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Trapped Thresher Shark
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
Doomed by a gill net, a thresher shark in Mexico's Gulf of California is among an estimated 40 million sharks killed yearly for their fins. Removing top predators, such as sharks and bluefin tuna, from the ecosystem can degrade marine habitats.
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Bottom Trawler
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
Bottom trawling—a form of net fishing that scrapes the ocean floor—often damages habitats by ripping up coral reefs. Now banned in many countries, bottom trawlers also collect large amounts of bycatch that is simply thrown back to sea or left to die.
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Staghorn Coral
Photograph by NOAA/AP
Human activity, hurricanes, higher water temperatures, and ocean acidification have precipitated a 97 percent decline in elkhorn and staghorn coral around the Florida Keys and in the Caribbean since 1985. Staghorn coral was added to the IUCN's U.S. threatened species list in 2006.
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Mississippi River Gulf Outlet
Photograph by Tyrone Turner
The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (at right) merges with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway just east of New Orleans. Louisiana is losing roughly 12 square miles (30 square kilometers) of storm-buffering wetlands each year as levees block sediment, canals are dredged, and ground subsides.
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Belize Coral
Photograph by Peter Essick
When stressed, corals discharge the algae that give them their colors, then turn white and eventually die. Glover's Reef Atoll in Belize, part of the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere, faces coral loss from overfishing as well as pollution from shipping, tourism and deforestation.
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Exposed Coral, Ranongga Island
Photograph by William West/AFP/Getty Images
Destruction of ocean habitat doesn't always come at the hands of humans. Here, residents of Ranongga island in the South Pacific Ocean explore a massive coral reef exposed when a magnitude 8.1 earthquake lifted the island ten feet (three meters) out of the sea.
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Eroding Islands, Louisiana
Photograph by Tyrone Turner
Long, thin barrier islands like this one off the coast of Louisiana have historically served as the Gulf Coast's major natural protection from hurricanes. But battering from intense storms over the years has taken its toll, and they are eroding badly.
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Ireland Algae Bloom
Photograph courtesy European Space Agency
Algal blooms, like this one off the west coast of Ireland, generally occur when a rise in ocean temperatures and nutrient levels causes a spike in phytoplankton populations. Such events can deplete oxygen levels in the water and lead to large-scale die-offs of fish and shellfish.
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Roanoke Island, North Carolina
Photograph by Tyrone Turner
Large coastal dredging projects, like the one that created this upscale community on Roanoke Island in North Carolina, can significantly alter wetland ecosystems, disrupting fish nurseries and bird rookeries and interfering with a marshland's natural ability to control inland flooding.
Ocean Topics
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Acidification
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Ballard, Robert
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Bowermaster, Jon
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Cook-Wise
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De Rothschild, David
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Doubilet, David
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Earle, Sylvia
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Frozen Seafood Benefits
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Goodman, Beverly
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Habitat Destruction
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Invasive Species
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Kristof, Emory
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Marine Food Chain
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Marine Pollution
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Nicklen, Paul
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Norman, Brad
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Ocean Overview
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Overfishing
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Plastiki
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Pristine Seas Expeditions
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Sala, Enric
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Seafood Decision Guide
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Seafood Substitutions
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Sea Level Rise
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Sea Temperature Rise
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Seaver, Barton
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Sustainable Seafood
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Thys, Tierney
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Tips to Save the Ocean
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"Rebuilding Titanic"
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