country. This troubled Weil. He saw that Israelis viewed the environment and climate change as a secondary issue. They disregarded the environment.

What troubled him also was the state of the Mediterranean Sea and the beautiful beaches of Israel being covered in trash. One point of emphasis Weil found was that Israelis did not take responsibility for the garbage that was in their seas. So, he decided to put down the facts. His initial research focussed on where the trash was coming from. He found that 80% of the garbage in the oceans was not from Gaza, Jordan, or any other country, as many had thought. It was from Israel. When framed this way, the Israelis realized that if they were to stop putting trash in the ocean, they would be 80% cleaner. Weil envisioned a new Israel, one where everyone was educated on the environment and the dangers of climate change.

Building EcoOcean

EcoOcean was born out of this vision to research, gather facts, and educate everyone. Central to EcoOcean’s success is the Mediterranean Explorer, the only privately operated marine research vessel in the region. Today, the level of research has increased, not without thanks to the Mediterranean Explorer and Weil himself. Armed with his ship and equipment, Weil set sail to find facts to bring back to Israel. The goal of the boat is to investigate water quality, marine life, trash, and other issues within the Mediterranean. With the information they collect, EcoOcean is not only well equipped to inform the public but also the government.

Discoveries are a commonality on board. While most are focused on climate research, they also have made discoveries outside the realm. One recent discovery made by the ship and its team is a sea sponge that possesses properties that could lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Education is at the core of EcoOcean’s strategy. Starting with 10,000 students and evolving 20 years later to over 20,000, Weil and EcoOcean’s mission is to provide education to all on the topic of the environment and the looming climate threat. Weil has accomplished this with the help of others, starting with only two workers and evolving into a team of 18 full-time staff members and 25 freelance teachers.

They have a learning center called Seakura, located in Mikhmoret. Their center is only the start of it. They send their team of teachers to schools across Israel to provide constant, sustained education to the youth. Teachings focus on sustainability, climate change, and environmental ethics. Additionally, EcoOcean and its educators offer hands-on experiences, such as beach cleanups, that forge a strong, authentic connection to the issue at hand. “You are responsible as a citizen not only to pay taxes,” Weil says. “You’re supposed to clean and take care of your gift.” Israel.

EcoOcean doesn’t stop at education. It also works closely with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, local municipalities, and other NGOs to influence Israel’s environmental policies. One notable example of cooperation between EcoOcean and the Ministry is their “Disposable Dishes-Not in my Sea!” campaign, which educated the public on using reusable utensils, cups, and other kitchenware on the beach. The result was a visible reduction in single-use plastics on Israel’s sparkling, sandy beaches. As mentioned earlier, the Mediterranean Explorer is used to collect research for submission to the Israeli government. The abundance of information provided allows Israeli officials to identify and address clear problems.

Read related: This is the only government-funded sea turtle hospital in the world 

Environmental Unity in a Divided Region

Despite regional war and political tension, Weil sees marine conservation as a unifying force. EcoOcean and Weil are committed to providing the same level of education for all Israeli citizens. He says that “The environment does not have boundaries” and that, to have widespread change, the country needs “An Israel where people feel as one.” Nothing changes without cooperation.

You need a resilient population. He strongly believes in Tikkun Olam, the concept of repairing the world. Repairs can be done through education and information.

Looking ahead, Weil and EcoOcean’s ambitions are as expansive as the sea itself. He wants EcoOcean to one day reach 100,000 young people annually. Additionally, he aims to expand volunteer programs and enhance scientific contributions through blue ocean-based, tech, and climate research. Most of all, he wants all Israeli children to have access to marine education.

“If they approach us, we never want to say no,” he says. “We just need funding to say yes to everyone.”Weil’s vision extends far beyond Israel’s shores. “The environment and the threat of climate change can be the catalyst for Middle East peace,” he believes. “We are all part of the problem. We are all part of the solution. We can all fix it if we work together.”

Andreas Weil’s legacy is not about a single shoreline, beach, or sea. It is about a shift in attitude and consciousness. EcoOcean is a national leader in driving change, and its next goal is expansion to a broader area. “I want to go on a trip one day and hear everyone say, ‘I’d never throw trash in the ocean.'” This is when he believes he will have achieved his goals.

Until then, EcoOcean will continue to sail-chart a course for cleaner seas, educating citizens and working towards a future where the Mediterranean is a shared, thriving, and clean sea for all.

::EcoOcean 

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Are you a diver that runs a dive shop or a hobby diver that loves the sea and wants to change the world? A researcher of forest ecosystems? A concerned citizen? The Canada and UK-based Ocean Wise and the Kelp Forest Alliance have released a new guidebook to help monitor kelp ecosystems globally.

