Coral reefs

FILE - Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 16, 2023. Ocean temperatures that have gone “crazy haywire” hot, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history. It's so bad that scientists are hoping for a few hurricanes to cool things off. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Experts say coral reef bleaching near record level globally because of ‘crazy’ ocean heat

Scientists say temperatures that have gone “crazy haywire” hot, especially in the Atlantic, are close to making the current global coral bleaching event the worst in history.
 
Divers with gloved hands gently nestled the first self-bred corals from the World Coral Conservatory project amongst their cousins in Europe's largest coral reef at the Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, eastern Netherlands, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Corals bred in a zoo have joined Europe’s largest reef. This is offering scientists hope

 
FILE - Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 16, 2023. The world is not doing enough to protect coral reefs — vital marine ecosystems that protect biodiversity, produce some of the oxygen we breathe, slow erosion and sustain underwater life — the United Nations’ special envoy for the ocean said Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

UN envoy says of the threat to coral reefs: ‘Are we faced with a colossal ecosystem tragedy? Yes’

 
FILE - Bleached coral is visible at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, Sept. 16, 2023. Reef scientists say coral reefs around the world are experiencing global bleaching for the fourth time due to prolonged warming of the oceans. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Scientists say coral reefs around the world are experiencing mass bleaching in warming oceans

 
Christiane Keyhani, program coordinator of Hui O Ka Wai Ola, fills up the bucket to test water quality at the Mala Wharf on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

In Hawaii, coral is the foundation of life. What happened to it after the Lahaina wildfire?

 

Climate change is hurting coral worldwide. But these reefs off the Texas coast are thriving

Far off the Texas coast there is a surprise that draws divers from all over: a stunning amount of coral on undersea mountains. These coral reefs are among the healthiest in the world. But in the face of a warming climate, scientists are concerned. (Nov. 18)
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Scientists discover pristine reef off Galapagos islands

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In this image provided by NOAA Ocean Exploration, an alfonsino fish swims above a thicket of Lophelia pertusa coral during a dive on a cold water coral mound in the center of the Blake Plateau off the southeastern coast of the U.S., in June 2019. In January 2024, scientists announced they have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the U.S. coast. While researchers have known since the 1960s that some coral were present off the Atlantic coast, the reef's size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible to construct 3D images of the ocean floor. (NOAA Ocean Exploration via AP)

Largest deep-sea coral reef to date is mapped by scientists off the US Atlantic coast

Scientists have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the U.S. coast.
 
Contractors place inflatable bags under a U.S. Navy P-8A in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, so they can float the aircraft over the water and onto land. The Navy plans to use inflatable cylinders to lift the jet off a coral reef and then roll it over to a runway to remove the plane from the ocean where it crashed the week before. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

US Navy plans to raise jet plane off Hawaii coral reef using inflatable cylinders

The U.S. Navy plans to use inflatable cylinders to lift and roll a jet plane off a coral reef in Hawaii before removal from the ocean waters where the aircraft crashed.
 
FILE - Pieces of stag horn coral are shown growing in Nova Southeastern University's offshore coral reef nursery in about 22 feet of water, Sept. 27, 2012, near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. As temperatures rise, coral in the waters around southeast Florida have never before reached the level of severe bleaching and likely death that is currently happening, federal scientists said Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Sea temperatures lead to unprecedented, dangerous bleaching of Florida’s coral reef, experts say

Experts say Florida’s coral reef is suffering an unprecedented and potentially deadly level of severe bleaching because of rising sea temperatures sparked by climate change.
 
Volunteer Daniel Hyduke of Miami Beach, Fla., clips a fragment of coral to be transplanted from the coral nursery to the reef, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, off of Key Biscayne, Fla. Scientists from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science established a new restoration research site there to identify and better understand the heat tolerance of certain coral species and genotypes during bleaching events. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

High ocean temperatures are harming the Florida coral reef. Rescue crews are racing to help

In a race against time, multiple organizations are working to save the reef that runs along the Florida Keys during a heat wave that has already led to historic coral bleaching.
 
