rose-veiled fairy wrasse. Yi-Kai Tea et al., “Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa (Teleostei, Labridae), a New Species of Fairy Wrasse from the Maldives, with Comments on the Taxonomic Identity of C. rubrisquamis and C. wakanda,” ZooKeys 1088 (2022): 65–80, https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1088.78139.

latigo fairy wrasse. Yi-Kai Tea et al., “A New Species of Fairy Wrasse (Teleostei: Labridae: Cirrhilabrus) from Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems of the Verde Island Passage, Philippines,” Copeia 108, no. 1 (2020): 91–102, https://doi.org/10.1643/CI-19-297.

Obama’s basslet. Richard L. Pyle et al., “Tosanoides obama, a New Basslet (Perciformes, Percoidei, Serranidae) from Deep Coral Reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,” ZooKeys 641 (2016): 165–81, https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.641.11500.

surveys in American Samoa. Anthony D. Montgomery et al., “Community Similarity and Species Overlap between Habitats Provide Insight into the Deep Reef Refuge Hypothesis,” Scientific Reports 11 (2021): 23787, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03128-8.

More of them now live in mesophotic reefs. Steven J. Lindfield et al., “Mesophotic Depths as Refuge Areas for Fishery-Targeted Species on Coral Reefs,” Coral Reefs 35 (2016): 125–37, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-015-1386-8.

Scientists who dive frequently in the mesophotic. Nicolas Loiseau et al., “Mesophotic Reefs Are Not Refugia for Neither Taxonomic nor Functional Diversity of Reef Fishes,” Coral Reefs 42 (2023): 63–75, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-022-02311-1; Luiz A. Rocha et al., “Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Are Threatened and Ecologically Distinct from Shallow Water Reefs,” Science 361, no. 6399 (2018): 281–84, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq1614; Paris Stefanoudis et al., “Low Connectivity between Shallow, Mesophotic and Rariphotic Zone Benthos,” Royal Society Open Science 6, no. 9 (2019): 190958, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190958.

Plastic debris builds up. Hudson T. Pinheiro et al., “Plastic Pollution on the World’s Coral Reefs,” Nature 619 (2023): 311–16, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06113-5.

A two-decade study in Belize. Catherine Alves et al., “Twenty Years of Change in Benthic Communities across the Belizean Barrier Reef,” PLoS One 17, no. 1 (2022): e0249155, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249155.

Several other studies have similarly found. John F. Bruno et al., “Climate Change, Coral Loss, and the Curious Case of the Parrotfish Paradigm: Why Don’t Marine Protected Areas Improve Reef Resilience?,” Annual Review of Marine Science 11 (2019): 307–34, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-010318-095300; Jack V. Johnson et al., “Marine Protected Areas Do Not Buffer Corals from Bleaching under Global Warming,” BMC Ecology and Evolution 22 (2022): 58, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02011-y.

Close to 90 per cent. Catherine E. I. Head et al., “Coral Bleaching Impacts from Back-to-Back 2015–2016 Thermal Anomalies in the Remote Central Indian Ocean,” Coral Reefs 38 (2019): 605–18, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01821-9.

some reefs in Chagos are recovering. Cassandra E. Benkwitt et al., “Seabird Nutrient Subsidies Alter Patterns of Algal Abundance and Fish Biomass on Coral Reefs following a Bleaching Event,” Global Change Biology 25, no. 8 (2019): 2619–32, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14643.

De-ratting islands. Nicholas A. J. Graham et al., “Seabirds Enhance Coral Reef Productivity and Functioning in the Absence of Invasive Rats,” Nature 559 (2018): 250–53, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0202-3.

If global temperature rise can be kept. Katja Frieler et al., “Limiting Global Warming to 2°C Is Unlikely to Save Most Coral Reefs,” Nature Climate Change 3 (2013): 165–70, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1674.

researchers incrementally raised. Leela J. Chakravarti and Madeleine J. H. van Oppen, “Experimental Evolution in Coral Photosymbionts as a Tool to Increase Thermal Tolerance,” Frontiers in Marine Science 5 (2018), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00227.

young corals were given heatproof zooxanthellae. Kate Quigley et al., “Heat-Evolved Microalgal Symbionts Increase Thermal Bleaching Tolerance of Coral Juveniles without a Trade-Off against Growth” (preprint, Current Biology, 2021, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3981099).

Off the island of Phuket. Talisa Doering et al., “Towards Enhancing Coral Heat Tolerance: A ‘Microbiome Transplantation’ Treatment Using Inoculations of Homogenized Coral Tissues,” Microbiome 9 (2021): 102, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01053-6.

A breakthrough came in 2020. Madeleine J. H. van Oppen and John G. Oakeshott, “A Breakthrough in Understanding the Molecular Basis of Coral Heat Tolerance,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 46 (2020): 28546–48, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020201117.

