A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia’s West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging…
In May 2012, a satellite transmitter was attached to a subadult female white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) by OCEARCH as part of its shark expeditions in Gansbaai, a fishing town in…
Mongabay recently published an investigation revealing widespread Brazilian government purchases of shark meat to feed schoolchildren, hospital patients, prisoners and more. The series has generated public debate in the South…
COLOMBO —Galle Face Beach in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, Colombo, is a popular spot among city dwellers, watched over by lifeguards assigned by the coast guard unit of the Sri…
Each year since 2021, Pia Reveco and her husband have set sail from Puerto Montt to spend the Chilean summers navigating Patagonia aboard their sailboat. Last year, they traveled along…
Thwaites Glacier rises above the Amundsen Sea in the Antarctic, a towering white cliff abutting cerulean waters. Roughly the size of Great Britain and spanning 120 kilometers (80 miles) across,…
A major treaty establishing a framework for the world’s nations to jointly manage marine conservation in international waters, which cover about half of the Earth’s surface, has reached enough ratifications…
KLUNGKUNG, Indonesia — Many of the fishing boats here in Kusamba village leave behind the black sand in near silence as each jukung motors away from Bali’s east coast. “We’re…
The island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe has taken a significant step in marine conservation, announcing that it will establish eight marine protected areas in its coastal waters. The…
When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in…
Part one of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s treaty to ban harmful fisheries subsidies finally came into force Sept. 15. WTO member states adopted the treaty in June 2022 following…
This is Part 2 of a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Part 1 discussed international policy and politics. This part looks at efficiency measures. Those…
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…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has allowed a controversial nickel mine to resume operating in the marine haven of Raja Ampat, despite a company-commissioned study finding the project has harmed…
Diver and artisanal fisherman Daniel Caniullán recalls with frustration the day he went to collect shellfish from a natural bank in northern Chile, only to find hundreds of the plumose…
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has set up a new authority to build a massive seawall along the north coast of Java, a project aimed at shielding millions of residents from…
FORT BRAGG, U.S. — In 2024, I was scuba diving in Northern California’s Casper Cove where the Watermen’s Alliance, a group of ex-abalone sports divers, has been culling purple urchins…
Villa Blanca Reef off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to emblematic and endangered species, and is the site of a coral restoration project with 35 platforms growing different species of…
Fish and other marine organisms, though deeply affected by human activities, don’t respect human borders. The ranges of many commercially important species in fact straddle the borders of countries’ exclusive…
A growing number of oceans-based solutions to the climate crisis have been tried or devised in recent years, thanks largely to an influx of funding. These range from replanting lost…
Endangered shark meat and heavy metals found in Brazil’s public food trigger a reckoning.
Today’s beach outing is not the same as your grandparents’ beach outing: With intense summer heat waves now the norm due to climate change, and with the ozone layer still…
by 25 August 2025
In June 2023, after nearly two decades of negotiations, the international community adopted the “Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and…
Human activities have been the major driver of climate change since the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s. As greenhouse gas levels, primarily carbon dioxide due to the…
Galápagos iguanas look like prehistoric animals: Their scaly skin resembles volcanic rock, their backs are ridged with a row of spikes, and they have extremely long, curved claws. They use…
Biologist Valeria Falabella’s voice breaks as she describes the devastating scene. It was October 2023 when she and her team climbed down onto Punta Delgada Beach, in the Valdés Peninsula,…
KARAWANG/JAKARTA, Indonesia — At 55, Warno has spent the past quarter of a century making a living from a fish farm that he manages in Karawang district, in the Indonesian…
HOPKINS, Belize — Heaters, pumps and computerized meters rigged to an everyday picnic icebox may seem like a high school science project. But this heat stress tank may hold the…
The deep sea, the planet’s most expansive and least understood ecosystem, remains largely unexplored. Yet while the deep sea may seem a dark and distant space, events underwater directly impact…
Capturing carbon to ship or funnel it offshore for storage in depleted marine oil and gas wells is gaining momentum as a proposed climate solution, even as it faces criticism.…
There's hope for an iconic ocean predator that has mostly disappeared from California’s coastlines: the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). The population began to plummet in 2013, following an outbreak…
San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage…
