Hunting, fishing causing dramatic decline in Amazon river dolphins
Both species of Amazon river dolphin declined by over 90 percent between 1994-2017 in an Amazonas state reserve, mostly due to hunting and fishing: study.
Illegal Fishing News
Bust of shark smugglers in Galápagos waters leads to breakthrough in global transshipment data
On Aug. 13 last year, the Ecuadorian navy intercepted a suspicious-looking vessel near the Galápagos Islands. Climbing aboard, authorities found freezers full of thousands of sharks, some of them endangered…
Government subsidies serving to prop up destructive high-seas fishing: study
Much of the fishing that takes place in international waters would be unprofitable without the billions of dollars in subsidies pumped in by governments to sustain the ecologically destructive industry,…
Indonesia targets illegal fishing vessel owners under new bill
JAKARTA — The owners of ships engaged in illegal fishing in Indonesia could finally face criminal justice under proposed amendments to the country’s fisheries law, as the government seeks to…
Longest recorded whale shark migration eclipses 20,000 kilometers
A team of scientists has tracked a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) across more than 20,000 kilometers (over 12,000 miles) of ocean, the longest migration ever recorded for the species. In…
More than 800 totoaba swim bladders confiscated by Mexican authorities in smuggling busts
In a span of five days in late April, Mexican police arrested two men attempting to take hundreds of dried swim bladders, harvested from a critically endangered species of fish,…
Indonesia’s crackdown on illegal fishing is paying off, study finds
JAKARTA — Tough measures by Indonesia to protect its fisheries from foreign poaching vessels are proving effective in helping replenish fish stocks, a new study says. Seizing and blowing up…
Cambodia creates its first marine national park where pirate fishers prowl
In February, Cambodia announced the establishment of its very first marine national park, covering 524 square kilometers (202 square miles) in the Gulf of Thailand. But the declaration does nothing…
Only 12 vaquita porpoises remain, watchdog group reports
The International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita reported in 2017 that there were just 30 vaquita left in the Upper Gulf of California, the species’ only known habitat. The…
New maps reveal industrial fishing in over half of world’s oceans
Industrial fishing takes place across more than 55 percent of the world’s oceans, according to a new study published in Science. Fishing is vital for food security and livelihoods across…
Duterte orders navy to fire on foreign poachers in Philippine waters
President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has called on the navy to shoot at foreign ships suspected of extracting natural resources from his country’s exclusive maritime territory. Duterte made the…
Indonesia buckles to protests against seine fishing ban
JAKARTA — Indonesia has eased off from the full enforcement of a ban on fishing using a controversial type of dragnet known as a seine, following protests by fishermen. Under…
Mesoamerican Reef gets improving bill of health
A recent report tracking the health of the Mesoamerican Reef indicates that conservation efforts might be helping to turn the tide for the reef itself and the people who depend…
Indonesia seeks to slap money-laundering label on illegal fishing
JAKARTA — Indonesia is lobbying the United Nations to allow governments worldwide to pursue money-laundering charges against illegal fishing operators, in a bid to crack down on the practice more…
Building a refuge where trawlers now ravage Cambodia’s marine life
KEP ARCHIPELAGO, Cambodia – It’s not long before midnight and an outlaw trawler has been spotted. The captain — a weather-gnarled old fisherman wearing just boxer shorts — winces as…
African Parks backs marine reserve brimming with wildlife in Mozambique
A sliver of ocean on the Southern Africa coast is getting a new chance at success thanks to an agreement announced Dec. 6. The National Administration of Conservation Areas of…
![White’s seahorse (Hippocampus whitei). This species is listed as Data Deficient by the IUCN, and was previously listed as Vulnerable, but there have been too few studies to say whether it remains at risk in the wild. Photo by Sylke Rohrlach via Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0].](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/12/01133743/SMowbray_Seahorses_7_Banner-768x451.jpg)
Catch-all fisheries are squeezing Asia’s seahorses
Some of the fishing boats around Phu Quoc Island off southwestern Vietnam use trawl nets that drag along the seafloor, catching everything in their sweep. Others send divers into the…
