Category Archives: Marine life

Great Barrier Reef suffers biggest annual drop in live coral since 1980s after devastating coral bleaching

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Researchers warn reef may reach tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered its biggest annual drop in live coral in two out of three areas monitored by scientists since 1986, a new report has revealed.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims) report is the first to comprehensively document the devastating impacts of the early 2024 mass coral bleaching event – the most widespread and severe on record for the Great Barrier Reef.

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Fears for South Australia’s annual cuttlefish gathering amid deadly algal bloom

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Breeding event known as Cuttlefest takes place in waters off Point Lowly but this year scientists warn the effect of toxic algae could be ‘catastrophic’

As thousands of giant cuttlefish gather in South Australia’s Spencer Gulf, scientists are investigating emergency actions amid fears the state’s toxic algal bloom could be catastrophic for the globally unique natural phenomenon.

The spectacular annual cephalopod meet-up takes place in a kaleidoscope of colour off the coast of Whyalla from late May to August, attracting thousands of tourists from Australia and overseas.

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Experts baffled as rarely seen beaked whales involved in series of strandings

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Incidents across northern Europe on 26 and 27 July have left scientists trying to understand why so many of the deep-diving whales have appeared

A series of strandings of one of the world’s deepest dwelling and most rarely seen types of whale in the last few days has left experts baffled over why they might have appeared in such numbers.

Beaked whales are used to deep ocean waters and are so rarely seen that some species have only ever been identified through dead specimens. But on 26 and 27 July there were reports from western Ireland, Orkney in Scotland and the Netherlands of these whales being stranded, raising concerns that human actions could be implicated in the animals’ deaths.

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Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming’ Spanish beaches

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Alga from south-east Asia is major threat to biodiversity, say experts as they warn of environmental catastrophe

Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from south-east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain’s southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region’s biodiversity.

Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city’s most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day.

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‘Inquisitive, relaxed’ humpback whale swimming in Sydney Harbour delays ferries and boats

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Whale is having a ‘full harbour experience’, says an expert aboard a maritime boat shadowing the supersized mammal

An “inquisitive” humpback whale that wandered from its usual migratory route and into the centre of Sydney Harbour is causing “navigational challenges” for ferries and vessels as its tour of the world-famous harbour continues.

The sub-adult whale was spotted by commuters on a harbour ferry service near Fort Denison about 8am on Wednesday. It swam to Circular Quay – Sydney’s central ferry terminal – before moving east towards the defence base of Garden Island then to Watsons Bay and north to Balmoral Bay.

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Woman likely bitten by shark at New York’s popular Jones Beach

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Woman’s injuries were not life-threatening, and officials were unable to find the likely young sand tiger shark

A 20-year-old woman was likely bitten by a juvenile shark while waist-deep in the surf at a suburban New York beach, according to state officials.

The unidentified woman suffered minor lacerations to her left leg and foot after being bitten Wednesday at Jones Beach state park on Long Island. She was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to a release from state parks officials.

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Plutonium levels at nuclear test site in WA up to 4,500 times higher than rest of coast, study finds

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Researchers say contamination found at Montebello Islands is part of fallout from 1950s British tests and will persist for thousands of years

Samples of marine sediment taken from the location of three 1950s British government nuclear bomb tests off the coast of Western Australia have revealed plutonium levels up to 4,500 times higher than the rest of the coastline.

Sixty six samples were taken from the shallow waters at the Montebello Islands, and scientists are now working to understand how marine life may be being affected by the sediment.

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Deadly algal bloom in South Australia’s Coorong an environmental ‘eye opener’, ecologist says

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Among the dead in the internationally significant wetland are estuarine snails, shore crabs, baby flounder and ‘a thick stew of polychaete worms’

When South Australia’s algal bloom arrived in the Coorong, it stained the water like strong tea before turning it into a slurry of dead worms.

Many had hoped the storm in late May would break up the bloom of Karenia mikimotoi algae, which has killed more than 200 different marine species. Instead, high tides swept the algae into the Coorong, an internationally significant Ramsar wetland at the mouth of the Murray River.

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Plastics campaigners warn Australia’s pledge at UN needs to be matched with ‘high ambition at home’

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Environment minister Murray Watt is returning from oceans conference where he pledged to curb the scourge of plastics and ratify a treaty to protect the high seas

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The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, is returning from a UN oceans conference where he pledged to curb the scourge of plastics and make good on Australia’s promise to ratify a treaty to protect the high seas.

The five-day meeting in Nice, France finished on Friday, and conservationists celebrated some key steps towards protecting wildlife in international waters.

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Reefs made from human ashes could revive British seabeds, says startup

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UK company offers alternative to land-based burials after success of memorials in Bali made from remains of pets

Death is killing our planet. That is the stark assessment of a new business offering an innovative alternative: having your loved one’s ashes made into a reef and anchored to the British seabed.

There are increasing concerns about the environmental cost of traditional funerals: a single burial generates 833kg of CO2, while a typical cremation has a footprint of about 400kg of CO2. In the US alone, 1.6m tonnes of concrete and 14,000 tonnes of steel is used each year for building graves. Chemicals from embalming processes seep into the soil.

