Ocean Sentry
Species are at risk in marine, freshwater and land ecosystems. Cumulatively 4000 native species are currently threatened with or at risk of extinction – 90 percent of seabirds, 76 percent of freshwater fish, 84 percent of reptiles, and 46 percent of vascular plants.
April, 2019
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18 April
200 hectares of mangrove on fire in Campeche’s Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve
Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve is a permanently flooded salt marsh with a high diversity of flora and fauna. The most representative ecosystems of the area can be found here such as seagrasses and petenes. Damage is not yet quantified.
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17 April
Turtles’ absence from Nicaraguan stronghold raises alarm for future
Not a single leatherback nested at the Chacocente reserve this year as the species faces threats of poaching and warming seas.
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16 April
The amount of plastic in the ocean is a lot worse than we thought, study says
The amount of plastic that’s been dumped into the ocean has been increasing, according to a new study, and the problem will probably get worse.
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16 April
Caspian Sea faces pollution threat
Of the more than one million seals which inhabited the shores and islands of the Caspian a century ago fewer than 10 percent remain, and the species has been declared endangered. In 2003, his group found 750 seal carcasses in just one month.
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16 April
Warming Arctic permafrost releasing large amounts of potent greenhouse gas
A recent paper shows that nitrous oxide emissions from thawing Alaskan permafrost are about twelve times higher than previously assumed.
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16 April
Bryde’s whales in Gulf of Mexico are endangered
There probably are about 33 of them in a deepwater area called the DeSoto Canyon. If there are any in the southern Gulf, the total including the known population is probably less than 100.
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16 April
Sharks more vulnerable than originally thought
Total number of sharks and rays caught annually by small-scale fisheries in the South West Indian Ocean is estimated to be 2,500,000 individuals — 73% more than officially reported.
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11 April
Endangered turtle returns to beach to lay its eggs only to find runway has been built
A turtle which came ashore an island in the Maldives historically popular as a nesting site was seen laying her eggs in the middle of a new airport runway which has been built across what used to be a beach.
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11 April
Arctic temperatures warmest in more than 10,000 years
Arctic temperatures are the warmest they’ve been in more than 10,000 years, according to a new University of Alberta study that highlights alarming rates of climate warming and thawing of permafrost in Northern Canada.
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11 April
Canada’s seal “hunt” has begun
This first week is usually the most brutal, with thousands of seal pups being killed daily.
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10 April
Clues emerge in ‘missing’ ocean plastics conundrum
It’s a puzzle that has perplexed scientists for years: humanity dumps millions of tonnes of plastics into the world’s oceans annually, yet only a tiny fraction remains visible on the surface.