Manger ou ne pas manger du poisson

Les produits de la mer font depuis longtemps partie intégrante du régime alimentaire de l'homme et certains les considèrent comme une source de nourriture inépuisable.

Fishers carry baskets of fish

La faute au ballast

MARITIME TRANSPORT HAS MORE TO DO WITH CORAL DISEASE than you might think. Just like most animals, corals can get diseases. Researchers first recognized coral disease in the early 1970s. It has increased over time and become a significant threat in many areas of the world.

cargo ships at port

Fighting the European Green Crab Invasion 

One of the world’s most destructive invasive species is gaining new ground — or water — in Canada and up to Alaska. Carcinus maenas, which translates to “raving mad crab,” outcompetes many local crab species in devouring clams, oysters, and mussels, and they sometimes even eat other crabs and juvenile fish. They destroy seagrass, an essential habitat for juvenile salmon, herring, rockfish, and many other marine animals.

A mass of invasive European green crabs

Guardians of Malpelo

Colombia has some of the strictest illegal fishing laws in the world, but people still need to stand up and enforce them. Erika Lopez has taken on the role of guardian of Malpelo, an island 314 miles (506 kilometers) west of Colombia.

This whale shark is feeding on the spawn of jacks at dusk.

When Tiny Toxins Fight Back

Sometimes the tiniest critters can pack the greatest punch. Phytoplankton, which are unicellular microalgae, can cause mass mortalities of animals such as dolphins and manatees and be the source of serious human illness.

phytoplankton

Changer la donne

Maintenir une distance respectueuse avec des espèces potentiellement dangereuses sous l’eau est une règle fondamentale de la plongée récréative et un sujet fréquemment abordé lors des briefings avant plongée sur les bateaux. Mais ces poissons venimeux, que vous avez appris à éviter, pourraient un jour vous sauver la vie

Scorpionfish is a common tropical coral reef resident in both Pacific and Atlantic/Caribbean waters.

Rencontres Proches et Respectueuses

Beaucoup de plongeurs terminent un voyage dans la mer Rouge méridionale en observant un dugong dodu fouiller dans les herbiers marins à environ 7,6 mètres (25 pieds) de profondeur.

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the largest fish in the sea

Le cas de la perte catastrophique de varech

For more than five years, divers and scientists along the U.S. West Coast have watched a disaster play out before their eyes. Sunflower sea stars fell victim to a wasting disease, which wiped out roughly 90 percent of the global population in 2013. Seven years later, scientists see no signs of recovery. Without the sea stars, the population of purple urchins that sea stars eat has exploded and mowed down entire forests of bull kelp. The West Coast experienced intense ocean warming from 2014 to 2017, and by 2015 divers began seeing urchin barrens — vast swaths covered in piles of spiny creatures and little else.

Purple sea urchins attach to feed on giant kelp

Les bateaux de croisière chamboulent tout

Les récifs coralliens sont confrontés à de nombreux défis environnementaux, et les bateaux de croisière y contribuent largement. L'un des impacts les plus importants de ces bateaux est qu'ils commencent à remuer les fonds.

Cruise ships are large and getting larger.