Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days
Continue reading...Category Archives: Marine life
Millionaires fund last-ditch attempt to save humpback whale stranded in Germany
Critics say efforts to rescue the animal, nicknamed Timmy, unlikely to succeed and could lead to further harm
A last-ditch effort to rescue a wayward whale that has transfixed Germans for weeks has begun in the Baltic Sea despite criticism it has little chance of success and could further harm the 12-tonne creature.
The male humpback whale was first spotted last month near Timmendorfer Strand on the northern coast of Germany, giving rise to its nickname Timmy. It has repeatedly become stranded and then freed itself after human assistance but it is now stranded again, with rescuers saying it is fighting a losing battle for its life.
Continue reading...Oil slick from bombed Iranian ship threatens protected wetland
Shahid Bagheri leaking fuel towards Hara mangrove forest, home to migrating birds and endangered turtles
An oil slick from a stricken Iranian ship threatens to contaminate one of the Middle East’s most important wetlands, satellite image analysis suggests, making it one of a number of spills posing a risk to the livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf.
The Shahid Bagheri, a drone carrier, began leaking heavy fuel oil in Iranian territorial waters near the strait of Hormuz after it was hit by a US warplane in the first few days of the US-Israel attack on Iran.
Continue reading...‘I just legged it’: teenage shark bite victim recalls lucky escape while surfing in South Australia
Oliver Tokic-Bensley, 16, says he had been in the water mere minutes when a shark bit his foot
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A teenage surfer bitten by a shark at a South Australian beach has described how he “flicked it off” and “legged it back to shore”.
Oliver Tokic-Bensley, 16, was bitten on his foot while surfing on Good Friday near his family beach house at Middleton, 80km south of Adelaide.
Continue reading...Unsuspecting windsurfer collides with gray whale in the San Francisco Bay
Footage shows a man windsurfing being forcefully thrown from his board as a whale breaches off the California coast
An unsuspecting windsurfer collided with a gray whale on the San Francisco Bay in a startling and rare encounter captured on video.
The footage shows the moment the surfer is forcefully thrown from his board as a gray whale breaches off the California coast, plunging him into the water.
Continue reading...‘God squad’ waives endangered species law to allow US drilling in Gulf of Mexico
Critics say exemption for fossil fuels exploits White House’s ‘self-made gas crisis’, and could doom the rare Rice’s whale
A US government panel on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a move which critics say could doom a rare whale species and harm other marine life.
The Endangered Species Committee – which had not convened in more than three decades – voted to approve the request for the ESA exemption at the request of the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Continue reading...Deepwater discoveries: scientists find more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea
Brittlestars, sea anemones and a catshark among new-to-science species collected during expedition off the Queensland coast
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Marine scientists have discovered more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea – a figure they believe could exceed 200 as more are identified.
The species were found in waters between 200 metres and 3km deep in the Coral Sea marine park, Australia’s largest marine protected area, which spans nearly 1m sq km to the east of the Great Barrier Reef.
Continue reading...Scientists film whale giving birth while other whales work together to help her
Female named Rounder surrounded by family members when about to give birth to her second calf
Scientists have managed to film a sperm whale giving birth while other female whales worked together to support the mother and her newborn.
A team from Project Ceti, an international effort seeking to understand how whales communicate, was in a boat near a pod of 11 whales off the coast of the Caribbean island of Dominica on 8 July 2023.
Continue reading...Whale stranded in Baltic will die unless helped to move soon, say experts
German rescue teams have been trying to ease the humpback’s path back into deeper waters without success
A 10-metre-long humpback whale stranded on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea is in danger of dying if rescue workers do not manage to help it move into deeper waters soon, experts have said.
Believed to be a young male, the mammal was spotted by guests of a hotel in Niendorf in Lübeck Bay, northern Germany, on Monday after they heard its deep moans and alerted police.
Continue reading...Whale stranded in Baltic will die unless helped to move soon, say experts
German rescue teams have been trying to ease the humpback’s path back into deeper waters without success
A 10-metre-long humpback whale stranded on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea is in danger of dying if rescue workers do not manage to help it move into deeper waters soon, experts have said.
Believed to be a young male, the mammal was spotted by guests of a hotel in Niendorf in Lübeck Bay, northern Germany, on Monday after they heard its deep moans and alerted police.
Continue reading...Australia’s environment minister wants to ban fishers and drillers from more ocean – and avoid a culture war
Conservationists hope Murray Watt’s review of national marine parks will ‘right the wrongs’ of previous downgrade of protection
The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, has pledged to put an extra half a million square kilometres of Australia’s ocean out of reach of fishers and drillers in a step conservationists hope will “right the wrongs” of an Abbott-era downgrade of marine protection.
