The Caribbean is renowned globally for its stunning beaches and crystal clear ocean.
However, its islands and the surrounding sea are being contaminated by plastics and other manmade fibres, posing a potential future threat to its diverse marine life and the tourism industry on which its economy depends.
That is according to a new study, the first holistic assessment of marine and land-based plastic pollution in the southern Caribbean and some of the environmental and human factors which might influence its distribution.
The study is the result of sample analysis from a pioneering all-female Round the World sailing mission led by eXXpedition. Samples were collected in late 2019 from the seas and seafloor, and from land-based assessments.
New study warns Caribbean marine life and tourism industry threatened by plastic pollution cnc3.co.tt - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnc3.co.tt Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Targeted removals and monitoring can help manage lionfish in Mediterranean
Targeted removals can be effective in suppressing the number of invasive lionfish found within protected coastlines around the Mediterranean Sea.
However, if they are to really be successful they need to be combined with better long-term monitoring by communities and conservationists to ensure their timing and location achieve the best results.
Those are the key findings of a new study, one of the first of its kind to examine the effectiveness of targeted lionfish removals from both an ecological and a socio-economic perspective.
Scientists working as part of the European Union-fundedRELIONMED project teamed up with specially trained divers and citizen scientists to conduct a series of removal events and surveys over a six-month period.
Targeted removals and enhanced monitoring can help manage lionfish in the Mediterranean eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Credit: Lilian Lieber, Queen s University Belfast
The foraging behaviour of seabirds is dramatically affected by turbulence caused by natural coastal features and manmade ocean structures, new research has shown.
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the UK and Germany used drones to provide a synchronised bird s eye view of what seabirds see and how their behaviour changes depending on the movement of tidal flows beneath them.
The research focused on the wake of a tidal turbine structure set in a tidal channel - Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland - that has previously been identified as a foraging hotspot for terns.