Category Archives: Marine life

Salmon farming in the Beagle Channel enters troubled waters | Hannah Summers

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Victory for community concerned about the industry’s environmental costs strengthens calls for shakeup of rules along Chilean coast

A growing wave of resistance to the expansion of salmon farms along the Chilean coast has led to an important victory in the fight to protect a pristine fjord in southern Patagonia, home to indigenous groups and an array of stunning wildlife.

Dolphins, whales and colonies of penguins thrive in the 240km-long Beagle Channel, an area of outstanding natural beauty between Chile and Argentina which attracts tourists from all over the world.

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New Zealand bans swimming with bottlenose dolphins after numbers plunge

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Conservation research shows humans are ‘loving the dolphins too much’ in Bay of Islands region

The New Zealand government has banned tourists from swimming with bottlenose dolphins in an attempt to save the struggling species.

According to the department of conservation [DoC] research has shown that humans were “loving the dolphins too much” and human interaction was “having a signifiant impact on the population’s resting and feeding behaviour”.

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Cuba drastically reforms fishing laws to protect coral reef, sharks and rays

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Reforms will oblige Cuba to work more closely with its US neighbours – in spite of US President Trump’s frosty attitude

Cuba has introduced sweeping reforms of its fishing laws in a move seen as smoothing the way for possible collaboration with the US on protecting their shared ocean, despite Donald Trump’s policy of reversing a thaw in relations.

The move is the first time the text of an environmental law in Cuba specifies the need for scientific research, which experts say will mean greater reliance on state-of-the-art US technology.

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Thailand’s ‘sweetheart’ dugong dies with plastic in stomach

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Vets say plastic caused orphan mammal’s infection and should serve as warning about pollution

An orphaned dugong named Marium, who became an internet star after being rescued in Thailand in April, has died.

Veterinarians caring for the dugong off the island of Koh Libong, in south Thailand’s Trang province, said an infection caused by ingesting plastic contributed to her death. They added that the loss of the animal, named “the nation’s sweetheart” by Thailand’s department of marine and coastal resources (DMCR), should serve as a warning about the effects of plastic waste on wildlife.

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Fewer than 19 vaquita porpoises left – study

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Calls for Mexico to crackdown on use of illegal fishing nets after further decline of species

There are fewer than 19 vaquita porpoises thought to be left, according to a study.

In 2016, estimates of the vaquita population stood at just 30, but research published in Royal Society Open Science suggests the figure has fallen further.

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Henderson Island: the Pacific paradise groaning under 18 tonnes of plastic waste

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Rubbish has been washing up on its isolated beaches in the Pitcairn chain at a rate of several thousand bits of plastic a day

Henderson Island, uninhabited and a day’s sea crossing from the nearest sign of civilisation, should be an untouched paradise.

Instead its beaches, which were awarded Unesco world heritage status in 1988, are a monument to humanity’s destructive, disposable culture.

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Heatwave cooks mussels in their shells on California shore

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Temperatures lead to what appears to be largest local die-off in 15 years, raising fears for broader ecosystem

In all her years working at Bodega Bay, the marine reserve research coordinator Jackie Sones had never seen anything like it: scores of dead mussels on the rocks, their shells gaping and scorched, their meats thoroughly cooked.

A record-breaking June heatwave apparently caused the largest die-off of mussels in at least 15 years at Bodega Head, a small headland on the northern California bay. And Sones received reports from other researchers of similar mass mussel deaths at various beaches across roughly 140 miles of coastline.

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Coping with crisis: how scientists are making an invasive crab a delicacy

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The little green invader gobbling shellfish and destroying habitats in the Gulf of Maine could finally have a predator – humans

In the salt marshes and estuaries of New England, the most dominant and fearsome predator is a voracious invader that grows to just inches and lays waste to everything in its path.

The European green crab first arrived in the new world more than 200 years go, smuggling itself to American shores in the ballast holds of transatlantic ships.

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Two whales flown from Shanghai aquarium to sanctuary in Iceland

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Female 12-year-old beluga whales Little Grey and Little White arrive at Klettsvik Bay

Two beluga whales from a Shanghai aquarium have arrived in Iceland to live out their days in a unique marine sanctuary that conservationists hope will become a model for rehoming 3,000 of the creatures currently in captivity.

Little Grey and Little White, two 12-year-old female belugas, left behind their previous lives entertaining visitors at the Changfeng Ocean World and were flown across the globe in specially tailored containers.

