Mongabay - Marine

Coral reef scientists, conservationists, policymakers and community leaders from more than 90 countries met July 19-24 at the International Coral Reefs Symposium in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants discussed how …

A global study estimates that drifting fish aggregating devices, or dFADs, affect more than half of the world’s protected marine area. Researchers documented at least 6,324 dFAD strandings across 174 …

Dogger Bank is a vast, shallow sandbank in the North Sea that was once among the most productive marine nurseries in Europe, prompting experts to call it the ecological heart …

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-associated organization that oversees deep-sea mining activities in international waters, held a council meeting July 13 to 24 in Kingston, Jamaica. During the meeting, …

A recent study found that extreme weather events like storms, heat waves and floods can interfere with the breeding success of marine predators like seals, shearwaters and albatross that raise …

Climate change and rising sea levels are driving salt water intrusion into drinking water sources in coastal Bangladesh, which research links to an increased risk of preeclampsia, a leading cause …

Research has shown the intense, impulsive underwater noise from marine seismic surveys can harm marine animals up and down the food chain. Yet marine scientists say major gaps remain in …

In January 2025, Panama’s government announced it had caught more than a dozen vessels fishing illegally inside the country’s flagship marine protected area, declaring it the largest such enforcement operation …

Solomon Islands is the latest Pacific island nation to sign on to a new network of marine protected areas (MPAs) known as the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves, or MOCOR, …

The municipality of San Vicente in the Philippines’ Palawan is a vital nesting ground for Olive Ridley sea turtles. Nesting turtles and their eggs face an array of challenges. Predation …

A New Orleans based nonprofit, Glass Half Full, collects glass from bars, restaurants, and drop-off sites, recycling it into new bottles and fine silica sand. The recycled sand is used …

A study led by researchers from Brazil and Uruguay confirmed the presence of invasive prawns in several conservation areas along the Brazilian coast, including estuaries listed by UNESCO as Natural …

Climate tech startup Real Ice is trialing sea-ice thickening in the Arctic coastal community of Ikaluktutiak, also known as Cambridge Bay, in Nunavut, Canada, where thinning ice affects many aspects …

An early-warning system, aided by radar and AI, aims to help mitigate human-polar bear encounters in the Arctic. Bear-dar scans the landscape for polar bears and alerts people if a …

Among the many effects linked to climate change and damages to estuarine ecosystems, research indicates that migratory birds that depend on coastal wetlands could lose half of their habitats by …

The Our Ocean Conference in Kenya last month put Africa’s ocean future in the global spotlight, but the real test now is whether new commitments help countries build the systems …

Kent E. Carpenter spent more than 50 years studying the fish, reefs, and marine biodiversity of the Philippines. His mapping of 2,983 species helped identify the central Philippines as the …

The Bangladesh government has adopted a master plan to develop Maheshkhali sub-district through three industrial zones: An energy hub with 13 gigawatts of LNG and coal power plants, a deep-sea …

Drifting fish aggregating devices, or dFADs, are widely used by tuna fleets to gather and catch fish, but they can drift into marine protected areas without vessels crossing the boundary. …

With the High Seas Treaty in force, African proposals to designate marine protected areas in international waters are taking shape. Maritime security expert David Willima talks about why the West …

Scientists have produced the first high-resolution map of seagrass ecosystems around the world. Data from the map reveal that 70% of global seagrass cover is concentrated off the coasts of …

In early 2026, the Bangladesh Forest Department rescued an adult female Bengal tiger from the Sundarbans from a poachers’ trap set for deer. The critically injured tiger was taken to …

If seen only as an oil corridor, the main question becomes how to keep energy moving, but this overlooks a much more important reality, that the Strait of Hormuz is …

A group of advocates is seeking to transform False Creek, a tidal inlet in Vancouver, Canada, from a polluted city inlet into a place where nature thrives and people can …

Researchers blame an increase in illegal fishing for the decline of sea cucumbers in a remote Australian marine park and say many other reefs in the country have also been …

