At least 30% of international waters could soon form part of a protected global network of marine reserves to help save sea life from extinction. Click on the link below to read the full article.
We are using the ocean’s resources faster than they can naturally recover. There is a widening gap between the declining health of the ocean and the growing demand for their resources. Click on the link below to read the full article.
Residents affected by a massive oil spill in the Solomon Islands say the black tar on their beaches is part of a wider problem - a largely unregulated mining operation that's plundering their resources. Click on the below to read the full article.
Marine protected areas increase resilience among coral reef communities
With marine biodiversity declining globally at accelerating rates, maximising the effectiveness of conservation has become a key goal for local, national and international regulators. Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been widely advocated for conserving and managing marine biodiversity yet, despite extensive research, their benefits for conserving non-target species and wider ecosystem functions remain unclear.
Large-scale, multidirectional larval connectivity among coral reef fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Larval dispersal is the key process by which populations of most marine fishes and invertebrates are connected and replenished. Advances in larval tagging and genetics have enhanced our capacity to track larval dispersal, assess scales of population connectivity, and quantify larval exchange among no-take marine reserves and fished areas. Recent studies have found that reserves can be a significant source of recruits for populations up to 40 km away, but the scale and direction of larval connectivity across larger seascapes remain unknown.
...French Polynesia could soon follow a host of other countries that have designated large marine protected areas (MPAs)—a proven mechanism for restoring ocean health. Click on the link below to read the full article.
In the last decade, governments have been pushing to create vast Marine Protected Areas large enough to protect species from overfishing and other threats. But critics are questioning whether the creation of these large protected areas is driven more by geopolitics than conservation.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are central to the efforts to protect Earth’s seas and the wildlife that call them home. In recent years, there has been a surge in their creation. Click on the link below to read the full article.
This study describes in detail an efficient search method designed to identify optimal configurations of MPA networks in cases where two or more conflicting objectives must be considered. Click on the link below to access the full article.
Here is the Third Edition of the Australia and New Caledonia Coral Sea Newsletter, February 2019. Click on the link below to access the full newsletter.
