Navy joins forces with rescuers and volunteers in effort to push pilot whales back into ocean
Rescuers and volunteers were racing to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka’s western coast in the country’s biggest mass beaching.
The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 15 miles (25km) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk. Within an hour their numbers swelled to about 100, a local police chief, Sanjaya Irasinghe, said.
Continue reading...Town beach closed after 13-year-old bitten and taken to hospital in a stable condition
A 13-year-old boy has been bitten by a shark at Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid north coast.
NSW Ambulance says the attack happened just before 6am at Town Beach.
Continue reading...Joint study conducted finds that fish fed a diet including plastic were more likely to be eaten themselves
Microplastics can alter the behaviour of fish, with those that ingest the pollutants likely to be bolder, more active and swim in risky areas where they die en masse, according to a new study.
The survival risk posed by microplastics is also exacerbated by degrading coral reefs, as dying corals make particularly younger fish more desperate to find nutrition and shelter, and to venture into waters where they are more likely to be taken by predators themselves.
Continue reading...Hilsa fishermen must borrow to buy equipment but have to sell their catch at a low price to moneylenders – creating a generational debt trap
Kalam Sheikh’s life revolves around the few months when he goes in search of Bangladesh’s prized hilsa fish. When he gets a good catch, he can make enough money to live on for the rest of the year. He can pay off some of his debts and even improve his home.
But this fragile annual cycle has been broken this year, with bad catches bookended by months off the water by the coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions to stop overfishing.
Continue reading...Scientists searching for reasons fear breeding cycle will be disrupted for years to come
An estimated 5,000 Cape fur seal foetuses have been found along the shores of Namibia, a large portion of the expected new pup arrivals.
The bodies were spotted by Naude Dreyer of Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN), who flew his drone over Walvis Bay’s Pelican Point seal colony on 5 October and counted hundreds of bodies. “This is tragic, as it makes up a large portion of the new pup arrivals expected in late November,” he tweeted.
Continue reading...Voluntary action of companies including Tesco and Princes aims to put pressure on regulatory body to tackle overfishing
British supermarkets and brands, including Tesco, the Co-op and Princes, are stepping up action to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, amid warnings the stock is in a “critical” state.
The effort, by companies reliant on healthy fish stocks, represents a counterintuitive effort to force regulators to act, rather than the other way around.
Continue reading...La Niña’s possible influence on feeding considered as Western Australian surfer’s death takes 2020 toll to highest in 86 years
More Australians have been killed in unprovoked shark attacks this year than in any year since 1934.
But the total number of shark bites is in line with the annual average over the past decade. It is prompting experts to consider whether the La Niña weather event, associated with cooler sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific, may be affecting where sharks search for prey.
Continue reading...Huge creature took wrong turn after coming ashore and ended up in suburbs of Puerto Cisnes
Chile’s overnight curfew, declared at the end of March to help curb the spread of Covid-19 through the narrow South American country, has not been universally observed by all species. Emboldened by the lack of people and cars, seven mountain lions have been captured on the streets of Santiago in recent months. Now it appears the large cats are not the only creatures keen for a change of scene.
On Monday night, the residents of Puerto Cisnes, a coastal town 1,500km (932 miles) south of the capital, were treated to the decidedly un-swanlike spectacle of a two-tonne elephant seal hauling itself through their neighbourhoods at a surprisingly decent clip.
Continue reading...Inquiry into encounters off coasts of Spain and Portugal says speed could be a factor
Experts investigating a series of extraordinary encounters between orcas and yachts off the coasts of Spain and Portugal believe the animals responsible may have been triggered to target boat rudders by an earlier “aversive incident” involving some kind of vessel.
Related: 'They were having a real go': man tells of orca encounter off Spain
Continue reading...Thirty times more plastic on ocean floor than surface, analysis suggests, but more trapped on land than sea
At least 14m tonnes of plastic pieces less than 5mm wide are likely sitting at the bottom of the world’s oceans, according to an estimate based on new research.
