Census in the News 2010

Culminating a 10-year exploration, 2,700 scientists from 80 nations report first Census of Marine Life, revealing what, where, and how much lives and hides in global oceans.

As part of the Census effort, participating nations and regions generated new syntheses of marine biodiversity knowledge in their adjacent waters. Summaries of these findings are collected in The Public Library of Science's (PLoS) latest special collection, Marine Biodiversity and Biogeography — Regional Comparisons of Global Issues, released on Monday, August 2nd.

Scientists have just returned from a voyage with samples of rare animals and more than 10 possible new species in a trip which they say has revolutionised their thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) issued the latest in a series of Census of Marine Life volumes, The MarBOL Collection, on Monday, June 28th.  This collection of papers presents research in the field of Marine Barcoding under the auspices of

Jesse Ausubel, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program Director,  was honored as one of seven recipients of the Third Annual Blue Frontier / Peter Benchley Awards at the California Academy of Sciences on June 25 at 6:30 PM.

The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will broadcast the last in a series of four panels to discuss the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster live on Friday, June 25, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

On the 26th May 2010 ECOMAR scientists set sail on the RRS James Cook from St. John’s in Canada for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Monty Priede of OCEANLAB, University of Aberdeen, is Principal Investigator.

The various deepwater projects of the Census were prominently represented at the 12th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium held in Reykjavik, Iceland the week of June 7th.

The concept for a “World Oceans Day” was first proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and it had been unofficially celebrated annually since then. Each year, an increasing number of countries and organizations have been marking June 8th as an opportunity to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea.

This morning,  the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History launched its Ocean Portal.