Increasing blanket of mucus-like substance in water threatens coral and fishing industry
A blob menacing Hawaii is now visible from space. A massive heatwave in the Pacific Ocean is killing off coral. Satellites are capturing the destruction so that scientists can learn how to rebuild the reefs.
Thousands of jellyfish clogged up a cooling system and threatened to suspend production at a power plant in Israel. Video filmed at the Electric Company power plant on Thursday shows the light blue sea creatures being swept down a chute and into a bin. The power plant, based in the coastal city of Ashkelon, about 15 miles north of the Gaza strip, uses seawater to cool its
An incredibly rare octopus invasion may have been caused by recent storms. Storm Ophelia, quickly followed by Storm Brian caused huge waves and storm surges as gusts of up to 80 mph hit the Welsh coast.
One UBC scientist says his early estimation that a billion creatures died from the 2021 heat dome was too low. Today, life is returning to areas scorched by last year’s unprecedented heat wave. The die off was patchy and the plants and animals in the intertidal zone that survived the heat wave “are the parents to the next generation,” Harley said.
Underwater camera captured ‘a wasteland, covered in brown sediment.’
Surf Life Saving Queensland said a “whopping” 3,595 people were stung by jellyfish, forcing the closure of popular swimming spots across the northern state. Lifeguards said the invasion was caused by unusually strong north-easterly winds.
Major sea lice epidemics have erupted on Atlantic salmon fish farms on Vancouver Island’s west coast over the last three months, according to industry, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and independent reports.
The parasite that causes rat lungworm disease is now endemic in the southeastern United States, and it’s expected to spread northward.
Australia has seen an unprecedented number of widespread, catastrophic transformations in response to extreme weather events.
King and snow crab populations in the Bering Sea have plummeted ahead of the harvest season, some by 99% compared to previous years.
Portions of Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston County currently have shellfish harvest restrictions due to pollution.
The Bering Sea’s cold pool, a critical part of the seafloor ecosystem, had shrunk to a worrying degree in recent years, but it is continuing to slowly return, according to the latest results of NOAA’s bottom trawl survey. Saffron cod, also called tomcod, seems to be bouncing back after a few bad years, and Arctic cod and blue king crab numbers were also better.
By Diana Haecker
Swarms of giant jellyfish are floating along the coastline of the Sea of Japan, and the damage they may cause to fisheries is feared to be the worst in more than a decade.
This crab from the Pacific Ocean was once introduced into the Barents waters of the Soviet Union in Arctic Russia. Since then the invasive species has spread to Norway’s Barents Sea and a multi-million dollar industry has sprung up around it. In 2023 Norway exported 2,500 tons of king crab worth 1,2 billion kroner (€100 million).
There was no evidence of physical harm to the eight-legged creatures, but there was still plenty of concern as to why they were all abandoning their regular ocean home.
The Division of Marine Fisheries is analyzing the clams and expects to have preliminary results in the coming days that might point to a cause.
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