Category Archives: Marine life

Save whales or eat lobster? The battle reaches the White House

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Fishing gear used by Maine lobstermen is killing right whales. Will boosting a $1bn industry trump protecting an endangered species?

President Macron of France may not have realised it, but he walked into another fishing war earlier this month when he and 200 other guests were treated at the White House to butter-poached Maine lobster accented with American Osetra caviar and garnished with celery crisp.

At issue was the lobster, currently subject to a court ruling designed to prevent Maine’s lobstermen from trapping the crustacea in baited pots marked by lines that can fatally entangle feeding North Atlantic right whales. There are now just 340 such whales, with only about 100 breeding females, making the species one of the most endangered on the planet.

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Puffin nesting sites in western Europe could be lost by end of century

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Experts create guide to help save seabirds from bleak future caused by global heating

The majority of puffin nesting sites in western Europe are likely to be lost by the end of the century due to climate breakdown, a report has warned.

Other seabirds will also be affected unless urgent action to limit global heating is taken, with razorbills and arctic terns forecast to lose 80% and 87% of their breeding grounds respectively owing to reduced food accessibility and prolonged periods of stormy weather.

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Native mussel numbers down almost 95% since 1960s, Thames survey finds

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Scientists trying to replicate 1964 study say results reveal alarming deterioration in river’s ecosystem

A survey of mussels has revealed an alarming deterioration in the River Thames ecosystem since the 1960s, according to a study.

Scientists attempting to replicate a 1964 survey of freshwater bivalves in a stretch of the Thames near Reading found striking results, as native mussel populations had crashed by almost 95%. One native species, the depressed river mussel, had vanished completely, and the remaining species were much smaller for their age, reflecting slower growth.

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Alarming manatee death toll in Florida prompts calls for endangered status

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Mammals were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2017, even as pollution and habitat loss drive starvation

The deaths of almost 2,000 manatees in Florida’s coastal and inland waterways over the last two years has provoked an alliance of environmental groups to demand an urgent reclassification of the species to officially endangered.

The advocates, led by the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, insist the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a critical error in 2017 by prematurely downgrading the status of the giant aquatic mammals from endangered to merely threatened.

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Tasmanian salmon farms used more than a tonne of antibiotics in 2022 disease outbreaks

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Tassal and Huon Aquaculture did not announce use of antibiotics, which may contribute to growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs

More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.

Reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency by Tassal and Huon Aquaculture revealed wild fish had scavenged antibiotic-laced pellets below the salmon cages. One sample of three flathead caught off Coningham beach, 2km from the boundary of Tassal’s Sheppards lease, revealed antibiotics in the flesh of the fish above the reportable threshold. The monitoring reports were not made public until months after the disease outbreak.

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Octopuses throw objects at one another, researchers observe

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Scientists suggest octopuses propel material as part of den cleaning, but also in interactions and with purpose

They hunt alone, are prone to a scrap, and even cannibalise one another. And octopuses appear to have another antisocial arm to their behaviour: they hurl jet-propelled clouds of silt, algae and even shells.

Researchers studying Octopus tetricus, the common Sydney octopus, have filmed the cephalopods gathering debris in their front arms and web and jet-propelling it away from their body using water ejected from their siphon – the latter having been shifted between their rear arms for the purpose.

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‘It was giving me a hug’: video captures rare giant octopus encounter

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Canadian diver captures footage of the cephalopod drawing closer and closer until it fully embraces her

For outsiders, scuba diving in the frigid waters of the northern Pacific can seem daunting: limbs quickly go numb without the right equipment, and unlike the sparkling blue of the tropics, the water has a gloomy, greenish tint.

But a recent viral encounter between a diver and an octopus has highlighted the particular magic of the sunken kelp forests off the coast of British Columbia.

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California woman describes harrowing shark attack: ‘I saw it clamp my leg’

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The 50-year-old, who survived the encounter, is being treated for the wounds to her upper right thigh

A California woman has given her first interviews about surviving a shark attack while swimming off the coast of San Diego.

Lyn Jutronich, 50, said she was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water.

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Japan makes squid farming breakthrough as wild catches plummet

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Scientists have long sought to farm the scarce seafood staple, but critics say animals are not suited to intensive methods

Scientists in Japan say they have developed a groundbreaking method of farming squid that could solve shortages of the seafood staple, amid warnings from environmental groups that aquaculture is incompatible with the animal’s welfare.

Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) say their system produced a reliable supply of squid and has the potential to be commercialised.

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Thin fish, small catches: can Japan’s sushi culture survive climate crisis?

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Global heating is warming waters, changing salmon and tuna migration – and hurting fisheries

There is little at Shiogama seafood market to suggest that Japanese consumers could one day be deprived of their favourite seafood – from giant crab’s legs simmering in a winter nabe hotpot to spheres of salmon roe resting on a bed of rice wrapped in nori seaweed.

