Differentiating Coral Bleaching and Coral Mortality

Corals bleach, or turn white, when their symbiotic algae are expelled from the corals’ tissues due to stressors such as excessively warm water. Bleached corals can and do recover when favorable conditions resume.

A stark white coral is nestled in a bed of other corals

Offshore Platforms

Offshore platforms actually house a lot of marine life and are popular dive sites because of it. Several oil platforms, however, are scheduled to be removed from the Gulf of Mexico. Read more about the platforms’ importance.

Offshore platform in the ocean at sunset

Extinct for Soup?

Are sharks really facing extinction for an Asian delicacy? Learn more about shark populations and conservation efforts.

Belly view of a bloodied shark getting fished

Rewilding Coral Reefs 

Though I believe rewilding coral reefs is a valuable approach, it requires a strong, established foundation of good old-fashioned marine conservation. I view reef rewilding as a tertiary marine conservation strategy that we should attempt only after the fundamentals of an effective marine conservation strategy (often anchored with a well-managed marine protected area) are in place. 

Nesha Ichida watches Seren, a wild leopard shark

Eating Our Way Out

Lionfish pose a threat to native species as their numbers are skyrocketing out of control. The best way to solve the problem of invasive lionfish? A fork.

A diver uses a ZooKeeper containment device to safely store a speared lionfish.

Greater Protection for Reef Corals

Reef corals demand greater protections. Broad reef protections have been helpful, protections specifically for corals are needed. Read more about threats to corals and what you can do as a diver and ocean lover.

Badly bleached coral is white and brown

The Problem with Overfishing

Overfishing can cause irreversible damage to local ecosystems. Learn more about overfishing and how to combat it.

Nets are strewn about on a coral reef

Close Encounters of the Considerate Kind

Many divers top off a trip to the Southern Red Sea by watching a rotund dugong snuffle through seagrass meadows in about 25 feet (7.6 meters) of water.

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the largest fish in the sea

The Most Important Fish in the Sea

Menhaden, also known as bunker, are forage fish that play a critical role in the ocean food web. They are a vital source of food for wildlife up and down North America’s Atlantic seaboard. But their population management ignores the importance of the food web. Learn more and what you can do.

Four fishermen grasping net of menhaden

Hope for Sharks at CITES 2013

The stakes were high at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting this spring. On the table were the fates of manta rays and five species of shark.

Giant manta ray swims with a fish on its head and a diver is in the background