Each square kilometre of ocean around Australia is polluted with thousands of 'invisible' fragments of plastic, a new study has found, posing a potential health hazard for humans and marine life alike.
Julia Reisser, a PhD student from the University of Western Australia's Ocean Institute, and colleagues, report their findings today in the journal PLOS ONE.

The CITES Secretariat launched today a Web section on sharks and manta rays to assist the 179 Parties to the Convention in putting in place effective measures to control international trade in the newly listed species.

New Zealand is to ban shark finning in its waters within two years, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced Sunday.
It is already illegal in New Zealand to slice the fin off a shark and throw it back alive, and Guy said the new ban would be extended to finning a shark and dumping the carcass at sea.
It will start to take effect in some areas next October and cover all New Zealand waters by 2016.
"The practise of finning sharks is inconsistent with New Zealand's reputation as one of the best managed and conserved fisheries in the world," he said.

New EU proposals would require member states to choose between three methods of reducing the waste from bags.
European Union member states could cut their plastic bag use by 80%, the European commission has said, by charging for bags or even banning them.
Plastic bags are a major cause of seaborne pollution, which is a serious hazard for marine life, and some regions have already moved to cut their use through charging. The UK deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has pledged to bring forward charges in England that will affect single-use bags given out by supermarkets.

A unique panel of business, government, conservation and academic leaders has agreed a global strategy for aligning ocean health and human well-being. The Blue Ribbon Panel, which includes 21 global experts from 16 countries, emphasizes that without action to turn around the declining health of the ocean, the consequences for economies, communities and ecosystems will be irreversible.

Local scuba divers, the Sooke Sea Cadets and Wilson Diving were involved in Dive Against Debris on Sunday, September 22, from the Government Wharf to the Rotary Pier, Canada.
As part of the Sooke Sea Cadets and Wilson Diving’s commitment to protecting the ocean, trained divers not only remove underwater debris such as rope, plastic bottles, and fishing line, but also identify and document everything seen underwater in a larger effort to prevent marine debris.

Many subalpine lakes may look beautiful and even pristine, but new evidence suggests they may also be contaminated with potentially hazardous plastics. Researchers say those tiny microplastics are likely finding their way into the food web through a wide range of freshwater invertebrates too.
The findings, based on studies of Italy's Lake Garda and reported on October 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, suggest that the problem of plastic pollution isn't limited to the ocean.

The health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating even faster than had previously been thought, a report says.
A review from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), warns that the oceans are facing multiple threats.
They are being heated by climate change, turned slowly less alkaline by absorbing CO2, and suffering from overfishing and pollution.
The report warns that dead zones formed by fertiliser run-off are a problem.

Environmental issues affecting the land and ocean and their inter-connectedness, will be the focus of some 250 delegates attending the Second Global Conference on Land-Ocean connections in Montego Bay, St. James.
Staged by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the conference is being held from October 2 to 4, at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel, under the theme: ‘Building Bridges through Partnerships’. The delegates are representing approximately 70 different countries.

A TOTAL of 1,609 kilograms or about 1.6 tons of garbage were picked Friday, September 20, from the Panagsama Beach in Moalboal, Cebu in what was considered the biggest coastal cleanup in town.
The cleanup, organized by Johan Blixt of Neptune Diving Adventure and as part of the activities lined up by Project AWARE Foundation, gathered around 116 people, excluding divers from different resorts in Moalboal, a southern town in Cebu.