News

October, 2018

• 2 October

  Trapped dolphins die in Typhoon Trami

  

  As reported by Japanese media, “amongst the four dead, at least one dolphin perished from respiratory failure. The other three died of unspecified injuries. Others may have been injured as well.  
• 1 October

  Great Southern Reef to lose huge seaweed habitat to ocean warming

  

  Research into the future of Australia’s “other reef” – the Great Southern Reef – shows that even under the most optimistic carbon emission scenarios, ocean warming is likely to cause substantial loss of critical habitat-forming seaweeds by 2100.  
• 1 October

  China’s super trawlers are stripping the ocean bare as its hunger for seafood grows

  

  The world’s fisheries are in crisis. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates 90 per cent of them have collapsed and China is the major player in their demise.  

September, 2018

• 28 September

  Orca ‘apocalypse’: half of killer whales doomed to die from pollution

  

  At least half of the world’s killer whale populations are doomed to extinction due to toxic and persistent pollution of the oceans, according to a major new study.  
• 28 September

  Wetlands disappearing three times faster than forests: study

  

  Wetlands, among the world’s most valuable and biodiverse ecosystems, are disappearing at alarming speed amid urbanisation and agriculture shifts, conservationists said Thursday, calling for urgent action to halt the erosion.  
• 27 September

  Scientists link Southern Ocean’s rapid warming to human activity

  

  Now, in a new study, scientists found convincing evidence that these trends are the result of two human influences: climate change from greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of the ozone layer.  
• 26 September

  Climate change kills Antarctica’s ancient moss beds

  

  Emerging from the ice for a brief growing season every Antarctic summer, the lush green mosses of East Antarctica are finally succumbing to climate change.  
• 26 September

  Another southern resident orca is ailing — and at least three whales are pregnant

  

  Another orca is ailing in the critically endangered family of southern resident killer whales.  K25, a 27-year-old male, documented in aerial photographs since 2008, is thinner right now than in previous years, scientists who regularly track the whales with drone photography have reported. 
• 26 September

  Finally, a world map that’s all about oceans

  

  The Spilhaus Projection may be more than 75 years old, but it has never been more relevant than today. Even though it’s over 80 years old, this projection reminds us that saving the planet is pointless if we don’t also save the seas. 
• 25 September

  Distressing photographs show manta rays struggling to swim in a cloud of plastic waste dumped into the sea in Bali

  

  Upsetting photographs show manta rays struggling to swim through a cloud of plastic waste dumped into the ocean at Manta Bay in Bali.  
• 25 September

  Over 150 scientists warn of Med ‘overfishing crisis’

  

  More than 150 international scientists have signed NGO Oceana’s “Mediterranean Statement” urging the EU and its member states to end what it calls an environmental crisis in the Mediterranean, it said.  
• 24 September

  Seabirds found with more than 250 pieces of plastic lodged in their stomachs

  

  Scientists examining the devastating impact plastics are having on the world’s oceans have identified seabirds with more than 250 man-made objects lodged in their stomachs.