An Australian initiative. Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, https://gbrrestoration.org/.

living coral biobank. The Forever Reef Project, https://coralbiobank.org/.

These reefs help protect. Borja G. Reguero et al., “The Value of US Coral Reefs for Flood Risk Reduction,” Nature Sustainability 4 (2021): 688–98, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00706-6.

CHAPTER 10

On an eighty-day survey. Fiona Chong et al., “High Concentrations of Floating Neustonic Life in the Plastic-Rich North Pacific Garbage Patch,” PLoS Biology 21, no. 5 (2023): e3001646, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001646.

It follows that scooping. Matthew Spencer et al., “Estimating the Impact of New High Seas Activities on the Environment: The Effects of Ocean-Surface Macroplastic Removal on Sea Surface Ecosystems,” PeerJ 11 (2023): e15021, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15021.

as the seas warm, they feed hurricanes. See the IPCC’s 2019 special report: The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. Hans-Otto Pörtner et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and IPCC, 2022), https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/.

A huge opportunity exists. Tessa Mazor et al., “Large Conservation Opportunities Exist in >90% of Tropic-Subtropic Coastal Habitats Adjacent to Cities,” One Earth 4, no. 7 (2023): 1004–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.06.010.

A 2022 survey. “Three Quarters of People in Global Survey Want Single-Use Plastics Banned,” Ipsos, February 22, 2022, https://www.ipsos.com/en/attitudes-towards-single-use-plastics.

Diseases and debilitating conditions. Philip J. Landrigan et al., “The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health,” Annals of Global Health 89, no. 1 (2023): 23, https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4056.

Scientists have found plastic-eating bacteria. Maaike Goudriaan et al., “A Stable Isotope Assay with 13C-Labeled Polyethylene to Investigate Plastic Mineralization Mediated by Rhodococcus ruber,” Marine Pollution Bulletin 186 (2023): 114369, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114369.

Maine’s female ocean farmers. Loren McClenachan and Allie Moulton, “Transitions from Wild-Caught Fisheries to Shellfish and Seaweed Aquaculture Increase Gender Equity in Maine,” Marine Policy 146 (2022): 105312, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105312.

Corporations from a handful. Douglas J. McCauley et al., “Wealthy Countries Dominate Industrial Fishing,” Science Advances 4, no. 8 (2018): eaau2161, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau2161.

Subsidies are keeping afloat. Enric Sala et al., “The Economics of Fishing the High Seas,” Science Advances 4, no. 6 (2018): eaat2504, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat2504.

Out in distant waters, atrocities. David Tickler et al., “Modern Slavery and the Race to Fish,” Nature Communications 9 (2018): 4643, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07118-9.

European countries pay. Dyhia Belhabib et al., “Euros vs. Yuan: Comparing European and Chinese Fishing Access in West Africa,” PLoS One 10, no. 3 (2015): e0118351, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118351.

In recent years, surging numbers. Allwell Uwazuruike, “Migration and the Right to Survival: An Empirical Study of Three Fishing Communities in Senegal,” Journal of Rural Studies 99 (2023): 71–78, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2023.02.007.

Current estimates indicate. Ganapathiraju Pramod et al., “Estimates of Illegal and Unreported Fish in Seafood Imports to the USA,” Marine Policy 48 (2014): 102–13, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2014.03.019.

first seamount to be successfully mined. Travis W. Washburn et al., “Seamount Mining Test Provides Evidence of Ecological Impacts beyond Deposition,” Current Biology 33, no. 14 (2023): 3065–3071.E3, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.032.

Campaigners presented a declaration. Blue Climate Initiative, “Indigenous Voices for a Ban on Deep Sea Mining,” https://www.blueclimateinitiative.org/say-no-to-deep-sea-mining.

the possibility of a precautionary pause in deep-sea mining. Karen McVeigh, “International Talks End Without Go-Ahead for Deep-Sea Mining,” Guardian (UK), July 29, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/29/deep-sea-mining-international-talks-isa-jamaica.

Already studies suggest human food webs. Diva J. Amon et al., “Climate Change to Drive Increasing Overlap between Pacific Tuna Fisheries and Emerging Deep-Sea Mining Industry,” NPJ Ocean Sustainability 2 (2023): 9, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-023-00016-8.

EPILOGUE

recent studies of its genes. Francisco Oliveira Borges et al., “Projecting Future Climate Change Impacts on the Distribution of the ‘Octopus vulgaris Species Complex,’” Frontiers in Marine Science 9 (2022), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1018766.

Index

acidification of oceans, 10, 208–9, 210, 246

Adélie penguins, 24, 24n, 73–74, 75–76

Albacore tuna, 143

albatrosses, 39

ammonoids, 11, 15

Amundsen, Roald, 61

angelsharks, 94–97, 94n, 102

anglerfish, 95, 95n, 190