Coral reefs

Conservation Groups Welcome Australian Senate’s Support for Coral Sea Conservation Zone

Sydney, Australia - 11/17/2009 - Conservation groups today welcomed the Australian Senate’s support for the Federal Government’s Coral Sea conservation zone. This support now gives a green light for assessing whether the Coral Sea should be protected as a marine park.

The motion by National Party Senator Ron Boswell and Liberal Party Senator Ian Macdonald today to disallow the Coral Sea conservation zone was voted down by the Australian Labor Party, the Australian Greens, and Senator Nick Xenophon.    » read more »

Water Quality Pilot Program Will Be Duplicated in Florida, Hawaii and Pacific Islands

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2009- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the launch of a new initiative to conserve coral reefs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide $1 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in Fiscal Year 2010 to reduce sediment and nutrient run-off from the watershed to help protect near shore coral reef ecosystems in the Guánica Bay Watershed in southwest Puerto Rico.

Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Ann Mills made the announcement today on behalf of Secretary Vilsack at the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force's bi-annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.    » read more »

Sydney, Australia - 05/19/2009 - Conservation groups today welcomed the announcement by Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett to establish a Conservation Zone over the entire Coral Sea within Australian waters and called on the Minister to ensure sufficient resources for his Department to carry out a full and prompt assessment of the area.

The conservation groups believe the Minister’s announcement signals a clear intent by the Government to permanently protect this tropical marine jewel in its entirety, a decision that would make the Coral Sea the largest protected area on Earth.    » read more »

Environmental experts deliver first-of-a-kind progress report to Capitol

TALLAHASSEE (March 2, 2009) – While Florida has made several improvements in its efforts to restore the health of its ocean and coasts, the state still has work to do, according to a report card released today by a group of nationally and internationally recognized environmental organizations. The report card evaluated the progress the state has made in reversing the decline of its ocean and coastal resources in 2007 and 2008.    » read more »

Feb. 25, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, co-chair of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, today told task force members that the Obama Administration is committed to quick action on global warming—a key threat to coral reefs—and that the economic stimulus package, clean energy and community service programs and ethic of preserving natural treasures add up to good news for coral reef conservation.    » read more »

17 September 2007 -- Conservationists have started a campaign to urge the Australian government to formally protect the Coral Sea, one of the country's last tropical marine wildernesses. A coalition, led by the World Wildlife Fund, has declared it a 'predator diversity hotspot' for its abundant shark populations. The environmental groups are concerned the area could be damaged by a variety of man-made threats. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

Conservationists describe the Coral Sea as "a stunning blue-water highway, full of oceanic predators."    » read more »

5-Sep-2007 -- IRD researchers (1) showed that Epinephilus maculates, a fairly abundant species of grouper off New Caledonia, was parasitized by 12 species of microscopic monogenean worms. This diversity of parasites has just been confirmed also in the malabar grouper, Epinephilus malabaricus, another the coral reef species. If such a level of parasite diversity prevails in all coral-reef fish, tens of thousands of parasite species are in this ecosystem waiting to be discovered.    » read more »