FILE - A Bumphead parrotfish swims above corals on Moore Reef in Gunggandji Sea Country off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia on Nov. 13, 2022. The Australian government on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, welcomed a draft UNESCO decision to a lift a threat of downgrading the Great Barrier Reef to an endangered World Heritage site. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File)

Australia welcomes lifting of UNESCO threat to list Great Barrier Reef as World Heritage in danger

The Australian government has welcomed a draft UNESCO decision to a lift a threat of downgrading the Great Barrier Reef to an endangered World Heritage site.
 
A man, who is homeless, talks to Maribel Padilla, left, of the Brown Bag Coalition, after receiving a cold, wet towel, Thursday, July 20, 2023, in Calexico, Calif. Once temperatures hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), Padilla and the Brown Bag Coalition meet up with people who are homeless in Calexico, providing them with cold, wet towels, and some refreshments to help them endure the scorching temperatures. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Here’s what you need to see and know today

Landslides, wildfires, crop destruction and coral reef bleaching are part of ongoing fallout from this summer’s wild swings of extreme heat and storms intensified by climate change.
 
This photo provided by the University of Miami Coral Reef Futures Lab, shows fire coral and staghorn corals with bleaching, tissue loss, and recent mortality on Thursday, July 20, 2023, in the North Dry Rocks Reef off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. Some Florida Keys corals are losing their color weeks earlier in the summer than has been documented before, meaning they are under stress and their health is potentially endangered, federal scientists said. (Liv Williamson/University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science via AP)

Scientists say Florida Keys coral reefs are already bleaching as water temperatures hit record highs

Some Florida Keys coral reefs are losing their color weeks earlier than normal this summer because of record-high water temperatures.
 

$2M insurance policy in effect for Hawaii coral reefs in time for hurricane season

HONOLULU (AP) — An environmental group has a $2 million insurance policy on Hawaii’s coral reefs, which is in effect in time for a busier hurricane season that could damage the vital natural resources that are increasingly under threat from climate change.
 
FILE - A school of fish swim above corals on Moore Reef in Gunggandji Sea Country off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia on Nov. 13, 2022. Australia’s environment minister said on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File)

Australia argues against ‘endangered’ Barrier Reef status

Australia’s environment minister says her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites, arguing that criticisms of government inaction on climate change are outdated.
 
FILE - In this undated photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Great Barrier Reef near the Whitsunday, Australia, region is viewed from the air. A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, sounding the alarm that without "ambitious, rapid and sustained" climate action the world's largest coral reef is in peril. The warning came in a report published Monday Nov. 28, 2022 following a 10-day mission to the reef last March by officials from UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.(Jumbo Aerial Photography/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority via AP)

UN: Great Barrier Reef should be on heritage ‘danger’ list

A United Nations-backed mission is recommending that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, sounding the alarm that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action the world’s largest coral reef is in peril.
 
Tess Concannon, center, marine biologist and project manager for Reef Cooperative, leads a dive along Moore Reef in Gunggandji Sea Country off coast of Queensland in eastern Australia on Nov. 15, 2022. The Great Barrier Reef, battered but not broken by climate change impacts, is inspiring hope and worry alike as researchers race to understand how it can survive a warming world. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)

Scientists try to bolster Great Barrier Reef in warmer world

KONOMIE ISLAND, Australia (AP) — Below the turquoise waters off the coast of Australia is one of the world’s natural wonders, an underwater rainbow jungle teeming with life that scientists say is showing some of the clearest signs yet of climate change.
 
University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science student diver prepares to go down during a night dive to check on coral spawning as the sun sets, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Key Biscayne, Fla. A group of students and scientists were hoping to observe the coral spawn and collect their eggs and sperm, called gametes, to take back to the lab to hopefully fertilize and create new coral that will later be transplanted to help repopulate part of the Florida Reef Tract. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Scientists seek to develop hybrid coral reef off of Miami

Scientists and students from the University of Miami dove into the dark waters a few miles off the shores of Miami as part of an effort to develop hybrid reefs.
 
Coral reef restoration ranger Yatin Patel measures an artificial reef structure in the Indian Ocean near Shimoni, Kenya on Monday, June 13, 2022. The marine area off the coast of Kenya at Wasini Island, jointly managed by a foundation and the island's community, has been planting over 8,000 corals a year since early 2010s and placed about 800 artificial reef structures in the channel in a bid to restore Wasini's coral gardens. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

To combat coral bleaching, Kenya turns to reef nurseries

The marine area off the coast of Kenya at Wasini Island, jointly managed by a foundation and the island’s community, has been planting over 8,000 corals a year since 2012 and placed about 800 artificial reef structures in the channel in a bid to restore Wasini’s coral gardens.
 
