Hawaiian Coral Saved by Freezing Sperm

AR — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:11:53 +0000

Image via University of Hawaii at Manoa, Credit: Virginia Carter

As corals face a daily bashing through warm, polluted waters, the scientists at University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Smithsonian Institution are building up a bank of frozen sperm and embryos of Hawaiian coral species, just in case. The diversity of coral species is vital to Hawaii’s marine ecosystems, providing the habitat necessary for the survival of the myriad of fish, crustacean and plant species around the islands. So of course, researchers want to do all they can to protect them from extinction. In theory, the frozen cells can be unfrozen even 1,000 years in the future to restore populations.

Plastic Beach, Hawaii

AR — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:06:33 +0000

Photo: Algalita

Ocean debris turning Hawaiian beach ‘into plastic’

Consumer waste from the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is turning a Hawaiian beach “into plastic”, Tropic of Cancer presenter Simon Reeve has found.

Conservationist Sam Gon escorted him to the remote Kamilo Beach, where plastic bottles, bags, tyres, rusting petrol cans, and other waste from around the world washes up.

They found more plastic particles than sand, as they dug a hole on what has been described as “the world’s dirtiest beach”.

View Video of Kamilo Beach …

Source: BBC

Related News:
Pollution killing baby albatross chicks by the thousands (North Shore Kauai)

Aloha Reporter » Pollution

Hawaiian Coral Saved by Freezing Sperm

Plastic Beach, Hawaii