Environmental lawyers say that the new concessions threaten endangered species in the biodiversity-rich Hellenic Trench. Greece is allowing US fossil fuel giant Chevron to drill next to a protected coastal area, sparking a legal complaint from green NGOs. The government announced in January that it would be opening up new areas for offshore oil and…
There is a critical link between reduced river flow into the Mediterranean and the health of the Mediterranean marine ecosystems. New research underscores the urgency of integrating water resource management to properly safeguard the rich biodiversity of seas and ocean and the economies it supports. Climate change impacts such as more frequent and more severe…
While human-made sources of methane are well-studied, natural sources like coastal waters remain less understood. These shallow, dynamic ecosystems are rich in methane, and because the water is not very deep, methane-eating microbes (methanotrophs) have little time to break it down before it escapes into the atmosphere. The study investigated three regions: the Doggerbank seep…
Insights from the First Global Appraisal of Life Below the Earth’s Surface Which microbes thrive below us in darkness – in gold mines, in aquifers, in deep boreholes in the seafloor – and how do they compare to the microbiomes that envelop the Earth’s surfaces, on land and sea? The first global study to embrace…
Photo Credit: iStock Officials say mussel farming in Greece is close to collapsing as record-warm water temperatures take a toll on the industry. Our overheating planet has farmers worried about how they will provide for their families. What’s happening? The latest report by the National Centers for Environmental Information suggests this year is a virtual…
Cargo ships, tankers etc are usually loaded at land-based terminals but sometimes it is necessary for various reasons for cargo to be transferred from one ship to another while at sea. Many of these ship-to-ship transfer (STS) operations involve the transfer of liquid fuels. This can be a risky business with a danger of spillage…
Pamela Hallock, a biogeological oceanographer and Distinguished University Professor at the USF College of Marine Science (CMS), has spent her career studying the ocean. She leads the Reef Indicators Lab at CMS and is no stranger to the impacts of human activities on marine environments. Still, she couldn’t help but notice a bright spot in…
As offshore wind energy expands in Europe, maritime planners increasingly need to consider the potential effects of these activities on the different types of marine protected areas (MPAs), including Natura 2000 sites. The aim of this article is to critically review the initial development of offshore wind energy inside and/or in the vicinity of Mediterranean…