Analysis of ocean sediments from as deep as 3km suggests there could be more than 30 times as much plastic at the bottom of the world’s ocean than there is floating at the surface.
Continue reading...Injured surfers and large number of dead sea creatures reported in Kamchatka region
Water pollution in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula that caused sea creatures to wash up dead on beaches has prompted fears that rocket fuel stored in the region’s military testing grounds may have leaked.
The pollution came to light late last month after surfers reported stinging eyes and said the water had changed colour and developed an odour. Officials later confirmed the surfers had sustained mild burns to their corneas.
Continue reading...A lack of awareness and ever-increasing competition among fishing boats threaten one of the sea’s most vital species
The temperature is cooling down in the fish market in Monastir, Tunisia. Still, the suffocating smell of the fish guts that have sat through the full force of the day’s heat hangs heavy in the air. The stallholders have left now, but on the floor amid the detritus is the unmistakable shape of a severed shark’s head.
Nearby, in a skip, the bodies of two guitarfish rays lie discarded, stripped of meat to the cartilage.
Continue reading...Three orcas rammed a boat off the coast of Spain.
The incident lasted 45 minutes, during which the animals bit off part of the the sailing boat's rudder as the crew had to travel to a port in Galicia to check for further damage.
A number of incidents involving orcas and sailing boats have been reported near Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but the reasons behind the behaviour are still not clear
Continue reading...Yachts less than 15 metres told to avoid area near coast of Galicia after series of incidents
Small yachts have been ordered to steer clear of a stretch of water off the north-west coast of Spain after at least three boats were damaged by a gang of boisterous orcas.
On Tuesday, Spain’s transport ministry said yachts of less than 15 metres in length would be banned from sailing close to the coast between Cape Prioriño Grande and Estaca de Bares point in Galicia for a week.
Continue reading...More than 450 long-finned pilot whales became stranded in harbour in Tasmania with rescuers managing to save about 50
About 380 pilot whales were confirmed dead in Tasmania’s west on Wednesday afternoon with rescuers fighting to save the remaining 30 that are still alive.
More than 450 long-finned pilot whales were caught on sandbanks and beaches inside Macquarie Harbour with a rescue effort starting on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Revival prompts calls to divert boats to help protect native Indo-Pacific humpbacks
Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.
Continue reading...Reports of orcas striking sailing boats in the Straits of Gibraltar have left sailors and scientists confused. Just what is causing such unusually aggressive behaviour?
When nine killer whales surrounded the 46ft boat that Victoria Morris was crewing in Spain on the afternoon of 29 July, she was elated. The biology graduate taught sailing in New Zealand and is used to friendly orca encounters. But the atmosphere quickly changed when they started ramming the hull, spinning the boat 180 degrees, disabling the autohelm and engine. The 23-year-old watched broken bits of the rudder float off, leaving the four-person crew without steering, drifting into the Gibraltar Straits shipping lane between Cape Trafalgar and the small town of Barbate.
Related: Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal
Continue reading...From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew
Full story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats
Scientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.
In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain, sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage.
Continue reading...Tuesday’s fatal incident has reignited the debate about the efficacy of nets and drumlines in protecting beachgoers from shark attacks
Gold Coast surfer Nick Slater was paddling in barely waist-deep water when he was attacked by a shark and the 46-year-old may have died before he was helped to the shore, witnesses have said.
Tuesday’s incident was the first fatal shark attack at the tourist destination’s beaches since 1958 and it has reignited the debate about the efficacy of nets and drumlines.
Continue reading...UK study shows dorsal fin of prehistoric mega-fish was similar height to adult human
The enormous size of a prehistoric mega-shark made famous in Hollywood films has been revealed for the first time in its entirety by a UK study.
Previously only the length of the Otodus megalodon had been estimated, but a team from the University of Bristol and Swansea University has determined the size of the rest of its body, including fins as large as an adult human.
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