A federal judge ruled yesterday that the National Marine Fisheries Service acted illegally in approving U.S. Navy testing and training activities in the Pacific Ocean that threaten widespread harm to whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and imperiled sea turtles.

Apia, Samoa: The 38 member Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) has once again taken minimal action to sustain the collapsing fish stocks in its care, with only the virtually collapsed Pacific Bluefin Tuna benefitting from management measures in line with scientific recommenda

Ventura and Oxnard in California could be vulnerable to the effects of a local earthquake-generated tsunami, according to computer models used by seismologists. According to their 3-D models, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on faults located offshore Ventura would result in many parts of the regional coastline being inundated a few kilometers inland by a tsunami wave. Further, a southward moving tsunami would rotate and focus on the Ventura/Oxnard area.

La Niña-like conditions in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Panamá were closely associated with an abrupt shutdown in coral reef growth that lasted 2,500 years, scientists have found. The study suggests that future changes in climate similar to those in the study could cause coral reefs to collapse in the future.

A conference on South Pacific fishing has failed to strengthen safeguards for fast-dwindling stocks.

Nearly all sea turtle species have been classified as endangered, with precipitous declines in many populations in recent decades. But new protections, particularly in the U.S. and Central America, are demonstrating that dramatic recovery for these remarkable reptiles is possible.