Authorities in France and Spain have arrested six French nationals and two Spaniards who were allegedly part of a transnational syndicate that were trafficking critically endangered European eels. The suspects…
A lower limit on the size of the fleet targeting jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific Ocean, improved controls at ports and the introduction of electronic monitoring systems on…
Though seafood is a prevalent protein source in Bangladesh, some fishes, like stingrays and sharks, never appealed to most of the population here, barring a few coastal Indigenous groups. However,…
The global fisheries and aquaculture sector produces more than 150 million metric tons of food per year, valued at nearly $200 billion. Yet it’s plagued with fraud, according to a…
Labor abuses including violence, debt bondage and withheld wages and medical care, overfishing, shark finning, marine mammal killings: A new report exposes bad practices and a weak regulatory framework governing…
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — This small West African nation, whose mangrove-fringed coastal waters and expansive estuaries are important spawning grounds for fish species that migrate along the West African coast, long…
Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that…
MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely…
The deaths of migrant fishers at sea are largely driven by structural labor and governance failures, rather than by safety or compliance issues alone, a new study shows. Migrant sea…
For decades, the global fisheries conservation community has rightly focused on the health of fish stocks, the integrity of management systems, and the long-term sustainability of ocean resources. But there…
MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have proposed scaling back fishing regulations meant to protect a narrow stretch of ocean home to the last 10 remaining vaquitas, the world’s smallest species…
In rural communities living near Brazil’s Juruá River, a tributary of the Amazon River that flows northward through the country, families of fishers take turns in guarding the entrances of…
Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d…
Amid negotiations last week on wildlife trade regulations by delegates from around the world, one item was left out of the discussions. South Africa had been expected to bring to…
Sharks are some of the most threatened animals on Earth, with approximately one-third of all species assessed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. These animals are not…
HOPKINS, Belize — The Nassau grouper is drawn by the winter moon, between December and March, to special places where hundreds of the cryptic fish engage in a reproductive dance…
With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of…
Two years after Samuel Abayateye went missing from a fishing boat he was tasked with monitoring, Ghanaian authorities are no closer to announcing what happened to him. They also still…
“Your waters start here and go to over there!” a man says in an aggressive tone, his face hidden behind a black balaclava, standing at the water’s edge near a…
Ghana has adopted a new fisheries act that introduces a series of regulations aimed at restoring severely depleted pelagic fish stocks and tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. “The…
NAIVASHA, Kenya — It was still dark when the call came. Grace Nyambura, known to her neighbors in Karagita as Mama Chuma, was asleep when she got a call from…
For nearly two decades, Alejandro González has stood on the front lines of marine conservation in Mexico, from the coral-fringed reefs of Cabo Pulmo to the remote volcanic outposts of…
In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, local communities are leading the charge against environmental crime — and they’re succeeding. Our new peer-reviewed study published in Conservation Biology has found…
ASTURIAS, Spain, and YUCATÁN, Mexico — On a mild February morning, Isaac Blanco quickly places half a sardine into each cage as his brother, Julio, steers their boat along the…
They live in the ocean’s coldest, darkest depths, far from sight — but cold-water corals are far from safe. In a first-of-its-kind study published in Marine Biodiversity in June, a…
“I lost my sons, nephews, and grandson in this tragedy. I lost my older brother’s son. I can say that I lost almost ten relatives in this shipwreck. It is…
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…
Tiny, translucent and no longer than a finger, juvenile European eels, also known as glass eels, might not look like much. But demand for these slippery creatures, particularly in East…
Vietnam’s first marine protected area, Nha Trang Bay, has lost nearly 200 hectares (494 acres) of coral reef since its creation in 2002, a new study shows. The alarming decline…
Overfishing in Southeast Asia’s coastal waters has been reported since the 1970s, driven by overcapacity, high demand and population growth. While most studies point to the depletion of nearshore fisheries,…
COLOMBO — The Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar have long served as rich fishing grounds, providing bountiful harvests to Sri Lanka’s northern coastal communities. However, fishing activity in…
Over the past few decades, the harvesting of the Cortez oyster in western Mexico’s Marismas Nacionales — or the Marshes Biosphere Reserve — in Nayarit state has shifted from suffering…
