Sri Lankan waters under ‘close watch’ following wreckage of Iranian warship
GALLE, Sri Lanka — On March 4, an Iranian Navy frigate IRIS Dena sank some 40-50 nautical miles off the southern coast of Galle, an important maritime route in Sri…
Marine Conservation News
25 years after ‘disaster’ declaration, major U.S. fishery makes a comeback
PORT ORFORD, Oregon, U.S. — Aaron Longton reached down into the rinsing sink in his garage-turned-fish-processing facility on the Oregon coast and hoisted a redbanded rockfish by its fat bottom…
Seafood fraud is rampant, imperiling fish populations, report finds
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…
China’s Pacific squid fishery rife with labor, fishing abuses: Report
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…
How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish
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…
Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil
A Mongabay exposé that revealed widespread Brazilian government procurements of shark meat to serve in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions has won first place in the…
Ocean Equity Index aims to measure justice at sea
Ocean projects and governance systems abound globally— everything from offshore energy to coastal aquaculture and fishing treaties — yet there is no standardized way to measure how equitable they are.…
Indigenous Ikoots community prepares to relocate as the Pacific floods their town
CUAUHTÉMOC, Mexico — On a wind-battered beach in San Mateo del Mar, Mexico, four figures haul a net into shore. Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) mark the fishers’ position in a high,…
Panama NGOs face lawsuits, asset seizures in fight over port construction
For more than a year, dozens of environmental groups have been fighting the construction of a controversial port in Panama, arguing that it will harm marine life and the mangroves…
In Thailand, a coral cryobank tries to buy time for dying reefs
In a quiet laboratory at Phuket Rajabhat University in southern Thailand, Preeyanuch Thongpoo is attempting to freeze time. As a molecular biologist, her work focuses on the cryopreservation of live…
New study assesses geoengineering marine ecosystem risks, knowledge gaps
Science has made it clear: The prospect of heat waves without end, increasingly destructive floods, relentless drought, rapidly rising sea levels, and the risk of “point of no return” tipping…
Scientists discover a new whale highway after tagging a pygmy blue whale by drone
Indonesian scientists have attached a satellite tag onto an endangered pygmy blue whales for the first time by drone. The tag’s data not only revealed a new feeding site for…
Coral bleaching: How warming seas are transforming the world’s reefs
In ordinary circumstances coral reefs are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, built slowly by animals that appear to be plants. Each coral polyp houses microscopic algae that convert…
Sustainable fisheries can’t be built on exploited labor (commentary)
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…
In Kenya’s Jomvu Creek, women help restore a vanishing coast through crab farming
MOMBASA COUNTY, Kenya — Five minutes’ walk up the hilly road from the mangroves lining the tidal flats of Jomvu Creek, the sharp scent of sea water fills the air.…
‘Free for all’ — Dominican Republic withdraws trade protections, the latest blow to American eels’ future
Slimy, snake-shaped and yellow-brown, freshwater eels swim the rivers, estuaries and the coastal waters of Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa and North America. Despite what their name says, these fish have…
Cambodia’s canal mega-project threatens coastal communities and marine life
This is the first of two stories about the potential impact of Cambodia’s planned Funan Techo Canal. Part two, about consequences for inland communities and wildlife, can be read here.…
Abandoned tuna-fishing devices pollute the Galápagos Marine Reserve
SANTA CRUZ, GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador — “Good morning,” Walter Borbor, a social media-famous fisher, says to his followers in a 2022 Instagram video. “What we have here is a plantado.”…
Critical shark and ray habitats in Western Indian Ocean largely unprotected: Study
Sharks and rays in the Western Indian Ocean are facing an extinction crisis. Almost half of the region’s 270 known species (46%) are currently threatened with extinction. A recently released…
Whale sharks released from nets along India’s coast as fishers turn rescuers
On a March morning in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state’s capital in southern India, a group of fishers were hauling their kambavala — a traditional net fixed between bamboo…
Seagrass restoration in Malaysia finds multi-species approach boosts recovery
In the shallow waters off Johor Bahru’s rapidly urbanizing shoreline in Peninsular Malaysia, a busy assemblage of crabs, marine worms and mollusks are a sign of recovery. Just over a…
Lower levels of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in North Atlantic whales show regulations work: Study
North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago, offering rare good news about the effectiveness of…
Division’s final journey
Division was four years old when he died, a young age even by the shortened standards now applied to North Atlantic right whales. His body was found in late…
Coast-to-coast coral assessment reveals Thailand’s reefs losing complexity
Marine scientists compiling the most holistic “snapshot” of Thailand’s coral reefs to date have uncovered evidence of a long-suspected reality: Thailand’s coral reefs are losing structural complexity. Home to more…
Making 60% of the ocean manageable (Commentary)
For most of modern history, the open ocean has been treated as a place apart. Beyond the 200-nautical-mile limits of national jurisdiction, it was governed by custom, fragmented rules, and…
A new treaty comes into force to govern life on the high seas
For most of modern history, the open ocean has been treated as a place apart. Beyond the 200-nautical-mile limits of national jurisdiction, it was governed by custom, fragmented rules, and…
Ocean set ‘alarming’ new temperature record in 2025
Every calendar year since 2019, ocean temperatures have reached new record highs. 2025 was no exception, according to a new study. The study, published Jan. 9 in the journal Advances…
Study tracks fishing boats to see how heat waves affect fish distribution
Marine heat waves have become longer and more frequent along the U.S. West Coast, as elsewhere in the world. But heating doesn’t always lead fish to change their location. A…
Azores must respect its exceptional network of marine protected areas (commentary)
At the end of 2024, the Azores stood as a beacon of hope and a global leader in ocean conservation, having created the largest network of marine protected areas (MPAs)…
Emma Johnston, a marine ecologist with institutional reach, has died at 52
Universities like to present themselves as durable institutions. They outlast governments, ride out recessions, and take pride in the slow accumulation of knowledge. In Australia, that confidence has been tested…
Fishing ‘modernization’ leaves Tanzania’s small-scale crews struggling to stay afloat
KILWA, Tanzania — For some fishers in Tanzania’s Kilwa district who were among the first to receive fishing boats under a government-sponsored program, the vessels are proving to be a…
Kristina Gjerde, defender of the deep ocean, has died
Half the planet lies outside any country’s border. In those waters, rules have long been thinner than the myths: freedom to fish meant freedom to take; “out of sight” became…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Satellite data show burst of deforestation in Myanmar rare earth mining hotspots
- 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
Oceans
- Mongabay shark meat exposé wins national journalism education award in Brazil
- Indigenous concerns surface as U.S. agency considers seabed mining in Alaskan waters
- Methane chasers: Hunting a climate-changing gas seeping from Earth’s seafloor
- Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows
Amazon Conservation
- Researchers eye jaguar conservation wins under Brazil Indigenous stewardship project
- ‘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
Land rights and extractives
- What’s happening with the global treaty to trace critical minerals?
- In the race for DRC’s critical minerals, community forests are on the frontline
- Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)
- Indigenous guardians successfully keep extractives out of Ecuador’s Amazon forests
Endangered Environmentalists
- José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous territories, aged 44
- A killing with precedent: Kaiowá man’s murder fits a pattern in Brazil
- Environmental & rights activists flee and hide as M23 captures DRC’s cities
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
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
- Flores’ geothermal ambitions collide with justice, culture & local resistance
- 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