Kelp forests may seem like just seaweed, but they are foundational for life both underwater and on land. Kelp – also known as dulse –  itself is a superfood, but in the water and alive kelp support an astonishing array of biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services that help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Kelp forests hold significant cultural and existence value for Indigenous peoples and local communities. These underwater forests are vital for the health of our planet, but unfortunately, kelp forests are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Related: how demand for agar is killing algae in Morocco

“Over 50% of kelp forests have declined in the past 50 years due to climate change and ecosystem imbalances. Global efforts to protect and restore these necessary ecosystems have never been more urgent. But to make a compelling case for kelp forest conservation, you must be able to measure their value and the impact of your interventions,” says Carlos Drews, Executive Vice President of Conservation, Ocean Wise.

Ocean conservation has been around for decades but kelp restoration is a relatively new frontier. Still in its discovery phase, kelp restoration research has focused on uncovering the most effective ways to protect and restore kelp forests. But reversing the global loss of kelp requires scalable, innovative, cost-effective, and collaborative efforts. This new handbook hopes to be the the missing link to making this a global effort.

Conservation without proper monitoring and reporting is at best an estimation, say the guide creators. That’s where this guidebook comes in—offering standardized methods to ensure data can be assessed, shared, and compared across projects.

“We spend our hard-earned conservation dollars trying to help kelp forest ecosystems, but we rarely place the same investment in tracking the outcome of those efforts. When we fail to accurately monitor and report on the outcomes of these projects, we do ourselves a disservice,” says Aaron Eager, Program Director, Kelp Forest Alliance.

“We are currently missing opportunities to understand what makes some projects more successful than others. This gap also impedes our understanding of the benefits these ecosystems provide and a result, we are unable to effectively communicate their importance to society. This document will help guide monitoring efforts and give the kelp forest community a common language when comparing data.”

Global kelp restoration efforts include active projects in 13 countries including Canada, Australia, Chile, Denmark, and the United States.

Get the guidebook here.

About Ocean Wise

Ocean Wise is a globally focused conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our ocean. Through research, education, public engagement, and international collaborations, we empower communities to fight three major ocean challenges: ocean pollution, overfishing and climate change.

By equipping and empowering individuals, communities, industries, and governments, we can create a future where people and our oceans can thrive. Ocean Wise is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia with staff across Canada and Chile, and operates conservation projects that make national and international impact.

About Kelp Forest Alliance

The Kelp Forest Alliance (KFA) is a global network of scientists, conservationists, and stakeholders dedicated to protecting and restoring 4 million hectares of kelp forests by 2040. We promote research, conservation, education, and restoration efforts worldwide. The alliance offers evidence-based strategies for effective and ethical kelp forest management, advocates for stronger policies, and aims to deepen public awareness and connection to these often-overlooked ecosystems.

Divers play a critical role in saving and restoring kelp forests, which are vital marine ecosystems. These underwater forests support biodiversity, sequester carbon, and protect coastlines. Here’s how divers contribute to the conservation and restoration of kelp forests:

How divers can help preserve kelp forests

One of the primary threats to kelp forests is the overgrazing by sea urchins, particularly in areas where natural predators, like sea otters, have declined. Divers help by:

• Urchin Culling: Divers manually remove overabundant sea urchins, reducing their numbers and allowing kelp to regrow.
• Targeted Removal: They focus on areas where sea urchins are particularly damaging, helping to restore balance in these ecosystems.

Planting and Restoring Kelp

In some areas, kelp populations have declined to the point where natural regrowth is limited. Divers can assist by:

• Replanting Kelp: They collect kelp spores or young plants and replant them in damaged areas to encourage regrowth.
• Seeding Efforts: Divers can attach kelp spores to artificial substrates or rocks to help new kelp beds establish.

Monitoring and Research

Divers are often involved in scientific research that helps track the health of kelp forests:

• Ecological Surveys: They monitor kelp health, sea urchin populations, and other environmental factors.
• Data Collection: Divers gather data on water quality, temperature, and biodiversity, which can help scientists understand the impacts of climate change and human activity on kelp forests.

Marine Debris Removal

Trash and fishing gear can damage kelp forests by entangling plants and marine animals. Divers contribute by:

• Removing Debris: They collect discarded fishing nets, plastic waste, and other debris that can harm kelp forests.

Read more on diving here: including underwater biking and diving in Egypt’s mysterious underwater city

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We know the giant clam from the Disney film Moana. He collects diamonds and pearls. But in a new real life discovery, scientists working at the Red Sea have found sea sponges use glittery metal to ward off predation.

