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MASNA 2016-2017 Student Scholarship Press Release

by | Apr 22, 2016 | Aquaculture, Conservation, Events, Industry, MACNA, Reef, Science

The Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) is proud to announce the 2016 – 2017 MASNA Student Scholarships.  MASNA is a non-profit organization composed of marine aquarium societies and individual hobbyists from North America and abroad, totaling several thousand individuals.  MASNA’s goals are to: Educate our members with online and published material, the MACNA conference, and other sanctioned events. Assist in forming and promoting the growth of clubs within the hobby while ensuring a sustainable future for the marine environment. Support the efforts to eliminate abuses in collecting and transporting marine organisms through education, assistance and encouragement. Encourage the ethical growth of the marine aquarium hobby and support captive breeding/propagation efforts. To further the goals of MASNA, MASNA offers the MASNA Student Scholarship program to

Great Barrier Reef hit by Widespread Coral Bleaching

by | Mar 31, 2016 | Corals, Events, Fish, Reef, Science

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit by widespread coral bleaching, which has the potential to be devastating to one of the world’s most iconic natural wonders. Battered by record warming on land and sea the past two years, coral reefs around the world have suffered bleaching events. When that happens, corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing corals to turn white or pale. Without the algae, the coral loses its major source of food and is more susceptible to disease. Starting in the North Pacific Ocean in the summer 2014, the bleaching expanded to the South Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean in 2015. That prompted NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch in October to declare the third ever global bleaching event – after the 1997-1999

Banggai Cardinalfish and The Endangered Species Act

by | Mar 12, 2016 | Aquaculture, Fish, MACNA, Reef, Science

Collection of Banggai Cardinals for the aquarium trade is the major driver for their harvest. These fish have a extremely limited geographic range of about 5,500 km² and small wild population size estimated at 2.4 million individuals. These cardinalfish are composed of pockets of individual populations concentrated around the shallows small and large islands within the Banggai Archipelago.  A small population also occurs off Central Sulawesi, within Luwuk harbor. One additional population has become established in the Lembeh Strait (North Sulawesi), 400 km north of the natural area of the species distribution. They live in very shallow water, and are plodding swimmers that are easily herded out of protective cover. This combination of characteristics, coupled with high demand as a desirable ornamental species, makes them vulnerable to overharvest.  Due

Thousands of Blacktip Sharks Seen Migrating off the Coast of Florida

by | Feb 16, 2016 | Science, Shark Week

[embedded content] PALM BEACH COUNTY — Incredible new video shows tens of thousands of sharks just off the Palm Beach County coastline. FAU biological sciences professor Dr. Stephen Kajiura who has been featured on “Shark Week” captured the video 500′ above the clear, blue Atlantic on Friday morning. Kajiura shot the video as part of his weekly aerial black tip shark migration surveys covering the coastline from Miami Beach north to the Jupiter Inlet. “It’s so cool,” he told CBS12. “There are literally tens of thousands of sharks a stone’s throw away from our shoreline. You could throw a pebble and literally strike a shark. They are that close.” Kajiura noted that he saw very few sharks south of Boynton Beach and in Miami-