Watt confirmed last year Australia would put 30% of its ocean estate under a high level of protection that bans extractive industries as part of an international agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s oceans.
Continue reading...Mass stranding of whales on Scottish beach caused by loyalty to their pod, report finds
The 55 pilot whales, which had to be euthanised, had been following a female having a difficult birth, scientists believe
The mass stranding and death of 55 whales on the Isle of Lewis in 2023 was caused by the mammals’ loyalty to their pod, a report has concluded.
It had been thought that the unusually large incident on Tràigh Mhòr beach, Tolsta, could have been caused by trauma, disease or acoustic disturbance from military or industrially generated noise.
Continue reading...Shark culls brought in after fatal attack causes division and anger in New Caledonia
Authorities say capture of bull and tiger sharks necessary to protect lives as environmentalists launch urgent legal challenge
Some beaches in areas of New Caledonia are closed to swimming and the authorities have begun shark culling off the capital, Nouméa, after a fatal attack in the popular tourist spot – prompting a legal challenge to stop the operation and reigniting debate over public safety and marine conservation.
The culling operation began on 23 February, after a man from New Caledonia riding a wing foil in a recreational area was attacked and killed. Preliminary investigations indicate the victim was attacked by a tiger shark that measured at least three metres.
Continue reading...Citizen scientists discover a Great Barrier Reef coral giant ‘like a rolling meadow’
Volunteer group Citizens of the Reef made the find as part of the Great Reef Census
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Citizen scientists have discovered what they believe is one of the largest coral colonies ever documented on the Great Barrier Reef.
The coral spans approximately 111 metres in maximum length and covers an estimated area of 3,973 sq m – about half the size of a soccer field.
Continue reading...Get shucking: South Australians urged to eat oysters and donate shells for reef restoration project
Shrimp soundtrack will be played under water to lure baby oysters in program aimed at fighting algal blooms
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South Australians are being urged to feast on local oysters and then donate the shells to restore native reefs, which will filter ocean water and help fight harmful algal blooms.
The program will also involve lumps of limestone being sunk in the ocean, with a soundtrack of snapping shrimp playing on underwater speakers to lure baby oysters in.
Continue reading...How to make sustainable seafood choices this Christmas to ease the pressure on Australia’s oceans
Australian Marine Conservation Society’s GoodFish guide aims to showcase the most environmentally friendly seafood sources
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As a challenging year for marine life heads into its final weeks, GoodFish has shared its list of sustainable choices for the festive season to help take the pressure off Australia’s oceans.
“It’s a time to be more careful than ever,” said Adrian Meder, sustainable seafood program manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, which produces the GoodFish guide.
Continue reading...Three-metre giant oarfish, ‘palace messenger’ of doom, washes up on Tasmanian beach
The enormous, serpentine fish, regarded in Japanese folklore as a herald of disaster, usually live deep below the surface and are only sighted when sick or dying
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It was a beautiful warm day in north-west Tasmania when a fish with a reputation as a harbinger of doom washed ashore.
Tony Cheesman, who lives in the seaside town of Penguin, was walking his two dogs, Ronan and Custard, along the beach at Preservation Bay on Friday morning when something silvery and surrounded by gulls grabbed his attention.
Continue reading...The great escape: seal flees killer whales by jumping on to photographer’s boat
Charvet Drucker captures dramatic video and photos of seal being hunted by orcas in Salish Sea, north-west of Seattle
A wildlife photographer on a whale-watching trip in waters off Seattle captured dramatic video and photos of a pod of killer whales hunting a seal that survived only by clambering on to the stern of her boat.
Charvet Drucker was on a rented 20ft (6 metre) boat near her home on an island in the Salish Sea about 40 miles north-west of Seattle when she spotted a pod of at least eight killer whales, also known as orcas.
Continue reading...Twice as effective as nets: shark-spotting drones to become ‘permanent fixture’ on Queensland beaches
State government says expanded use of shark nets and drum lines will continue despite evidence of deadly impact on other marine life
Queensland will roll out shark-spotting drones to more beaches, after a major study found drones detected more than double the number of sharks caught in adjacent nets.
But while drones would become a “permanent fixture” of the state’s shark-control operations, the Department of Primary Industries said Queensland would continue to rely on “traditional measures like nets and drum lines”, despite evidence of their deadly impact on dolphins, whales, turtles and dugongs.
Continue reading...‘Environmental catastrophe’ fears as millions of plastic beads wash up on Camber Sands
MP asks for explanation from Southern Water amid concerns the spill could have dire impact on rare sea life
Southern Water is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands beach, risking an “environmental catastrophe”.
The biobeads could have a dire impact on marine life, the local MP has said, with fears rare sea life, including seabirds, porpoises and seals, could ingest them and die.
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