The study found that sponges in the Gulf of Eilat on the Red Sea have developed an original way to keep predators away. The researchers found that the sponges contain an unprecedented concentration of the highly toxic mineral molybdenum (Mo). In addition, they identified the bacterium that enables sponges to store such high concentrations of this precious metal and unraveled the symbiosis between the two organisms.

The study was led by PhD student Shani Shoham and Prof. Micha Ilan from TAU’s School of Zoology. The paper was published in the leading journal Science Advances.

The researchers explain that sponges are the earliest multicellular organisms known to science. They live in marine environments and play an important role in the earth’s carbon, nitrogen, and silicon cycles. A sponge can process and filter seawater 50,000 times its body weight every day.

With such enormous quantities of water flowing through them, they can accumulate various trace elements – and scientists try to understand how they cope with toxic amounts of materials like arsenic and molybdenum.

Twenty to 30 years ago, researchers from a lab collected samples of a rare sponge called Theonella conica from the coral reef of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean and found in them a high concentration of molybdenum. Molybdenum is a trace element, important for metabolism in the cells of all animals including humans, and widely used in industry.

“In my research, I wanted to test whether such high concentrations are also found in this sponge species in the Gulf of Eilat, where it grows at depths of more than 27 meters,” says PhD student Shani Shoham: “Finding the sponge and analyzing its composition I discovered that it contained more molybdenum than any other organism on earth: 46,793 micrograms per gram of dry weight.”

She notes: “Like all trace elements, molybdenum is toxic when its concentration is higher than its solubility in water. But we must remember that a sponge is essentially a hollow mass of cells with no organs or tissues. Specifically in Theonella conica, up to 40% of the body volume is a microbial society – bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in symbiosis with the sponge.

One of the most dominant bacteria, called Entotheonella sp., serves as a ‘detoxifying organ’ for accumulating metals inside the body of its sponge hosts. Hoarding more and more molybdenum, the bacteria convert it from its toxic soluble state into a mineral. We are not sure why they do this. Perhaps the molybdenum protects the sponge, by announcing: “I’m toxic! Don’t eat me!”, and in return for this service the sponge does not eat the bacteria and serves as their host.”

No sponge farming for rare metals

Molybdenum is in high demand, mostly for alloys (for example, to make high-strength steel), but according to Shoham, it would be impracticable to retrieve it from sponges: “The concentration is very high, but when translated into weight we could only get a few grams from every sponge, and the sponge itself is relatively rare.

“Sponges are grown in marine agriculture, mostly for the pharmaceutical industry, but this is quite a challenging endeavor. Sponges are very delicate creatures that need specific conditions.

“On the other hand, future research should focus on the ability of Entotheonella sp. bacteria to accumulate toxic metals. A few years ago, our lab discovered huge concentrations of other toxic metals, arsenic (As) and barium (Ba), in a close relative of Theonella conica, called Theonella swinhoei, which is common in the Gulf of Eilat.

“In this case, too, Entotheonella was found to be largely responsible for hoarding the metals and turning them into minerals, thereby neutralizing their toxicity. Continued research on the bacteria can prove useful for treating water sources polluted with arsenic, a serious hazard which directly affects the health of 200 million people worldwide.”

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Dark oxygen collected from the sea floor

Something dark and metallic-like is pumping out large amounts of oxygen from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at depths where a lack of sunlight makes photosynthesis impossible, scientists have noticed.

The find has surprised scientists and the source remains a mystery. The oxygen might be generated by metal-rich mineral deposits, some sort of metallic substance or nodules, they claim.

To researchers’ surprise, they measured voltages of up to 0.95 volts across the surface of the nodules. It is possible that the nodules catalyse the splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen, but more experiments are needed.

The scientists also say this new discovery could change everything about what we know about oxygen itself, and how life as we know it is created.

This challenges what we know about the emergence of life on Earth, researchers say: “When we first got this data, we thought the sensors were faulty, because every study ever done in the deep sea has only seen oxygen being consumed rather than produced,” study lead author Andrew Sweetman, a professor and leader of the seafloor ecology and biogeochemistry research group at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)

But when the instruments kept showing the same results, Sweetman and his colleagues knew they “were onto something ground-breaking and unthought-of,” he said.

So what does that mean for deep sea mining? Green Prophet has covered many stories and research to shed light on the problems with deep sea mining and what this could do to delicate, deep sea ecosystems.

