News and Features by Year » 2013
Posted on February 15th, 2013 in Coastal Pollution, Ecological Forecasts & Tools, Ecology & Oceanography, Ecosystem Management, Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia & Eutrophication, Invasive Species, Marine Spatial Planning, Monitoring & Event Response, Outreach, Prevention, Control & Mitigation, Rapid Response
The leading world venue for showcasing the latest research on oceans, coasts and lakes is the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting. The research programs sponsored by the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) lead management solutions for harmful algae, hypoxia and regional ecosystem-scale research. At the [...]
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Posted on February 14th, 2013 in Forecasting, Harmful Algal Blooms, Human Health, Outreach, Technology Transfer
As part of a pilot initiative known as “beach hazard statements,” NOAA’s National Weather Service in Tampa Bay began to issue red tide warnings to beachgoers in an area where a bloom of algae is responsible for causing fish kills and breathing problems in people. While the announcement is new, the forecasts themselves are well [...]
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Posted on February 14th, 2013 in Coastal Pollution, Invasive Species, News Clips
Invasive species are nothing new. Neither is eating them, as anyone who’s eaten Cambodian water spinach — much of it grown here in Houston — will tell you. But bringing in water spinach from Cambodia and growing it for profit (despite its status over here as a noxious weed) is entirely different from eating species [...]
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Posted on February 4th, 2013 in Ecosystem Management, Human Dimensions, Marine Spatial Planning, News Clips, Outreach
A new NOAA research report finds that both fish populations and commercial and recreational anglers have benefited from “no-take” protections in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The report, “An Integrated Biogeographic Assessment of Reef Fish Populations and Fisheries in Dry Tortugas: Effects of No-take Reserves,” is the first to [...]
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Posted on January 30th, 2013 in Harmful Algal Blooms, Marine Biotoxin Impacts
NOAA researchers discovered how a harmful algal toxin called domoic acid targets the brain to induce seizures. Using a rat epilepsy model for the California sea lion, a species susceptible to poisoning by the toxin, they showed that it causes extensive damage to the olfactory bulb, a specialized brain region responsible for the perception of odors. [...]
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Posted on January 30th, 2013 in Harmful Algal Blooms, Physiology, Molecular Ecology
A recently published finding may contribute to the development of a long-elusive affordable ciguatoxin detector, crucial for equatorial peoples worldwide at risk of contracting a severe type of seafood poisoning. While researching toxicity differences in the several species of tropical algae that cause ciguatera, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and partners [...]
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Posted on January 24th, 2013 in People and Infrastructure
In early January, a wave buoy operated by the Alaska Ocean Observing System in Cook Inlet broke free from its mooring for the third time in less than two years. The inlet has 30-foot tides and strong tidal currents, so immediate action was necessary to rescue the floating device before it escaped into the Pacific Ocean. [...]
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Posted on January 24th, 2013 in People and Infrastructure
A 5-foot snowfall created a snowy winter wonderland just before Christmas near the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Kasitsna Bay Laboratory in south-central Alaska. However, the heavy snow also sank two old, 50-foot fishing vessels in nearby Jakolof Bay, when one vessel capsized on top of the other. The U.S. Coast Guard oversaw salvage operations in [...]
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