2024 was a record year for tropical tuna catch in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, thanks to a big increase in skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) catch, and stocks are considered healthy. So…
Fish maw — the dried swim bladder of ray-finned fishes — is prized across East and Southeast Asia as a culinary delicacy and symbol of wealth and status. In Chinese…
LUANG PRABANG, Laos — “No coffee, no coffee,” repeated the security guard. His smile stood in stark contrast to his faded camouflage fatigues and the machine gun slung over his…
Among the many spectacular reef fishes swimming the Indo-Pacific corals, from Africa to Oceania, is the big-eyed, bulge-faced, thick-lipped, blue-green humphead wrasse, also known as the Napoleon wrasse. It’s among…
A recent report surveying seizures of pangolin scales and elephant ivory over the past decade has found a sharp decline following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from media reports, public…
KATHMANDU — The first-ever study of GPS-collared snow leopards carried out in Nepal has shown that these hyper elusive big cats spend up to a third of their time in…
Artificial upwelling is a geoengineering climate solution with a long history. The concept: mimic natural ocean upwelling by pumping cold, nutrient-rich seawater up from ocean depths via pipes to the…
In 2019, Malawi registered a massive win in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade. Intelligence-driven operations culminated in the arrest of more than a dozen members of the Chinese-led…
Wildlife conservation activists have welcomed an update to China’s list of officially sanctioned medicines, which drops 13 traditional formulas containing pangolin parts. The move offers the world’s most trafficked mammal…
Fish farms boomed globally in recent decades — more than half the world’s seafood now comes from aquaculture — but it’s not a boom all environmentalists support. One argument that critics…
The world’s biggest seafood companies might seem to have a vested interest in healthy marine ecosystems and plentiful fish stocks. Many claim a commitment to biodiversity in their public messaging.…
When it comes to reforestation, planting a diversity of tree species could have a plethora of positive effects on forest health and resilience, climate mitigation and biodiversity. That’s based on…
Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko), named after their characteristic “to-kay” calls, are among the largest geckos in the world and inhabit rainforests and human-modified landscapes across South and Southeast Asia. As…
Fishing vessels can often work long periods at sea without coming to port, thanks to the practice of transshipment, in which catches are transferred at sea to carrier ships called…
Fisheries observers hold a job little known by the general public but essential to the health of the oceans: monitoring the work on industrial fishing vessels. The sector has its…
Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, hit the headlines more often for the illegal trade in their scales and meat than for their cherished role in their environment. As insectivores,…
JAKARTA — More than 75% of the nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, home to the biggest reserves of this critical mineral, is controlled by Chinese companies, many with affiliations to…
An analysis of Chinese court records from 2010 to 2023 finds that pangolin scale seizures in the country peaked in 2018 before beginning a steady decline. The paper attributes this…
In Nagasaki prefecture, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, J-Power, the operator of the aging Matsushima coal-fired power plant, has an idea to keep the unit operating despite the…
A giant anaconda, a vampire hedgehog, a dwarf squirrel, and a tiger cat were among the new species named by science in 2024. Found from the depths of the Pacific…
In 2018, Han Xue-song, then a researcher with the Beijing-based Shan Shui Conservation Center, was in the Sanjiangyuan region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surveying black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis). At an…
Parties members of the European People’s Party (EPP), a large center-right political party, received political donations from influential companies linked to illegal deforestation and which are likely to benefit from…
Chinese authorities are considering changes to wildlife trade regulations that govern the live trade in 18 parrot and reptile species, several of which are gravely threatened by poaching and illegal…
Labor abuses on foreign-flagged fishing vessels in Indonesia's remote eastern seas continue to claim lives, with Indonesian crew members bearing the brunt of exploitation amid weak law enforcement, a new…
I've spent a significant part of my career exploring and documenting how ecosystems function, and the profound impact humanity has on nature. Over time, I've come to recognize that not…
Fancy a taste of your own toenails? That’s what vendors in Vietnam or China could say when offering powdered rhino horn. This coveted “trophy” is made up of keratin, the…
The Chinese distant-water fishing fleet is a formidable force. For one thing, it’s the largest in the world, with at least 2,500 vessels — but likely many more. These vessels,…
The energy sector is the single largest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, spurring plans the world over to transition the sector away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. While…
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, where Philip Jacobson is a fellow. Four years of investigating jaguar parts trafficking rings in Latin America led Andrea…
States jostling for territorial dominance in the South China Sea have inflicted untold damage on the marine environment, according to a new investigation by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI)…
The Cao-vit gibbon is one of the most critically endangered apes in the world, with its entire population living in a single patch of protected forest on the border between…
Kamy Yeung said she wanted to do more scuba diving. So in 2014, she signed up to be a volunteer diver for a newly launched reef fish survey project in…