Dr. Paul Johnston, from Greenpeace’s Science Unit, says, “This study shows that processes are going on in the deep sea and which are associated with these mineral nodules that we are only just becoming aware of. The ecological importance of this process as a source of oxygen in deep-sea environments is not really known but may be highly important.

“We should impose a moratorium on exploiting these systems because we still lack a comprehensive understanding not only of their biodiversity, but also of the complex ecological functions they support.”

Scientists are joining in the call to protect the deep seabed from mining as the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica this week to decide the future of the deep sea mining industry. 

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“If you remove all the scum suckers in the great fish tank of Earth, you’re going to get a dirty tank eventually”

Known as the rainforests of the sea, coral reefs create habitats for 25% of all marine organisms, despite only covering less than 1% of the ocean’s area.  Coral patches the width and height of basketball arenas used to be common throughout the world’s oceans. But due to numerous human-generated stresses and coral disease, which is known to be associated with ocean sediments, most of the world’s coral is gone.

“It’s like if all the pine trees in Georgia disappeared over a period of 30 to 40 years,” said Mark Hay, Regents’ Chair and the Harry and Anna Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology in the School of Biological Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Just imagine how that affects biodiversity and ecosystems of the ocean.”

Read Also: Houthis sink Red Sea ship putting reefs at risk

In first-of-its-kind research, Hay, along with research scientist Cody Clements, discovered a crucial missing element that plays a profound role in keeping coral healthy — an animal of overlooked importance known as a sea cucumber.

Their study, undertaken in remote tropical islands in the Pacific, investigated the role that sea cucumbers play in coral health. The small, unassuming, sediment-eating organisms function like autonomous vacuum cleaners of the ocean floor.

But, because they have been overharvested for decades for food and cannot reproduce effectively when in low densities, they are now rare and slow to recover following harvests. They have been gone so long that it wasn’t known exactly how important they are — until now.

“We knew that removing big predators has cascading effects that commonly change how ecosystems are organized and how they function,” said Hay. “What we didn’t know is what would happen following removal of detritivores — or as we like to call them, the janitors of the system.”

The team’s research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

A Missing Component

The idea began when Hay saw an etching of a 19th-century sailing ship in a Fiji museum. The caption explained that the ship was leaving Fiji carrying many tons of dried sea cucumbers. Hay realized that the creatures he would rarely see while diving and working around reefs had likely once covered the bottom of shallow tropical oceans.

Sea cucumbers are invertebrate sea animals that come in all different sizes, colors, and shapes. They lie on and burrow under the sand all day, sucking, digesting, and excreting sediment, consuming bacteria and other organics. Hay and Clements were curious about the role sea cucumbers played when they were abundant. But it wasn’t until Clements was doing unrelated field work in Mo’orea, a tropical island in French Polynesia, that an opportunity presented itself.

Clements, who has worked in coral restoration for years, has planted upwards of 10,000 corals in his career. He was planting corals in the sand just off the island shore, in an area where many sea cucumbers were present. He decided to clear out the sea cucumbers from the area because there were so many.

He noticed that the corals started to die, which seemed unusual.

Read Also: Artificial reefs take the pressure off the natural reefs letting them recover

“I’ve planted a lot of corals in my day, and my corals generally don’t die,” Clements said. “So I thought there must be something to this.”

Hay and Clements set up patches to monitor coral health with and without the presence of sea cucumbers. They marked the patches via GPS and went to check them daily.

For the patches without sea cucumbers, they often observed a white band developing at the base of the corals, which would work its way up and eventually kill the entire colony. It was a hallmark of sediment-associated coral diseases seen around the world.

The presence of sea cucumbers seemed to suppress coral disease. They observed that corals without sea cucumbers present were 15 times more likely to die. They did a similar experiment in Palmyra Atoll, which is part of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands that is protected by the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Palmyra, the experiment had different coral species and different sea cucumbers, but they found similar results — suggesting a robust interaction.

“If you remove all the scum suckers in the great fish tank of Earth, you’re going to get a dirty tank eventually,” Clements said. “People have paid lip service to the idea that sea cucumbers could be important for a long time, but we didn’t know the scale of their importance until now.

“Basically, we’ve been polluting our environs at the same time that we’ve removed all the janitors,” Hay said.

Hay and Clements hope their findings will encourage communities to limit harvesting and begin to repopulate sea cucumber species.

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Deep sea miners want to explore faster than science can show how devastating mining for minerals on our last frontier can be.  So science is working to pick up the pace so deep sea mining will not happen without a major shift in policy and research. The latest research to come out is that deep sea mining can harm jellyfish.

