03 Sep 2018

Threats and knowledge gaps for ecosystem services provided by kelp forests: a northeast Atlantic perspective Dan A. Smale, Michael T. Burrows, Pippa Moore, Nessa O’Connor, & Stephen J. Hawkins Abstract: Kelp forests along temperate and polar coastlines represent some of most diverse and productive habitats on the Earth. Here, we synthesize information from >60 years […]

19 Jun 2017

Seán Lynch [seanlynch@umail.ucc.ie]     I would like to bring Ireland’s “Our Oceans Wealth” strategy into question i.e. the undebated sale of our natural assets. In Bantry Bay, West Co. Cork which is said to have the cleanest coastal waters in Ireland, a licence has been issued to industrially harvest 1,860 acres of native kelp forest with […]

22 Aug 2016

Wide-scale disruption from warming oceans is increasing, but they could change our understanding of the climate. This link rich article from the Guardian illustrates how the range of major habitats, corals, kelp forests and mangroves are being directly affected by major warming events. Mobile species and fish are no less susceptible. These events are providing […]

09 Jul 2016

Great swathes of the temperate kelp forests on Western Australia’s reefs that underpin tourism and fisheries industries worth $10 billion annually are gone. Key points: The ocean off Western Australia is warming twice as fast as the global average Since 2000, nearly 1000 square kilometres of kelp forest have been lost from the area These […]