Asia
The Philippines has tightened laws banning fishing and collecting of species on the country's largest coral reef to help it recover from near destruction, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature said on Tuesday.

The 27,400 hectare Apo Reef off the coast of Mindoro island was almost drained of life by heavy fishing, including by dynamite and cyanide, which left only a third of coral cover by the early 1990s.

A ban on ...
Southeast Asia's oceans are fast running out of fish, putting the livelihoods of up to 100 million people at risk and increasing the need for governments to support the maintenance of fish stocks, an Australian expert said.

Fisheries in the region had expanded dramatically in recent decades and Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines were now in the top 12 fish producing countries in the world, Meryl Williams said in a paper for Australia's Lowy Institute.

...
In December, nations will gather on the Indonesian island of Bali to discuss ways to deal with global warming and environmental damage. Indonesia is in many ways a test case for those efforts. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins has traveled to Pramuka Island, near Jakarta, where one man has been fighting for more than two decades to save the endangered hawksbill turtle.

The waters of Jakarta Bay are heavily polluted. Garbage dumped by the city's 12 million residents into canals that crisscross the city ...

Pacific coral reefs are dying at an unprecedented rate, scientists have found. Almost 600 square miles of reef have disappeared every year since the late 1960s - twice the rate of rainforest loss.

Coral loss had become a global phenomenon caused mainly by climate change, rising sea temperatures and man-made nutrient pollution.

The study's lead author, John Bruno, said: "We have already lost half of the world's reef-building corals."

...
Local authorities patrolling the Sulu Archipelago in the southwest Philippines apprehended a Chinese fishing vessel with a cache of illegally caught marine turtles.

Officials counted over 200 of the endangered species, mostly green turtles. Most were found dead, but nine surviving turtles — seven male and two female — were released back into the sea
...
Africa

An international team of marine scientists returns to the Chatham Islands next week hoping to fit satellite tags on up to 13 great white sharks. The tags will allow the scientists to track the sharks’ movements for up to nine months.

The team is led ...

Europe

Just as State Department officials announced that Libya will be dropped from America's list of state sponsors of terror, the Independent Online is suggesting that the North African country might be the next hot travel/dive destination. Located on the southern edge of the Mediterranean, Libya is following Saudi Arabia's lead, hoping ...

North America

Back in November, I mentioned South Africa’s Shark Lady and her “Crystal Cage” – a virtually invisible Lexan cage with 250 times the impact strength of glass. Capable of withstanding an attack by a great white, the Crystal Cage isn’t really a cage at all. Rather, it’s a ...

Oceania / Caribbean

Juergen Freund of Queensland, Australia is a winner in the NatureÂ’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards 2007 competition. His image titled Dwarf Minke Whale won first place in the Oceans category.

One of the most prestigious photo contests in the world, drawing over 17,000 entries from photographers in ...

World

Blue Tangs are often found roaming the reef, in search of their favourite food - algae. They are surgeonfish which may appear either singly or in large schools, which can contain hundreds of individuals.

The name surgeonfish comes from the defensive spines located on the caudal peduncle (the part of the ...