In Cabo Verde, 190 fishers from seven of the archipelago’s 10 islands volunteer with the Guardians of the Sea program, reporting illegal practices and sightings of marine megafauna as they …

From establishing conservation protections to developing tools to understand whale communication, the work of marine biologist David Gruber and oceanographer Sylvia Earle is grounded in the same belief: understanding leads …

Fossil fuel exploration off the northeast coast of Brazil presents a greater cumulative risk of oil spills than previously expected, according to new modeling. Seagrass meadows and deep-water reefs in …

Australia is a global stronghold for seagrasses, the flowering plants that grow in coastal waters and bays. Seagrasses are unsung but vital ecosystem engineers: They stabilize sediments, provide habitat and …

Living Seawalls is a global initiative that aims to make seawalls, marinas and other hard coastal structures more hospitable to marine wildlife by installing biodiversity-friendly panels, boulders and pilings. In …

Projections indicate that Bangladesh faces an amount of sea level rise that will bring major saltwater intrusion into precious freshwater supplies, plus human health impacts, flooding and rampant erosion across …

Ecologists expected many species to shift northward or upslope in response to warming temperatures, but only about half of observed range shifts so far align with their projections. Species responses …

The Glinoga Integrated Farm in the Philippines’ Quezon province uses permaculture techniques to grow crops in harmony with the surrounding coastal ecosystem. One study looking at permaculture farms across 11 …

Brazilian state oil and gas company Petrobras has started drilling in the Equatorial Margin after years of political, scientific and environmental disputes over the risks posed by oil exploration at …

Across India’s west coast, fishers often abandon or discard their damaged gear at sea after seabed snags, mounting economic pressures, and increasingly crowded near-shore waters make recovery difficult, creating a …

Governments, nonprofits, institutions and the private sector made more than 300 voluntary commitments and mobilized $6.4 billion for ocean conservation at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, which closed June …

Scientists have developed an AI model that can listen to the chewing sounds of predators and identify what they are eating. The tool was trained with audio of whitespotted eagle …

Scientists say that the oceans are warming and absorbing more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These rising temperatures are placing growing stress …

On June 16, the Marine Conservation Institute recognized six marine protected areas, three in Madagascar and one each in Senegal, Chile and Canada, as Blue Parks. The awards, announced at …

Human and natural disturbances have driven global declines of mangrove forests, which serve as critical protection for coastlines and fisheries. Scientists used satellite imagery of mangroves from 1984 to 2023, …

Mohammed Abu Daya is a marine ecologist in Gaza. His research focuses on spinetail devil rays, a large-bodied species of ray that roams the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Since 2013, …

During the annual “hareed” festival in the Farasan Islands — an archipelago in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia — hundreds of people run into the water …

African leaders must demand an end to industrial krill fishing in the Southern Ocean while at the Our Ocean Conference this week, before irreversible damage is done, Angola’s Minister of …

More than 5,000 delegates are gathering in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa for a major global conference on the future of the oceans. At the heart of the discussions …

In the waters off Naples, Italy, a single 75-minute raid by poachers can net nearly 1,000 sea urchins, an in-demand ingredient in a dish popular with tourists. A haul like …

A new study finds an 80-fold increase in the population of loggerhead turtles nesting at three beaches in Boa Vista, Cabo Verde’s third-largest island, over 27 years. Globally, the loggerhead …

A new study analyzed thousands of shoreline litter surveys and other data from more than 100 countries to produce the first global index of macroplastic pollution by type. The study …

The San Pedro de Vice dry mangrove habitat on the northwest coast of Peru hosts a very small population of desert pampas cats (Leopardus garleppi). It’s part of a population …

Documents disclosed as part of a lawsuit against UK-based oil company Shell show leadership continued operating a compromised pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta despite knowing it posed a pollution risk …

In 2024, scientists and conservationists documented a soft coral “slumping” event along the southern coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island, which led soft corals to lose their shape, droop, and …