![White’s seahorse (Hippocampus whitei). This species is listed as Data Deficient by the IUCN, and was previously listed as Vulnerable, but there have been too few studies to say whether it remains at risk in the wild. Photo by Sylke Rohrlach via Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0].](https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/12/01133743/SMowbray_Seahorses_7_Banner-100x100.jpg)
VaquitaCPR ends capture program in Gulf of California after vaquita dies in captivity
VaquitaCPR, the emergency conservation team pulled together by the Mexican government in a desperate attempt to save the vaquita from extinction, announced last Friday that its capture program had come…
Breeding-age female vaquita dies after being taken into captivity
Last month, the government of Mexico launched a last-ditch effort to save the Critically Endangered vaquita, a small porpoise known to reside only in the Gulf of California. A team…
Can technology drive conservation? Experts discuss in Mongabay forum (video)
Can technology drive conservation? That was the question Mongabay founder Rhett Butler recently posed to a panel of three specialists on the frontlines of applying technology to conserve key species…
First vaquita ‘rescued’ in bid to save the porpoise from extinction
For the first time, a team of scientists has captured and then released a vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a rare porpoise in the Gulf of California, as part of a project…
Mexico takes ‘unprecedented’ action to save vaquita
A team of marine mammal experts is searching for the last vaquitas (Phocoena sinus) in the Gulf of California. They’ve gathered in northern Mexico, at the invitation of the government…
‘SALT’ alliance aims to tackle illegal fishing on a global scale
A new alliance, introduced today at an EU-hosted conference on oceans in Malta, has joined the global effort to shore up legality in the seafood industry. Between 11 million and…
Trade in silky and thresher sharks now to be strictly regulated
International trade in silky and thresher sharks will now be strictly regulated, according to a press release by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). All three species…
Indonesia’s decision to share vessel tracking data ‘ill-advised,’ some say
JAKARTA — Not everyone supports the Indonesian government’s decision to publish information on the location of fishing boats in its waters, via data mapping platform Global Fishing Watch, accessible to…
Will banning trade in fins help endangered sharks? Some experts say no
Dave Ebert pulls up an image on his computer screen. The object in the picture is shaped like an oversize arrowhead, thin, yellowish, and fraying at its edges. It’s a…
Seafood giant Thai Union commits to clean up supply chains following pressure campaign
After a two-year-long campaign that saw nearly 700,000 people call on Thai Union Group to shift to more sustainable and ethical canned tuna, the global seafood giant has committed to…
Leonardo DiCaprio teams up with Mexico’s president and wealthiest individual to save the vaquita
Actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has jumped into the fight to save the critically endangered vaquita together with the president of Mexico and the country’s wealthiest individual. An agreement signed…
To help stop illegal fishing, ban practice of transshipment on high seas, researchers say
New research concludes that a total ban on the practice of transshipment on the high seas is necessary to help stop illegal fishing and reduce the human trafficking and labor…
Officials, Greenpeace nab four boats for illegally fishing near Guinea-Bissau
A joint patrol by the environmental organization Greenpeace and fisheries managers in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau has turned up a bevy of fishing boats that Greenpeace says were violating…
Fish magnet boom creates headaches in Indonesia’s war on overfishing
Made by human hands, thousands of floating structures that attract fish speckle Indonesian waters throughout the archipelago. Some drift. Some stand anchored to the ocean bottom. These fish aggregating devices —…
There are now just 30 vaquita left in the wild
The vaquita continues to earn its title as “the world’s most endangered cetacean species.” According to a recent report by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA),…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Southeast Asia’s fisheries thrive despite decades of overfishing warnings: Study
- Peruvian fishers sue for additional compensation after big December oil spill
- Smuggling networks exploit migrant debt to fuel tiger poaching in Malaysia, study shows
- Community-based conservation cuts thresher shark fishing by 91% in Indonesia: Study
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- ‘Colombia’s Amazon peoples provide solutions’: Interview with José Homero Mutumbajoy
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
