Ocean Sentry
Using fast, motorized boats, whale hunters force entire pods of dolphins to beach themselves in shallow water inside designated whaling bays. Sometimes, a pod is pursued for hours out at sea, just like in Taiji, Japan.
September, 2018
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11 September
Plummeting populations in a huge Alaska wildlife refuge might be caused by climate change and plastics.
The die-offs have continued into 2018, with more than 1,400 birds reported rotting on Bering Sea beaches and showing signs of starvation since May, according to the National Park Service.
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10 September
Heartbreaking moment endangered whale shark dies after swallowing so much plastic it could no longer breathe
Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley performed an autopsy on its bloated corpse – and was horrified to find its stomach packed with ocean plastic.
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7 September
Endocrine disruptors found in bottlenose dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins are being exposed to chemical compounds added to many common cleaning products, cosmetics, personal care products and plastics, according to a new study in GeoHealth, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
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5 September
Naval Service detains vessel with tonne of shark fins on board
A Spanish-registered fishing vessel detained by the Naval Service off the southwest coast has been found to have more than a tonne of shark fins on board.
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5 September
Amazon mangroves ‘twice as carbon rich’ as its rainforests
The vast mangroves of the Amazon store twice as much carbon per hectare as the region’s tropical forests, new research shows. The results suggest that protecting the Amazon wetlands could play a larger role in slowing climate change than previously thought, the authors say.
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5 September
The fate of plastic in the oceans: Experiment shows microplastics aggregate with natural particles
The oceans contain large numbers of particles of biological origin, including, for example, living and dead plankton organisms and their faecal material.
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5 September
Tracking marine migrations across geopolitical boundaries aids conservation
Saving leatherback turtles from extinction in the Pacific Ocean will require a lot of international cooperation, however, because the massive turtles may visit more than 30 different countries.
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4 September
‘Devastating’ bleaching of Great Barrier Reef hitting deep water corals harder than previously estimated, study shows
Half of the two billion corals lived across Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 2015 are believed to have died in the three years since then, according to a new study.
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4 September
Brutal Cape fur seal cull continues in Namibia
This is the shocking moment when Cape fur seal pups (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) are beaten to death while trying to run into the water. Cape fur seal pups are massacred in Namibia from July to November.
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4 September
Japan killed 50 whales in Antarctic protected area, data shows
The disclosure of the cull, conducted under a legal loophole, comes as Japan seeks to further weaken a global ban on commercial hunts.
August, 2018
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31 August
Whale calf left with no tail after getting trapped in abandoned fishing net
The humpback whale calf appeared to be moving normally through the water but when it dived it revealed a horrific ragged wound where its tail should have been.