Stalls heave with huge sides of bluefin tuna, expertly transformed into more manageable portions by knife-wielding workers, while early-morning shoppers pause to inspect boxes of squid, flounder and sea pineapples landed only hours earlier.

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Russia and China must ‘get on side with conservation’, US tells Antarctic commission meeting in Hobart

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US assistant secretary of state says two countries have stopped creation of new protected areas in Antarctica ‘for too long’

The US has urged China and Russia to “get on side with conservation” and stop blocking nearly 4m sq km in new marine protected areas around Antarctica.

Speaking at a major international meeting on Antarctic conservation in Hobart, the US assistant secretary of state, Monica Medina, said the two countries had prevented the creation of three new protected areas in Antarctic waters “for too long” and it was time to “shake up the system”.

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Alaska cancels snow crab season over population decline

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Causes being researched but likely included increased predation and stresses from warmer water

Alaska officials have cancelled the upcoming snow crab season, due to population decline across the Bering Sea.

The fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will not happen. The winter harvest of smaller snow crab has also been cancelled for the first time.

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Second mass stranding means 500 pilot whales likely to die on remote New Zealand islands

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About 250 whales beached on remote Chatham Islands just days after another stranding involving similar number of mammals

Hundreds of pilot whales have stranded on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands just days after a nearby beaching resulted in 250 mammals dying or being euthanised.

About 250 whales came ashore at Pitt Island/Rangiauria in the second stranding, taking the total number of whales stranded on the Chatham Islands to around 500, the general manager of Project Jonah, Daren Grover, said on Monday. The project runs a stranding hotline and mobilises marine rescues.

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North American gray whale counts dwindling for the last two years

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An assessment released Friday shows the population is down 38% from its peak in 2015 and 2016

US researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to dwindle during the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades but is still generating worry.

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries assessment released Friday, the most recent count put the population at 16,650 whales – down 38% from its peak during the 2015-16 period. The whales also produced the fewest calves since scientists began counting the births in 1994.

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Spring has stung: thousands of bluebottles wash up on Sydney beaches

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Heavy rainfall and rough surf has contributed to large numbers of stingers appearing along the NSW coast in the third, and biggest, bluebottle event of the year

Armadas of bluebottles have washed up on the shores of Australian beaches this week as heavy rainfall causes agitated surf conditions.

The jellyfish have been spotted on the shores of Sydney beaches, including Bronte and Manly, with sightings continuing up and down the east coast. Maroubra beach was closed on Friday due to dangerous conditions and “large numbers of bluebottles”.

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Drone footage shows orcas chasing and killing great white shark

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Scientists say behaviour, filmed in South Africa, has never been seen in detail before – and never from the air

Scientists have published findings confirming that orcas hunt great white sharks, after the marine mammal was captured on camera killing one of the world’s largest sea predators.

A pod of killer whales is seen chasing sharks during an hour-long pursuit off Mossel Bay, a port town in the southern Western Cape province, in helicopter and drone footage that informed a scientific study released this week.

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Newlywed among four women chosen to run Antarctic outpost

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British women beat 6,000 applicants to spend five months counting penguins and running post office on Goudier Island

It was one of the strangest of job alerts: a call to run the world’s most remote, coldest post office – on an island with no permanent residents – and count penguins in almost continuous daylight.

But bizarre or not, it struck a chord: 6,000 people applied for the four jobs on Goudier Island in Port Lockroy, and now the winners have been announced: a newlywed, who will leave her husband behind for what she is calling a “solo honeymoon” and three other British women, who are equally thrilled by the adventure ahead.

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Shark tale? Video of large fish in flooded Florida yard goes viral

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Man films fish ‘flopping around’ in neighbour’s garden but experts are split over identification

Photos and videos of sharks and other marine life swimming in suburban floodwaters make for popular hoaxes during heavy storms. But a mobile phone video filmed during Hurricane Ian’s assault on south-west Florida isn’t just another fishy story.

The video, which showed a large, dark fish with distinct dorsal fins thrashing around an inundated Fort Myers back yard, racked up more than 12m views on Twitter within a day, as users responded with disbelief and comparisons to the “Sharknado” film series.

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Spanish police seize smuggled baby eels worth €270,000

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Dozens arrested in operation as officials warn of resurgence in trafficking of endangered elvers

Spanish police have arrested 29 people after seizing 180kg of critically endangered young European eels with a value on the hidden market of €270,000 (£237,000).

The Guardia Civil said the operation, in collaboration with Europol, had also led to 20 arrests elsewhere in Europe.

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Weak controls failing to stop illegal seafood landing on EU plates, investigation shows

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EU financial watchdog blames small fines and feeble controls in some states for amount of illegal seafood


Illegally fished seafood continues to end up on the plates of EU citizens due to weak controls and insignificant fines in some member states, auditors have found.

The European Union, the world’s largest importer of fishery products, requires member states to take action against fishing vessels and EU nationals engaged in illegal fishing activities anywhere in the world.

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