Diadema Response Network: Concerns for Diadema – your help is needed
The Caribbean may be facing another widespread die-off of sea urchins. Diadema antillarum, also known as the long-spined sea urchin, is one of the most important herbivores on Caribbean coral reefs, removing algae and maintaining open space for coral growth. In mid-February 2022, we first learned of extensive.. click READ MORE reference: AGRRA … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Article, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Events, extinction, Featured
Hawaii’s Shark Bill
A bill in the Hawaii State Legislature to protect sharks is moving toward final passage. The bill would protect sharks while not criminalizing their accidental capture and release. Fishermen are protected as long as the sharks are captured while individuals are fishing for other species, as permitted. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Hawaii, Sharks
Are Sharks Truly Protected in Costa Rica?
Costa Rica recently announced the Hammerhead, Silky and Fox Shark were officially included as protected species by the Costa Rican Wildlife Conservation Law. The environment ministry has sanctioned this decree. Previously they were fished like any commercial species, with practically no restrictions. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Conservation, Costa Rica, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Reference, Sharks
Georgia’s Dredging Plans Halted
A US federal judge ordered an immediate halt to plans to dredge a shipping channel on the Georgia coast, citing a threat to sea turtles nesting on nearby beaches. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Conservation, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Reference, Turtles
NASA needs your help to map the ocean
NASA invites video gamers and citizen scientists to embark on virtual ocean research expeditions to help map coral reefs around the world in an effort to better understand these threatened ecosystems.During the past several years, researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley have developed new instruments that can look below the ocean surface in more detail than ever before. Using techniques originally developed to look at stars, these “fluid-lensing” cameras use complex calculations to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Games, Products, Reefs, Reference
Out of sights out of mind
What are they so upset about? So, what will you do about it? … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Conservation, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, General Question, ocean, Reefs, Reference
Invasive species are harming the ocean – here’s how you can help!
With its ornate, flowing fins and bold body pattern, the fish in the picture above is beautiful, but outside of its native Indo-Pacific range, this venomous lionfish can have harmful impacts on marine life. In the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, invasive lionfish are wreaking havoc on habitats, fisheries, and ecosystems with their voracious appetites and rapid reproduction. REEF is leading the way in addressing the lionfish invasion, through a combination of scientific research, lionfish removal projects and derbies, educational workshops, and market development. Your support is crucial to the success of these conservation actions. Please make a donation to REEF today – every contribution this summer will be matched. If you have already contributed, thank you so much for your support! For the past 25 years, REEF has enlisted citizen scientists … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Divetalking, Donation, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Lionfish, ocean, Reefs, Reference, Report
Bonnier Corp. to stop printing 5 magazines
Magazine publisher Bonnier Corp., which has an office in Winter Park, plans to stop printing several of its special-interest magazines. The print edition of (READ MORE HERE) … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Article, extinction, Featured, Publications, Reference, Report
Revolution – A must see. Rent or Buy your copy now
Yekra Player Yekra is a revolutionary new distribution network for feature films. Revolution Revolution is a feature documentary about opening your eyes, changing the world and fighting for something. A true life adventure following director Rob Stewart in the follow up to his hit Sharkwater, Revolution is an epic adventure into the evolution of life on earth and the revolution to save us.Discovering that there’s more in jeopardy than sharks, Stewart uncovers a grave secret threatening our own survival as a species, and embarks on a life-threatening adventure through 4 years and 15 countries into the greatest battle ever waged. Bringing you some of the most incredible wildlife spectacles ever recorded, audiences are brought face to face with sharks and cuddly lemurs, into the microscopic world of the pygmy seahorse, and on the hunt … Read entire article »
Filed under: Adv. Open Water, Article, Candidate, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Dolphin, Donation, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Lionfish, Manatee, Manta Rays, ocean, Open Water, Orca, Preservation, Products, Promotions, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Sharks, Tuna, Turtles, Whales, Whaleshark
Florida Spiny Lobster Season – Things you need to know
Before reading the article below, take the quiz to evaluate your knowledge on the rules and regulations for harvesting Spiny Lobster off Florida waters. Lobster Seasons: The spiny lobster sport season is July 30-31 (always the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in July). The regular season begins August 6. Unless exempt, a recreational saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit are required to harvest spiny lobster. Commercial harvest is not allowed during the sport season. Florida Regulations: Spiny Lobster Sport … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Lobster, ocean, Open Water, Preservation, Reefs, Reference, Report, Spiny Lobster
NE Florida’s 2nd Annual Lionfish Derby
Come on… You know you love to hate lionfish. To help the state control lionfish population, NE Florida is conducting its 2nd annual lionfish derby. Last years event handed out thousands of dollars in cash awards and more. Be part of this movement. Sign up and join us August 8 for the captains meeting and August 9th for the hunt and harvest. Proceeds benefit the DSAJ (Down Syndrome Association of Jacksonville) and REEF as well as local … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Article, Artificial Reefs, Boats, Conservation, Contest, Diver, Divetalking, Donation, Earth, Events, extinction, Featured, Lionfish, ocean, Open Water, Promotions, Reefs, Reference, Report
Hammerhead now under U.S. Federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The federal government today listed four key populations of scalloped hammerhead sharks under the Endangered Species Act. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the first time in history, gave a shark species federal protections under the Endangered Species Act. The scalloped hammerhead shark is considered globally endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species is targeted primarily for its fins but is also killed as “by-catch” in fisheries targeting other species. NOAA Fisheries listed scalloped hammerhead sharks inhabiting the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean as “endangered.” The agency listed scalloped hammerhead sharks living in the Central and Southwest Atlantic and Indo-West Pacific as the less-serious status of “threatened.” The federal agency declined to list scalloped hammerhead sharks that inhabit the Northwest Atlantic or Central Pacific. “This … Read entire article »
Filed under: Article, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, ocean, Preservation, Reference, Report, Sharks
Expansion of US marine protected zone could double world reserves
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News The US plans to create the world’s biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The White House will extend an existing protected area, known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Fishing and drilling would be banned from an area that could eventually cover two million sq km. The extended zone would double the world’s fully protected marine reserves. Rare species The Pacific Remote Islands Area is controlled by the US and consists of seven scattered islands, atolls and reefs that lie between Hawaii and American Samoa. Essentially uninhabited, the waters that surround these remote islands are home to a wide range of species including corals, seabirds, sharks and vegetation not found anywhere else in the world. In 2009, President Bush declared … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, ocean, Preservation, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Report