Our very own coral reef crisis

The past decade has seen trawling operations expand along the edge of the North East Atlantic continental shelf, as stocks of shelf-dwelling species such as cod have declined. As a substitute, markets are being developed for very strange-looking deep-water species such as roundnose grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris), orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus), black scabbard fish (Aphanopus carbo) and deep-sea sharks (Centrophorus squamosus and Centroscymnus coelolepis). The problem is that this expansion in deep-water fisheries goes on unregulated, and it is causing long-term disturbance to seabed habitats and fish stocks alik

Champagne Seas—Foretelling the Ocean’s Future?

Imagine you are an ocean researcher and you want to study the ecological impacts of ocean acidification. You know from studies carried out under controlled laboratory conditions that lowered pH can impact the physiology, growth, and development of certain organisms. What you want to know next is how these changes in individual species translate into the direct and indirect ecological changes that occur in the open ocean. Here we summarize the results from a new approach to understanding the ecological implications of ocean acidification: observational studies and IN SITU experimentation at ocean sites with low pH and high CO2