Coastal & Marine Conservation

They're the blue blobs ­unnerving swimmers on [Australia's] Gold Coast beaches. The catostylus mosaics jellyfish, which have been spotted washed up on local beaches and floating in ­waterways over the past two weeks, aren’t new to the Coast and there’s little risk of harm. ... American biodiversity scientist Dr Healy Hamilton had to battle through the jellies to do research in the Broadwater for the past week. “It was like we had to swim through clouds of ­jellyfish to find seahorses and pipefish,” she said.

Scientists did not always know how dolphins came to be stranded, but a new study shows that clues about survival rates after release may be found in the marine mammal's blood. Published in Marine Mammal Science, the study looked at the blood work of common dolphins and compared it to their survival rates after release - a relatively easy and simple method of determining which dolphins are tough enough to survive on their own.

Ayana Johnson's paper "Time preferences and the management of coral reef fisheries" is on ConservationBytes.com's list of influential conservation papers of 2014. Read more

The nonprofit Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education has received a $2 million grant that will be used to expand the institute’s facility on Great Wass Island.

Chuck Striplen has been appointed to the Science Advisory Team for California's Ocean Protection Council. He is one of the first tribal representatives at this level ever in California.

To conservationist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, getting coastal communities involved in plans to protect their waters is critical for protecting the planet's oceans. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talks about her work in one Caribbean island and how it shows how such a strategy can get results.

Coral reefs are one of the most biodiverse and spectacular ecosystems on earth. However, recent global estimates indicatethat approximately 34% of coral reefs have been destroyed or are declining. Coral reefs are threatened by climate change, pollution, overfishing and often a combination of factors.