A Call to Enact a Ban on Reef Tourism
With all of the rhetoric surrounding the potential banning of the aquarium trade in Hawaii, we’ve decided that the conservationists backing any form of anti-aquarium legislation need to not only focus on one industry, but every industry that has roots in the ocean. The tourism industry, for example, is one of the largest perpetrators of [...]
The Center for Biological Diversity Sues NOAA to Protect Corals
Way back in October 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sent out a petition asking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to list 82 coral species found in the waters of US territories worldwide as threatened or endangered. According to the CBD, each of the species face a variety of serious threats that [...]
Picture of the Week – 9/19 – 9/25
Pictured in this week’s AquaNerd POTW is a Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) frag being displayed at the Boyd’s Enterprises booth at MACNA. The purpose of this display was to show the different growing strategies that conservation groups have attempted when restoring this coral’s wild populations. This particular strategy is an alteration of a method that [...]
Confiscated Corals Used to Educate Public in London
Shoppers visiting the world famous Oxford Street in London are in for quite a treat. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has partnered with Selfridges, a high end department store in the heart of the city, to help educate the public about protecting the world’s marine life. The Project Ocean initiative is intended to show [...]
Ocean Life Facing Mass Extinction
According to a study headed by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), life in the ocean is at a significant risk of mass extinction. Twenty-seven experts presented their findings to the United Nations, indicating that between climate change, over-fishing, potential coral reef collapse, and low-oxygen dead zones, the ocean doesn’t stand [...]
The Inevitable Eventuality
Please welcome welcome our newest AquaNerd contributor, Michael Rice. Besides working at Elite Reef, Michael also runs his Marine Engineers blog and writes for Reefs.com. I would like to thank Michael for joining our site and we look forward to reading his articles. Recently news about our world’s reefs has been focused on the growing [...]
President Obama Makes June National Oceans Month
I normally tend to shy away from politics, as Washington is full of people who say one thing and do another. However, I do support legitimate conservation-based policies and politicians who show a genuine concern for our world. President Obama released a Presidential Proclamation yesterday on the White House’s website designating June 2011 as National [...]
Huge Coral Reef in the Philippines Devastated
As if the very recent shipwreck on Bakud Reef wasn’t enough, a group of poachers decimated an entire reef system off the coast of Cotabato. Both sites are located in the Philippines, and both are terrible examples of utter devastation on the part of direct human activity. The poachers reportedly harvested more than 21,000 pieces [...]
Heavy Penalties for Ship That Ran Aground on Philippine Reef
A little over a week ago, we shared a tragic story of a large coal carrying ship that ran aground on Bakud Reef in the southern Philippines. Fast forward a few days, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) wants the owners of the MV Double Prosperity to not only pay for damage [...]
ORA Joins Facebook, Shows off Amazing Collection
Oceans Reefs and Aquariums (ORA), the world’s largest marine ornamental fish hatchery, has finally joined the Facebook crowd. Normally, this occurrence wouldn’t be blog-worthy, but the simple fact that ORA has posted pictures of their entire collection sure is. Browse pictures of each and every fish, hard coral, and seahorse the company has to offer. [...]
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