When people apply sunscreens containing petrochemicals, the toxins directly or indirectly make their way into the ocean. The top six of these harmful petrochemical are avobenzone, oxybenzone, octinoxate, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene. These active ingredients disrupt coral reproduction, contribute to coral bleaching, and cause developmental deformities. In Protecting our coral reefs, how they’re doing it in Roatán, the latest blog post on womenmindthewater.com/news guest, Haley P. Stein of Inland Ocean Coalition shares how residents and others concerned with the health of the second largest reef system in the world are working to protect the reef from harm, a harm that tourists may be unaware they are contributing to.

When a juvenile North Atlantic right whale carcass washed ashore in Martha’s Vineyard, MA in January it provided the long-awaited evidence that Maine’s lobster gear is involved in entanglements that threatened the survival of this beleaguered whale. According to NOAA, entanglement and vessel strikes are the primary causes for the decline of the species which is thought to number about 360 with fewer than 70 breeding females.