Press Releases

STONY BROOK, NY and STANFORD, Calif., Oct. 3, 2011–Changing human activities coupled with a dynamic environment over the past few centuries have caused fluctuating periods of decline and recovery of corals reefs in the Hawaiian Islands, according to a study sponsored in part by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University. Using the reefs and island societies as a model social-ecological system, a team of scientists reconstructed 700 years of human-environment interactions in two different regions of the Hawaiian archipelago to identify the key factors that contributed to degradation or recovery of coral reefs.

STANFORD, Calif. – Coastal communities hard hit by ocean acidification hotspots have more options than they may realize, says an interdisciplinary team of science and legal experts. In a paper published today in Science, experts from Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions and colleagues make the case that communities don’t need to wait for a global solution to ocean acidification to fix a local problem that is compromising their marine environment. Many localized acidification hotspots can be traced to local contributors of acidity that can be addressed using existing laws.

Seattle, WA.  The Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum (Fisheries Forum) is pleased to announce that John Henderschedt has recently joined the Fisheries Forum team in the newly established position of Executive Director. Henderschedt will leave his post at Phoenix Processor Limited Partnership and transition into his new role at Fisheries Forum in early February.

MOSS LANDING, CA. An MBARI-lead experiment to monitor harmful algal blooms detected a significant bloom of the toxic algae Pseudo-nitzschia australis with its associated toxin, domoic acid in Monterey Bay.  This fortuitous detection occured during an exercise aimed to characterize and predict the development and movement of phytoplankton blooms in the bay.