Category Archives: Marine life

Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet faces ecosystem collapse by 2075, UN advisors say

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Assessment finds global heating is endangering 96% of coral reefs across 80 countries – a figure scientists say should serve as a ‘wake-up call’

Almost every shallow-water coral reef on the planet, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, faces a high risk of ecosystem collapse before 2075 because of global heating, according to an assessment by United Nations nature advisers.

About 24% of the planet’s reefs across more than 80 countries are already critically endangered, the assessment said, but when the expected impacts of global heating were added this rose to 96%.

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Shark trapped for a month in South Korean canal is finally freed

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Bukang-i successfully guided out after month in which it drew 1.6m visitors and was watched over by YouTubers

In South Korea, they call them jagyeongdan, a word whose meaning sits somewhere between vigilante group and neighbourhood watch. Each night they put on hi-vis vests, picked up their selfie sticks and gathered around the harbour in Busan to keep watch over an unlikely charge: a stranded shark affectionately known as Bukang-i.

On Wednesday, after more than a month in the canal and at the third attempt, the shark was successfully guided out, South Korea’s oceans ministry said. Officials expect her to move into open water in time.

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Floating scarecrows: how Cornish fishers are stopping seabirds drowning in their nets

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Simple deterrents can slash the number of razorbills and guillemots being trapped underwater, two-year study shows

Bird-shaped kites and a floating scarecrow are being tested to try to stop endangered seabirds drowning in fishing nets.

Every year an estimated 95,000 diving birds, including razorbills and guillemots, are accidentally caught in nets off European coasts.

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World’s oceans absorbed record heat equal to 40 times annual global energy use

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The injection of thermal energy comes amid an increasing rise in sea levels and continuing acidification

A record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat was sunk into the world’s seas last year, leaving ocean waters hotter, higher and less hospitable, a report has found.

The explosive addition of thermal energy, which was almost 40 times greater than all the energy humanity used that year, comes amid far-reaching changes to the deep water bodies fundamental to life on Earth.

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After a dead whale washed up at a Perth beach, some took selfies. Others held their nose from the stench

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Local authorities have closed the beach for several kilometres and multiple sharks have been spotted in the area

Multiple sharks have been spotted swimming near a large, smelly whale carcass that has washed ashore at a popular capital city beach, drawing hundreds of onlookers.

Surf lifesavers found the dead animal at Perth’s City beach at about 7.30am on Monday and raised the alarm.

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Trump’s executive order on recreational fishing is a ‘giveaway of fish and ocean ecosystem’, advocates warn

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Federal agencies told to prioritize recreational fishing and to reconsider scientific standards as well as regulations

Donald Trump’s latest fishing order is raising new concerns about US marine protections, as it directs federal agencies to prioritize recreational fishing while reconsidering the scientific standards and environmental regulations that govern American fisheries.

The National Marine Fisheries Service hailed last Thursday’s order, Restoring American Saltwater Angling and Recreation, telling the Guardian: “By addressing long-standing flaws in federal data collection, streamlining permitting, and expanding marine habitats, this action delivers long-overdue stability to America’s $1.2tn outdoor recreation economy.”

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In historic first, tropical turtles spotted nesting on California beaches

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What caused the turtles to begin nesting farther north than usual is the ‘million dollar question’

A sea turtle crawled out of the surf in southern California last weekend around sunset and started laying eggs in the sand.

People on Huntington Beach who saw the female olive ridley sea turtle were shocked and excited. And they weren’t the only ones freaking out, said Justin Viezbicke, the California stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa).

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Scientists find nine new sponge species in glimpse of Alaska’s deep-sea diversity

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But their habitat is threatened by bottom trawling in the region and Trump’s plan to expand seafloor mining

Scientists have discovered nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, offering new insights into the region’s largely unexplored marine biodiversity.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) announced the discovery on Thursday, saying the species were found in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The findings bring the total number of known sponge species in Alaska to 232.

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Dolphin dies from H5 bird flu in SA as researchers withdrawn from sub-Antarctic island over ‘psychosocial risk’

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Australian government announces 24 expeditioners based at research station on Macquarie Island will be evacuated over possible ‘prolonged psychological stress’

A dolphin has died from H5 bird flu in South Australia, marking the second native mammal species known to have contracted the virus.

It comes as the federal government announced it would withdraw researchers from the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island research station due to the “psychosocial risk” of witnessing potential mass seal deaths from H5N1 during the upcoming seal breeding season.

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Australia’s marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’ rather than fragile waters near the mainland, scientists say

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Hundreds of experts write to environment minister calling for stronger protections for ‘unique and distinct’ marine ecosystems

The Australian government has been accused of leaving waters near the mainland largely unprotected by establishing the bulk of highly protected marine parks in remote areas.

More than 270 leading marine scientists from 84 research institutes have written to the environment minister, Murray Watt, urging stronger protections for marine ecosystems, as a once-in-a-decade review of marine parks gets under way.