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Australian government to declare almost a third of its oceans ‘highly protected’ in the next five years

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Murray Watt tells UN conference in France a review of Australia’s marine parks will ‘lay the foundation’ for increasing ocean protections

The Australian government plans to declare 30% of its ocean “highly protected” by 2030, raising expectations from conservationists it will ban fishing and drilling in nearly a third of the country’s waters.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, told the UN Ocean Conference in France a review of 44 of Australia’s marine parks would “lay the foundation” to increase the area of the country’s ocean with higher levels of protection.

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Campaigners hail plan to ban bottom trawling in half of England’s protected seas

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Environmental groups welcome government proposals to clamp down on destructive fishing practice

Environmental groups have welcomed government proposals to ban the destructive fishing practice known as bottom trawling in half of England’s protected seas.

The plan, to be announced on Monday by the environment secretary, Steve Reed, came before a UN summit in Nice to tackle the ocean’s failing health. It follows pressure from conservationists and the release of a David Attenborough film featuring rare underwater footage of the devastation to the seabed caused by bottom trawling in British waters.

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Caribbean beaches blighted by record masses of stinking seaweed

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Scientists puzzled by huge amounts of prickly sargassum suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana

A record amount of sargassum has piled up across the Caribbean and nearby areas in May, and more is expected this month, according to a new study.

The brown prickly algae is suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana and beyond, disrupting tourism, killing wildlife and even releasing toxic gases that forced one school in the French Caribbean island of Martinique to temporarily close.

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‘Gut punch’: top shark expert quits Queensland advisory panel after LNP expands cull program

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Exclusive: Colin Simpfendorfer’s resignation from working group comes as conservationists lash expansion of lethal program they say ‘does nothing to improve beach safety’

One of Australia’s leading shark researchers has resigned from his position of almost eight years advising the Queensland shark control program, as members of that scientific working group say they were “shocked” and sidelined by the state government’s decision to expand the lethal control of sharks.

Announcing an $88m shark management plan overhaul which would see shark nets and baited drum lines designed to kill target shark species rolled out at more beaches, and existing drum lines used more intensely, the primary industries minister, Tony Perrett, claimed this week that the Liberal National party’s strategy was backed by research.

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Catch of the day: rare gold lobster saved by attentive cook in Rhode Island

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The crustacean, since named Calvin, had a genetic mutation that occurs in about one in 30 million lobsters

Being one in a million may sound nice, but being one in 30m recently saved an exceptionally rare, gold lobster from being cooked and served as dinner at a New England restaurant, according to those who had a hand in the animal’s reprieve.

As the manager of the Nordic Lodge Restaurant in Charlestown, Rhode Island, tells it, one of the eatery’s cooks noticed the crustacean in question buried under a bunch of other lobsters after they were delivered to the business. The lobster, since named Calvin, was in a basket ready to be cooked and presented as a meal alongside a number of his brethren when the employee pulled him out and set him aside, manager Jake Dolbey told the Guardian.

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‘Nothing left’: Irish whale-watching company closes amid ‘overfishing’

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Sprat fishing has disrupted the food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins

A whale-watching company has abandoned tours off Ireland’s southern Atlantic coast and declared the waters an empty, lifeless sea.

Colin Barnes, who ran Cork Whale Watch, announced he was closing the company because overfishing of sprat has disrupted the marine food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins.

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Are surging shark sightings and strandings linked to South Australia’s toxic algal bloom?

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Some have speculated there is a link, but it’s too soon to say, one expert says, with toxicology results expected to reveal more soon

Shark sightings and strandings are unusually high across South Australia amid a prolonged toxic algal bloom, but scientists say it’s too soon to link to recent shark incidents.

On Thursday, a swimmer was bitten by a shark at Port Noarlunga beach, 30km south of Adelaide’s CBD, one of a rising number of reported sharks swimming closer to shore – with some washing up dead on beaches.

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‘A horror movie’: sharks and octopuses among 200 species killed by toxic algae off South Australia

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Karenia mikimotoi algae can suffocate fish, cause haemorrhaging and act as a neurotoxin, one expert says

More than 200 marine species, including deepwater sharks, leafy sea dragons and octopuses, have been killed by a toxic algal bloom that has been affecting South Australia’s coastline since March.

Nearly half (47%) of the dead species were ray-finned fish and a quarter (26%) were sharks and rays, according to OzFish analysis of 1,400 citizen scientist reports.

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UK sand eel fishing ban remains in place despite EU legal challenge

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Creatures make up the bulk of seabirds’ diet but are fished for commercial pig food

A ban on fishing for sand eels in UK waters will remain in place despite a legal challenge from the EU.

The small, silvery eels make up the bulk of the diet of seabirds, but they are fished for commercial pig food. A lack of sand eels means seabirds such as puffins can starve to death.

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Trump order to loosen fishing regulations poses major risks, experts warn

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Conservationists fear fallout from president’s proclamation on fishing in federally protected area of Pacific Ocean

Environmental conservation groups are expressing major concerns over Donald Trump’s recent proclamation to reverse fishing regulations across the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine national monument, a federally protected area in the central Pacific Ocean spanning nearly 500,000 sq miles.

As one of the most pristine tropical marine environments in the world, the monument is now at risk following Trump’s decision last week to unleash American commercial fishing in the area with far-reaching environmental consequences.

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