In this photo supplied by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), a diver swims past coral on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Oct. 18, 2016. More than 90% of Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed in 2022 was bleached in the fourth such mass event in seven years in the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, Australian government scientists said in its an annual report released late Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (M. Curnock/GBRMPA via AP)

Most Great Barrier Reef coral studied this year was bleached

Australian government scientists say 91% of the Great Barrier Reef coral surveyed this year was bleached in the fourth mass event in seven years.
 
A variety of fluorescent and fleshy solitary stony corals are on display at the Coral Morphologic lab, Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Miami. Coral Morphologic was founded by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J.D. McKay to raise awareness about dying coral reefs, presenting the issue through science and art. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Coral reefs provide stunning images of a world under assault

Humans don’t know what they’re missing in Miami, just under the surface of a busy shipping channel in the “cruise capital of the world.”
 

Concerned scientists probe sea urchin deaths in Caribbean

Sea urchins are dying across the Caribbean at a pace scientists say could rival a mass die-off that last occurred in 1983.
 
FILE - In this photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority small fish school in waters of Ribbon Reef No 10 near Cairns, Australia, Sept. 12, 2017. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is suffering widespread and severe coral bleaching due to high ocean temperatures two years after a mass bleaching event, a government agency said on Friday, March 18, 2022. (J. Sumerling/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority via AP)

Great Barrier Reef suffers widespread coral bleaching

An Australian government agency says the Great Barrier Reef is suffering widespread and severe coral bleaching due to high ocean temperatures two years after a mass bleaching event.
 
In this photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority divers survey a part of the Barrier Reef off Townsville, March 12, 2016. The Australian government on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, pledged to spend another 1 billion Australian dollars ($704 million) over nine years on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef after stalling a UNESCO decision on downgrading the natural wonder’s World Heritage status. (C. Jones/Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority via AP)

Australia pledges $704 million to save Great Barrier Reef

The Australian government has pledged to spend another 1 billion Australian dollars ($704 million) over nine years on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef after stalling a UNESCO decision on downgrading the natural wonder’s World Heritage status.
 
This photo provided by @alexis.rosenfeld shows corals shaped like roses in the waters off the coast of Tahiti of the French Polynesia in December 2021. Deep in the South Pacific, scientists have explored a rare stretch of pristine corals shaped like roses off the coast of Tahiti. The reef is thought to be one of the largest found at such depths and seems untouched by climate change or human activities. (Alexis Rosenfeld/@alexis.rosenfeld via AP)

Rare, pristine coral reef found off Tahiti coast

A team of scientists has explored a rare, pristine coral reef off the coast of Tahiti. The rose-shaped corals seem to be untouched by climate change or human activity.
 
FILE - In this Tuesday, April 17, 2018 file photo, Britain's Prince William smiles as he attends a joint session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Business and Youth forums at the QEII Centre in London. Prince William announced 15 inaugural finalists on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 for the Earthshot Prize, his ambitious global environmental award that aims to find new ideas and technologies to tackle climate change, air pollution and the Earth’s most pressing challenges. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool, File)

Prince William unveils finalists for environmental prize

Prince William has announced 15 inaugural finalists for the Earthshot Prize, his ambitious global environmental award that aims to find new ideas and technologies to tackle climate change, air pollution and the Earth’s most pressing challenges.
 
In this August 2018 photo provided by the Allen Coral Atlas, a shark swims on a reef in Ailinginae Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Researchers have completed a comprehensive online map of the world's coral reefs by using more than 2 million satellite images from across the globe. The Allen Coral Atlas was named after late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and will act as a reference for reef conservation, marine planning and coral science as researchers try to save these fragile ecosystems that are being lost to climate change. (Greg Asner/Allen Coral Atlas via AP)

Researchers complete first-ever detailed map of global coral

Researchers have completed a comprehensive online map of the world’s coral reefs by using more than 2 million satellite images.
 
