Coral Reefs

Help protect the Chagos and create the world's largest Marine Reserve

Posted by Willie — 2 February 2010 at 11:41am - Comments

An octopus adds its support to our Marine Reserves campaign

12 Feb update: consultaion extended until 5 March. Click this link to add your voice in support of the new Marine Reserve

The chances are you’ve never heard of the Chagos Islands, let alone ever been for a visit, but over the next few days we all have an opportunity to help protect the amazing life in the seas around them.

The Chagos archipelago is a group of 55 small islands in the Indian Ocean, that makes up Britain’s Indian Ocean Territory. The UK government is currently consulting on whether to establish a Marine Reserve in the waters around the Chagos – which, if created, would be the largest Marine Reserve in the world, covering around 210,000 square miles. Crucially that area includes half of the Indian Ocean’s pristine coral reefs, the world’s largest coral atoll, as well as charismatic critters like turtles, sharks, coconut crabs and seabirds. Not to mention well over 200 species of coral, and a thousand species of fish!

Article tagged as: chagos, chagossians, coral reefs, indian ocean, marine reserves

Corals in deep trouble

Posted by Willie — 24 March 2009 at 11:28am - Comments

Rainbow Warrior documenting cold coral formations off the Norwegian coast, March 2009

Rainbow Warrior documenting cold coral formations off the Norwegian coast

To most people, the word 'coral' conjures up images of clear, shallow tropical seas, glistening white sandy beaches beneath a blazing sun, and an array of colourful fish that would resemble the cast of Finding Nemo. Sun-drenched places like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia immediately spring to mind.

Article tagged as: coral reefs, EU fisheries, norway, rainbow warrior

At last some action on bottom trawling

Posted by jossc — 9 May 2008 at 4:05pm - Comments

Very few orange roughy and a lot of bycatch, including several seastars, urchins, and numerous unwanted fish, in the net of the New Zealand deep sea trawler Recovery II in international waters in the Tasman Sea.

Bottom trawling, possibly the most destructive fishing method yet devised by man, is to be regulated across the whole North Atlantic ocean. The process, which involves dragging nets weight down by metal girders across the seabed, is notorious for its wastefulness. Besides legitimate target species such as cod, plaice and sole, vast quantities of corals, sponges and other deep sea creatures are destroyed as bycatch. The devastation caused is so great that Greenpeace has been calling for some time for a moritorium (suspension of activity) on bottom trawling. Now it looks as though some progress may be being made.

Article tagged as: bottom trawling, canada, coral reefs, destructive fishing, EU, iceland, NAFO, norway, russia, UN

Greenpeace warns of beach loss

Posted by bex — 23 July 2001 at 8:00am - Comments

Kiss the beach goodbyeStanding 24 feet above the high-tide line, Greenpeace volunteers and sunbathers at Smathers Beach Wednesday marked the loss the beach could face if global warming continues at its current pace.

"The Keys are going to go under," said Kitsy McMullen, Greenpeace climate impacts campaigner, as the group opened its Take Back the Earth Tour in Key West.

Rising sea levels threaten shorelines and coral reefs everywhere, and Greenpeace activists say President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's energy plan is likely to speed up the effects.

Article tagged as: beaches, climate change, coral reefs, florida, george bush, impacts, USA
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