Category Archives: Oceans

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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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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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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Marine heatwave found to have engulfed area of ocean five times the size of Australia

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World Meteorological Organization report says record heat in 2024 was driven by climate crisis and intersected with extreme weather events

Almost 40 million sq kilometres of ocean around south-east Asia and the Pacific – an area five times the size of Australia – was engulfed in a marine heatwave in 2024, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report has revealed.

WMO scientists said the record heat – on land and in the ocean – was mostly driven by the climate crisis and coincided with a string of extreme weather events, from deadly landslides in the Philippines to floods in Australia and rapid glacier loss in Indonesia.

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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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UK falling behind on tackling microplastic pollution, scientists say

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Researchers call for urgent action as fragments of plastic found in human brains and pollute food, water and air

The UK is falling behind on international efforts to tackle microplastics, scientists have said, as the pollutants continue to infiltrate food, ecosystems and human bodies.

The tiny fragments of plastic have been found in human testicles and brains, and they burrow into plants, inhibiting their ability to photosynthesise. The impact on human health is largely unknown, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks.

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More than 80% of the world’s reefs hit by bleaching after worst global event on record

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An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says

The world’s coral reefs have been pushed into “uncharted territory” by the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet’s reefs, scientists have warned.

Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest data from the US government’s Coral Reef Watch shows.

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Canadian company in negotiations with Trump to mine seabed

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Environmentalists call bid to skirt UN treaty ‘reckless’ amid fears that mining will cause irreversible loss of biodiversity

A Canadian deep-sea mining firm has revealed it has been negotiating with the Trump administration to bypass a UN treaty and potentially gain authorisation from the US to mine in international waters.

The revelation has stunned environmentalists, who condemned the move as “reckless” and a “slap in the face for multilateralism”.

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Ocean rower Aurimas Mockus stranded by cyclone off Australia’s east coast safely rescued

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Lithuanian rower’s two-day wait to be rescued off Queensland comes to an end

A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.

Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.

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‘Catastrophic’: Great Barrier Reef hit by its most widespread coral bleaching, study finds

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More than 40% of individual corals monitored around One Tree Island reef bleached by heat stress and damaged by flesh-eating disease

More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to hit the reef system, a study has found.

Scientists tracked 462 colonies of corals at One Tree Island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef after heat stress began to turn the corals white in early 2024. Researchers said they encountered “catastrophic” scenes at the reef.

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2024 was hottest year on record for world’s land and oceans, US scientists confirm

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Noaa says last year was the warmest since records began in 1850 and Nasa concurs: ‘The long-term trends are very clear’

It was the hottest year ever recorded for the world’s lands and oceans in 2024, US government scientists have confirmed, providing yet another measure of how the climate crisis is pushing humanity into temperatures we have previously never experienced.

Last year was the hottest in global temperature records stretching back to 1850, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa_ announced, with the worldwide average 1.46C (2.6F) warmer than the era prior to humans burning huge volumes of planet-heating fossil fuels.

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Tourism agency deletes ‘pristine swimming spot’ post about unpatrolled beach on Mornington Peninsula

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Video removed as Life Saving Victoria carries out 145 rescues – ‘We don’t remember when we’ve been that busy’

Victoria’s tourism agency has removed a social media post that described an unpatrolled ocean beach on the Mornington Peninsula as a “pristine swimming spot” amid almost 150 rescues on the state’s beaches on Saturday.

Number 16 beach, on the Bass Strait side of Rye, is described on the Visit Victoria website as “recommended for experienced surfers only” as it is not patrolled by lifesavers. It has a reputation among local residents as dangerous.

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‘Heck of a light show’: spectacular bloom of bioluminescence returns to Tasmania’s coastline

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Phenomenon known as ‘sea sparkles’ or ‘red tide’ is caused by masses of noctiluca scintillans, a pink-coloured algae

Masses of glittering algae have returned to Tasmania’s coastline in a spectacular bloom of bioluminescence that experts say is the largest seen in years.