Mining of the ocean floor for minerals such as lithium for electric cars could harm deep-sea jellyfish by stressing them out with sediment, suggests the first study of how resource harvesting might affect animals living in the depths. But deep sea mining for concrete is also very problematic says this architect we feature.

Researchers collected helmet jellyfish (Periphylla periphylla) and exposed them to sediment at concentrations that could be churned up by mining. After a day, the animals had mucus covering much of their bodies, among other signs that they were really not happy. Being stressed uses a lot of energy, which could be harmful over extended periods, say the researchers.

The study, co-led by Vanessa Stenvers, a marine ecologist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, analysed deep-sea helmet jellyfish collected from several Norwegian fjords where the animals regularly congregate. In testing tanks on board their research ship, Stenvers and her team exposed 43 jellyfish to five concentrations of sediment representative of what the animals could experience at a mining site, ranging from zero as a control up to 333 milligrams per litre (mg l⁻¹).

At sediment concentrations above 17 mg l⁻¹, the jellyfish showed signs of acute stress. Sediment particles stuck to the animals’ bodies, and they produced excessive amounts of mucus — a common stress response for cnidarians, the phylum to which jellyfish belong.

On average, more than 30% of the animals’ bodies were covered in mucus after being exposed to the two highest sediment concentrations for 24 hours. Producing mucus uses a lot of energy, which could be harmful for the health of jellyfish if they are exposed to sediment over extended periods, say the researchers.

“Food in the deep sea is very scarce. If there’s no extra energy coming in, this could potentially lead to starvation,” says Stenvers.

She and her colleagues also found that jellyfish doubled their respiration rate at the highest sediment concentrations, suggesting that the animals required more energy than they would otherwise need. Jellyfish that produced excessive mucus also overexpressed genes involved in energy metabolism, wound repair and the immune system.

If other gelatinous organisms in the deep ocean respond similarly, commercial harvesting of the sea floor could reduce biodiversity and threaten crucial functions of the ecosystem — such as carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling.

Let’s bookmark this research next time a lobby group springs up to support deep sea mining. 

Keep reading these resources on deep sea mining.

Marine ecosystems in danger: what is deep sea mining?

Deep sea mining and what’s at risk

The post Deep sea mining hurts jellyish appeared first on Green Prophet.

Find out how Middle Eastern and North African nations fared in the recent global Ocean Health Index (I’ll give you a clue – not very well)

With a recent Greenpeace report urging action to tackle the toxicity of Lebanon’s waters due to trash, now seems the perfect time to look into the health of the region’s oceans. The Ocean Health Index is the first comprehensive global measurement of ocean health that includes people as part of the ocean ecosystem. The 2012 global index had been released and I’ve gone through the stats to dish the dirt on the MENA region’s oceans.

First, a little about how the index works. The index scientifically compares and combines all dimensions of ocean health – biological, physical, economic and social, in order to generate an objective and accurate snapshot of the health of the ocean controlled by every coastal country. It then puts all those scores together and the overall scores are used for the index.

As such, a country may score really well on say biodiversity but still end up low on the index if they do badly on everything else. For example, Syria is in the top ten for biodiversity scoring an impressive 92 out of a 100 but overall the country is in the lowest 20 with an overall score of 45 out of a 100.

Drumroll please. The top scorers from the region are Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Israel – they all scored 63 out of a hundred and were ranked at 26 on the global index. Egypt was next with 61/100 and was ranked at 38. Tunisia and Jordan both scored 59 and were ranked at 57. In the interest of clarity the rest of the countries are listed below by rank. You can click on the country to get the data breakdown and the a full profile of the country.

Saudi Arabia (69)

Turkey (94)

Bahrain (105)

Kuwait (114)

Lebanon (114)

Morocco (122)

Qatar (122)

Iraq (122)

Libya (142)

Syria (147)

Iran (147)

Yemen (157)

Algeria (162)

So rather unsurprisingly, countries such as Yemen, Iran, Libya and Iraq were at the very end of list and all scored around mid-40 out of a possible 100. Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo had the least healthiest oceans with them all score less than 40 out a 100. Top global scorers were Seychelles, Jarvis and Clipperton Island and the USA Pacific Uninhabited Territories. For the full breakdown of all the data for each country (as illustrated by the last two images) just click on the links . The index assessed 171 countries and territorial regions.

: Image of boats in Morocco via Shutterstock.com

For more information on the region’s oceans see:

6 Tips to Clean The Sea

June 8 is World Oceans Day – Be A Changemaker

Underwater Hotel Plans Revived In Dubai

The post The State of The Middle East’s Oceans – A Report appeared first on Green Prophet.