Archive

By David Shiffman, Arizona State University Sharks are some of the most ecologically important and most threatened animals on Earth. Recent reports show that up to one-third of all known species of sharks and their relatives, rays, are threatened with extinction. Unsustainable overfishing is the biggest threat by far. Losing sharks can disrupt coastal food webs that billions […]

Analysis of the fossil record shows a mysterious mass extinction that decimated the diversity of sharks in the world’s oceans, and they’ve never fully recovered. By Katherine Kornei – The New York Times Extinctions that obliterate wide swaths of life have reshaped Earth’s history. Typically triggered by an enormous environmental change — like an asteroid impact or a significant […]

A green sea turtle mistook a tourist for a snack in Eleuthera, the Bahamas, in 2019.Credit…Shane Gross Scientists are concerned about unregulated feeding of ocean wildlife by tour operators. By Priyanka Runwal – The New York Times It took nearly three months, but Jody Pinder eventually succeeded. Endangered green sea turtles, usually shy, skittish and satisfied […]

To say that there has been some controversy over the recent Netflix production Seaspiracy would be like suggesting the ocean is a little moist. Billed as an investigative documentary into a global conspiracy of organisations that downplays, ignores or even supports the negative impacts that the fishing industry has on the world’s oceans, the film by director […]

By Max James False Bay in South Africa used to be one of the few places on the planet that divers safely protected by cages could reliably encounter great white sharks. Along with Guadalupe Island off Mexico’s west coast and around Port Lincoln in South Australia, False Bay developed a thriving shark diving tourist trade. But in […]

Peter JS Jones, UCL and Rick Stafford, Bournemouth University Marine protected areas, or MPAs as they’re more commonly called, are very simple. Areas of the sea are set aside where certain activities – usually fishing – are banned or restricted. Ideally, these MPAs might be placed around particularly vibrant habitats that support lots of different species, like seagrass beds […]

A new study by researchers at the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) has used acoustic telemetry to reveal critical information about the habitats and movement patterns of reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) in the waters around Mozambique. The study, conducted with scientists from the MMF, University of Western Australia and Utrecht University was published on 23 January in the journal Marine […]

Study Reveals the Fifth Consecutive Annual Rise in Ocean Temperatures Last year was the warmest year on record for the world’s oceans – just as the previous four years have all been record-breakers. A study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences this week confirms the disturbing trend. The oceans have absorbed more than 90 per cent of […]

A new report from the Marine Megafauna Foundation highlights the impact that marine microplastics are having on large filter-feeders such as manta rays and whale sharks. Large filter-feeders swallow thousands of cubic meters of plankton-filled water every day as they feed, and with it, the tiny particles known as microplastics that result from the breakdown […]

Octopuses, squids and their cephalopod cousins have haunted the human imagination for centuries. Their long, unfurling arms and temperamental behavior have inspired legends, from the Kraken of Norse mythology to the giant Japanese Akkorokamui that supposedly lurks at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to swallow ships and whales whole. Cephalopods sit apart from other invertebrates because they have […]