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Florida sets record for sea turtle nests but Trump move could stall recovery

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Loggerhead turtles abound this season but rollback of Endangered Species Act protections could threaten future

Wildlife groups in Florida are celebrating record numbers of sea turtle nests this season, but experts warn Donald Trump’s recent gutting of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could reverse decades of their recovery from the edge of extinction.

With more than two months of the summer nesting season still to run, loggerhead turtles have already laid 13,770 nests, hundreds more than recorded in any previous year, along an 8.5-mile stretch of shoreline monitored by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast.

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Teenager pleas guilty to attacking California sea lion in viral video

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Tyler Muehl, 18, could face a year in prison for kicking marine animal four times on La Jolla coast

An 18-year-old California man has admitted he kicked a sea lion in a video that went viral recently – while referring to himself by the name of an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitor – and has pleaded guilty to a federal crime.

Tyler Muehl, of San Diego’s La Jolla neighborhood, faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after acknowledging in court on Thursday that he violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act’s prohibition on harassment of wildlife, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

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Iberian orca known for ramming boats seen with suspected gunshot wounds

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Marine conservationist says deliberate attack would be ‘act of extreme cruelty’ against endangered population

Spanish officials have launched an investigation after the matriarch of an orca pod known for jostling and ramming boats off the Iberian Peninsula was spotted with wounds suggesting she had been shot by a pellet gun.

On Friday, Spain’s environment ministry said Toñi, the oldest living member of the pod, had been seen swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar with markings on her dorsal fin that were “consistent with shots from a pellet gun”.

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Great Barrier Reef microbiome mapped as researchers discover 500 bacterial species previously unknown to science

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Research identifies 808,585 viral genomes belonging to what scientists estimate to be 362,802 different viruses

More than a decade after the human microbiome was comprehensively mapped, scientists have now identified the vast communities of microbes that make up the Great Barrier Reef.

Analysing DNA from seawater samples of 48 reefs, researchers have mapped the microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef, documenting more than 360,000 distinct viruses as well as more than 500 new bacterial species not previously known to science.

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‘A great thrill’: baby puffin is first one seen on Dorset coast in three decades

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Puffling excites volunteers trying to save the last known regular nesting site on mainland of southern England

For years, volunteers have craned their necks and tested their patience to peer into the crevices of the cliffs hoping for a glimpse of fluffy joy.

Finally it all paid off as a puffling – baby puffin – poked its way into the sunshine, becoming the first to be spotted on the coast of Dorset in southern England for three decades.

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Shipwrecks of Shackleton and Scott recreated in 3D digital form after deep sea expedition

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Canadian scientists visit remains of polar exploration vessels in ‘golden era for shipwreck investigating’

Moments after devouring the final glimmers of light, the seafloor offered nothing but darkness and silt. Then the bow appeared.

More than 1,000ft (305 metres) below the surface of the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Canada, the skeleton of the final ship used by the famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton appeared in its silty grave.

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Dolphin deaths in South Australia spike after algal bloom decimates food sources

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The March 2025 marine disaster may be linked to a high number of dolphin deaths in the region, scientists say

The number of dead dolphins washing up on South Australian beaches spiked in 2025, according to long-term data that reveals mortalities during the state’s devastating algal bloom were the highest in 12 years.

Last year, at least 70 carcasses of common and bottlenose dolphins were found across South Australia, with a further 20 reported in 2026, including the recent death of a popular Port River dolphin known as Zoom.

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Drones are detecting more sharks at US beaches, but do they make the public safer?

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Increase in sightings may not reflect increase in sharks with little evidence that threat to swimmers has risen

Experts say that despite recent increased investment in drones to monitor for sharks in states like New York, the machines have limited usefulness as a public safety tool and there does not appear to be evidence that the threat to swimmers from sharks has increased.

There have, however, been more reports of sharks around local beaches.

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Pacific gray whales facing ‘catastrophic’ die-off as climate crisis hits food supply

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Trump administration urged to relist a species in ‘very, very serious trouble’ under Endangered Species Act

Climate change is driving a gray whale “catastrophic mortality event” in the Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve, environmental groups warn.

Meanwhile, a range of other issues, like ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic pollution, algal blooms and Russian harvesting are also probably contributing to the die-off that has nearly halved the whales’ estimated population. It fell from 20,000 in 2019 to fewer than 13,000 this year, and the deaths appear to be accelerating.

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Species’ ingenious survival strategies no match for human destruction, red list reveals

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Newly endangered animals include desert frogs and snails in extreme ocean depths, both threatened by mining

Life has colonised every corner of the planet by evolving ingenious survival strategies but these are increasingly being overwhelmed by destructive human activities, this year’s red list of endangered species has revealed.

Many snails, limpets and clams have adapted to life at crushing depths in the oceans on hydrothermal vents where water temperatures can reach 450C (842F). But an assessment for the red list found that two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species found only on deep sea vents were at risk of extinction because of deep-sea mining.

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