The phenomenon, known as “sea sparkles” or “red tide”, was caused by masses of noctiluca scintillans, a pink-coloured algae that experts say was beautiful to look at, but considered bad news for the environment.

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Cruise ships urged to ‘clean up their act’ amid concerns toxic effluent being dumped on Great Barrier Reef

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Environmentalists say marine park waste regulations need updating to limit grey water and exhaust chemicals as passenger cruise numbers rise

Environmentalists and tourism operators on the Great Barrier Reef say authorities must enforce stricter pollution standards on cruise liners visiting the world heritage area amid growth in passenger cruise numbers and concern that ships are dumping toxins into the water.

The Whitsunday Conservation Council says the definition of “waste” used to prevent marine discharge on the reef – which dates back to the 1970s – does not restrict discharge from sulphur “scrubbers” that have become commonplace in the shipping industry.

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‘The first thing I did was poke it’: Canada beach blobs mystery solved by chemists

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Newfoundland Memorial Univeristy team find white masses are likely material used to clean pipes in oil industry

When the chemist Chris Kozak finally got his hands on a sample of the mysterious blobs that recently washed up on the shores of Newfoundland’s beaches, Project Unknown Glob officially began.

At his disposal, Kozak and a team of graduate students had the “gorgeous” new science building and “world-class facilities” of Newfoundland’s Memorial University to run a battery of tests on the white, doughy blob.

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‘Wicked problem’: five charts that show how the climate crisis is making Australia more dangerous

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A report by BoM and CSIRO checks ‘vital signs of Australia’s climate’ – and shows temperature trends will only worsen

“It is a wicked problem,” says Dr Karl Braganza at the Bureau of Meteorology, after running through Australia’s latest State of the Climate report.

The effects of rising heat on land and in the oceans, coupled with rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, are changing Australia’s climate rapidly and “flowing through to how our society, economy and other things operate”.

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Abandoning Bass Strait oil and gas structures would breach international law, expert warns

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Australia must insist on full removal when ExxonMobil decommissions offshore project, Wilderness Society says

An international law expert has warned that abandoning oil and gas infrastructure in Bass Strait would breach Australia’s obligations under international law, if ExxonMobil pursues this plan in decommissioning its Gippsland offshore project.

Prof Donald Rothwell, who specialises in international law at the Australian National University, said Bass Strait was used for international navigation and had special status under the UN convention on the law of the sea and related International Maritime Organisation guidelines.

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Corporations using ‘ineffectual’ carbon offsets are slowing path to ‘real zero’, more than 60 climate scientists say

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Pledge signed by experts from nine countries reflects concerns that offsets generated from forest-related projects may not have cut emissions

Carbon offsets used by corporations around the world to lower their reportable greenhouse gas emissions are “ineffectual” and “hindering the energy transition”, according to more than 60 leading climate change scientists.

A pledge signed by scientists from nine countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, said the “only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts” was “real zero” and not “net zero”.

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Popular Sydney beaches among quarter of NSW swimming spots polluted with faecal matter in past year

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Shelly beach, Bronte, Coogee and Malabar among those rated ‘poor’ as swimmers urged to check water quality online

More than a quarter of New South Wales’ favourite swimming spots have been polluted by faecal matter over the past year including Sydney’s Coogee, Bronte and Malabar beaches.

With the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a wet summer, the government has urged swimmers to check its online water quality monitor for updates after its annual state of the beaches report found 28% of the 218 tracked sites experienced pollution.

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Mysterious gooey blobs washed up on Canada beaches baffle experts

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Residents and marine scientists unable to identify pale masses, as myriad theories are blown out of the water

They are slimy on the outside, firm and spongy on the inside and surprisingly combustible. And in recent months, they have been washing up on the shores of Newfoundland.

The depths of the Atlantic have long held mysteries, but the riddle of the mysterious white “blobs” spotted on the beaches of the eastern Canadian province has baffled both residents and marine scientists.

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