In this undated photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, a diver monitors the health of the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coast. Australia on Friday, July 23, 2021, garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations' cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage status. (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority via AP)

Australia avoids UNESCO downgrade of Great Barrier Reef

Australia has garnered enough international support to defer an attempt by the United Nations’ cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.
 

Judge says Maui must get Clean Water Act permit for effluent

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A federal judge ruled Maui County must get permits to operate injection wells that environmental groups said are polluting the ocean.
 
In this March 7, 2021, handout photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea, some of the 220 Chinese vessels are seen moored at Whitsun Reef, South China Sea. Swarms of Chinese vessels have dumped human waste and sewage for years in a disputed South China Sea territory, causing algae blooms that have damaged coral reefs and threatened fish in an unfolding catastrophe, a U.S.-based expert said Monday July 12, 2021. (Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea via AP)

US expert: Images show Chinese ship waste endangering reefs

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Swarms of Chinese vessels have dumped human waste and wastewater for years in a disputed area of the South China Sea, causing algae blooms that have damaged coral reefs and threatened fish in an unfolding catastrophe, a U.S.
 

Hawaii seeks input on manta ray viewing mooring proposal

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) — The state has asked the public to comment on a proposal to install mooring buoys to address overcrowding at two popular manta ray viewing sites off the Kona Coast.
 
This aerial photos shows the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on Dec. 2, 2017. Australia said Tuesday, June 22, 2021, it will fight a recommendation for the Great Barrier Reef to be listed as in danger of losing its World Heritage values due to climate change, while environmentalists have applauded the U.N. World Heritage Committee's proposal.(Kyodo News via AP)

Australia fights UN downgrade of Great Barrier Reef health

Australia says it will fight against plans to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef’s World Heritage status due to climate change, while environmentalists are applauding the U.N.
 
FILE - In this June 9, 2010 file photo, the Celebrity cruise ship Solstice is docked in Cozumel, Mexico. With tourism shattered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Mexico's Caribbean island of Cozumel is planning with the backing of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador another dock for cruise ships. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter, File)

Opposition grows to 4th cruise ship dock in Mexico’s Cozumel

MEXICO CITY (AP) — With tourism shattered by the pandemic, critics say yet another cruise ship dock is the last thing that Mexico’s Caribbean island of Cozumel needs.
 
FILE - In this March 8, 2021, file photo, floodwaters sweep over Maui's Hana Highway in Haiku, Hawaii, after heavy rains caused a dam to overflow and nearby residents in the community were evacuated. Recent flooding in Hawaii caused widespread and obvious damage. But extreme regional rain events that are predicted to become more common with global warming do not only wreak havoc on land, the runoff from these increasingly severe storms is also threatening Hawaii's coral reefs. (Kehaulani Cerizo/The Maui News via AP, File)

Global warming’s extreme rains threaten Hawaii’s coral reefs

HONOLULU (AP) — As muddy rainwater surged from Hawaii’s steep seaside mountains and inundated residential communities last month, the damage caused by flooding was obvious — houses were destroyed and businesses swamped, landslides covered highways and raging rivers and streams were clogged with debr
 
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows Chinese vessels in the Whitsun Reef located in the disputed South China Sea. Tuesday, March 23, 2021. The United States said Tuesday it’s backing the Philippines in a new standoff with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, where Manila has asked a Chinese fishing flotilla to leave a reef. China ignored the call, insisting it owns the offshore territory. (©2021 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Philippines demands China remove vessels at 6 islands, reefs

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government said Wednesday that more than 250 Chinese vessels it believes are operated by militia have been spotted near six Manila-claimed islands and reefs in the disputed South China Sea and demanded that China immediately remove them.
 
FILE - This Sept. 10, 2001, file photo shows Agincourt Reef, located about 30 miles off the coast near the northern reaches of the 1,200-mile long Great Barrier Reef. Climate change is increasingly damaging the U.N.’s most cherished heritage sites, a leading conservation agency warned Wednesday Dec. 2, 2020, reporting that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and dozens of other natural wonders are facing severe threats. (AP Photo/Randy Bergman, File)

Report: Climate change damaging more World Heritage sites

GENEVA (AP) — Climate change is increasingly damaging the U.N.’s most cherished heritage sites, a leading conservation agency warned Wednesday, reporting that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and dozens of other natural wonders are facing severe threats.
 
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