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Cyprus begins lionfish cull to tackle threat to Mediterranean ecosystem

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Voracious fish are bleeding into ocean ‘like a cut artery’, says top marine biologist

Cyprus has held its first organised cull of lionfish after numbers of the invasive species have proliferated in recent years, threatening the Mediterranean ecosystem and posing a venomous danger to humans.

“They’re actually very placid,” said Prof Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist, after spearing 16 of the exotic specimens in the space of 40 minutes in the inaugural “lionfish removal derby” off the island’s southern coast. He added: “The problem is they are not part of the natural ecosystem and we are seeing them in plague proportions.”

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Swimmer dies after shark attack in Hawaii

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65-year-old Californian man attacked off coast of Maui in first such death since 2015

A man has died in Hawaii after being attacked by a shark, local officials have said, the first such fatality in the state in four years.

The victim, a 65-year-old from California, is believed to have been swimming in clear, flat conditions about 60 yards from the shore at on the west coast of Maui on Saturday morning when the attack happened.

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Japanese man prepares for landmark case against dolphin hunts

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Taiji resident will testify in attempt to ban activity as part of charity’s legal challenge

A man from Taiji, the Japanese fishing town whose annual slaughter of dolphins has drawn widespread condemnation, will appear in court on Friday in an unprecedented legal challenge to the hunts.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the plaintiff, who has asked not to be named until the hearing has concluded, said he had been been ostracised in Taiji, where he was born and raised but decided to speak out against the hunts.

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Heavy metals and harmful chemicals ‘poison Europe’s seas’

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Three-quarters of areas tested show contamination, European Environment Agency says

Heavy metals and a cocktail of dangerous chemicals continue to poison Europe’s seas, with more than three-quarters of areas assessed showing contamination, according to a report.

The sea worst affected was the Baltic, where 96% of the assessed areas showed problematic levels of some harmful substances, according to the European Environment Agency. Similar problems were found in 91% of the Black Sea and 87% of the Mediterranean. In the north-east Atlantic, unsafe levels of chemicals or metals were found in 75% of assessed areas.

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Octopus farming is ‘unethical and a threat to the food chain’

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Mass-breeding of the highly intelligent creatures is ecologically unjustified, a new study says

Plans to create octopus farms in coastal waters round the world have been denounced by an international group of researchers. They say the move is ethically inexcusable and environmentally dangerous, and have called on private companies, academic institutions and governments to block funding for these ventures.

The researchers say that farming octopuses would require the catching of vast amounts of fish and shellfish to feed them, putting further pressure on the planet’s already threatened marine livestock.

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Very fishy: warming oceans linked to rise in tropical species in New Zealand waters

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Scientists have identified a spike in ‘vagrant’ species of fish including damselfish, wrasse and triggerfish

Warming ocean temperatures have been blamed for luring tropical fish thousands of kilometres into New Zealand waters, threatening vulnerable native species as they compete for resources.

Scientists have identified increasing numbers of what they call “vagrant” species rarely seen in the New Zealand’s oceans and said their extended visits were raising concerns about how the islands’ unique local wildlife would adapt.

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Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts

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Fisherman raised alarm after white whale sporting unusual strapping began harassing their boats

Marine experts in Norway believe they have stumbled upon a white whale that was trained by the Russian navy as part of a programme to use underwater mammals as a special ops force.

Fishermen in waters near the small Norwegian fishing village of Inga reported last week that a white beluga whale wearing a strange harness had begun to harass their fishing boats.

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Half of UK consumers willing to pay more to avoid plastic packaging

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Exclusive: eight in 10 trying to cut plastic waste and 46% feel guilty about it, survey shows

Eight in 10 consumers are trying to reduce their plastic waste and half would be willing to pay higher prices for eco-friendly packaging, according to a survey that highlights the impact of the Blue Planet documentary and the campaign to reduce such rubbish.

The research by YouGov shows 46% of people in the UK feel guilty about the amount of plastic they use, which is motivating them to consider changes in their behaviour, including paying more so companies will find alternatives to single-use plastics.

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One of last four giant softshell turtles dies in Chinese zoo

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Death of Yangtze giant softshell turtle came a day after artificial insemination attempt

The world’s rarest turtle has moved closer to extinction after a female died in a Chinese zoo, leaving just three known members of the species.

The Yangtze giant softshell turtle, believed to be more than 90 years old, died in Suzhou zoo on Saturday, according to the Suzhou Daily.

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