Welcome to the latest edition of the Big Blue Bulletin – a weekly roundup of marine conservation news and updates. Expect good news, bad news, and a cute creature in your inbox every Friday.
Let’s dive in 🐬
Ocean news
🗞️ Big news of the week -
🇳🇴 Norway to award Arctic blocks for seabed mining in 2025
“Norway offered large areas of the Arctic region for its inaugural seabed mineral licensing round and aims to award exploration permits during the first half of 2025.”
🧪 Citizen testing finds 75% of rivers in Britain in poor ecological health
“Data collected by thousands of volunteers reveals ‘truly disturbing’ state of rivers from nutrient pollution.”
💩 Protesters demonstrate against sewage in rivers
“River users have gathered to demonstrate against sewage polluting their local waterway.”
🌊 New approach to restore coral reefs on mass scale kicks off in Hawai‘i
“ʻĀkoʻakoʻa is a recently launched program aiming to restore a 120-mile stretch of coral reef along the west coast of Hawai‘i Island — one of the first to attempt restoration at a large scale.”
🇩🇪 German activists take government to court over climate policy
“New law is too weak and has been made harder to enforce, while transport ministry has not taken sufficient action, groups say.”
🛰️ Starlink satellites could damage the environment for decades
“Mega satellite constellations produce destructive gases when they burn up in atmosphere at end of service lives.”
🇦🇶 New tipping point discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet
“Warm water that seeps underneath can melt ice in way not yet included in models.”
🤖 Bill Gates says AI will make it easier to combat climate change
“The philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder told Sky that artificial intelligence would make innovation "far easier to do".”
🦦 ‘Otters pop up beside your kayak’: 6 coast fanatics reveal their favourite UK beaches
“We asked a naturalist, a writer, a champion surfer, a walker, a forager and a yoga teacher to tell us what makes the seaside so special.”
🦈 A shark was reportedly stabbed by a fisherman and left on a Massachusetts beach
“A shark was reportedly stabbed by a fisherman and left for dead on a local beach over the weekend, as a leading shark researcher urged fishers to “be aware these protected sharks are out here.””
🏴 Stonehenge protest: if you worry about damage to British heritage you should listen to Just Stop Oil
“The Stonehenge action has been lambasted for threatening that which people hold dear: cultural heritage and national identity.”
🇧🇦 Activists say Bosnian dam threatens river life and rafters
“Environmental activist Lejla Kusturica stood on the banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Neretva river, wondering if it was the last time she would get to watch teams of raft racers battling through the rapids on its emerald-green waters.”
🏞️ River Wye needs ‘protection zone’, say Greens and Fearnley-Whittingstall
“North Herefordshire candidate and chef also call for water industry overhaul and more support for farmers.”
🌍 Geothermal power could be 'massively impactful for global decarbonisation' as US plant gets a boost
“Geothermal power could no longer be a ‘niche’ clean energy source as a US company gains new backing.”
🟠 Taylor Swift, King Charles and Stonehenge: How Just Stop Oil tactics have escalated
“Just Stop Oil handed Boris Johnson an ultimatum a month before protests began in 2022.”
☀️ Renewables surge: Green energy made up the majority of the EU’s electricity in 2023
“Wind and solar power increases combined with a sharp drop in fossil fuels pushed renewables into the lead.”
⚖️ Sharp rise in number of climate lawsuits against companies, report says
“About 230 cases filed against corporations and trade associations around world since 2015.”
🗑️ 'Dumping 60 bags of rubbish is an assault on river'
“An instance of fly-tipping along a river popular with kayakers and canoers has been described as "an assault" by a river trust.”
🌊 Five environmental issues that should be higher on the election agenda
“While most of the UK general election campaigning so far has focused on issues like economic growth and fixing the cost-of-living crisis, several key environmental issues are not getting enough attention.”
🐠 Mysterious desert fish hits a 25-year population high in one of Earth's harshest environments
“The critically endangered Devils Hole pupfish population has reached a 25-year high of 191 fish, offering hope for the species that lives in the smallest known habitat of any vertebrate.”
🌳 ‘Give nature space and it will come back’: rewilding returns endangered species to UK’s south coast
“Walking a 100-mile stretch of coastline reveals how a pioneering project is transforming the seascape, rivers and land.”
🔥 Will climate change really lead to more immigration? Here's what the experts think
“There is no empirical evidence to support the claim that climate change will lead to more international migration into Europe.”
🇮🇩 Bali’s rapid coastal erosion threatens island’s ecosystems & communities
“A recent study revealed that Bali’s coastline shrank from 668.64 km to 662.59 km between 2016 and 2021 due to human activities and wave circulation.”
🤖 The German robots hunting the sea for WW2 bombs
“Remote-controlled seabed crawlers and robots with "smart grabbers" are now cleaning up the toxic munitions.”
🇦🇺 ‘Most of it was dead’: scientists discover one of Great Barrier Reef’s worst coral bleaching events
“Analysis of high-resolution drone imagery concludes 97% of corals died at a Lizard Island reef between March and June this year.”
🌊 How pulling carbon out of the ocean may help remove it from the air
“Taking carbon dioxide from the ocean could increase its natural ability to remove emissions from the atmosphere, like wringing out a sponge to make it more absorptive.”
🎣 Canada reopens cod fishery after 32-year pause to replenish stocks
“Canada said it would allow some commercial fishing of cod to restart off its northeastern Atlantic coast, more than 30 years after it was shut down to protect plummeting stocks.”
🏞️ Lake District sewage campaigners launch nuisance complaint in legal first
“Statutory nuisance complaint lodged by Save Windermere against United Utilities is a first over sewage pollution.”
📚 Ocean Research
🐋 Evaluating drivers of recent large whale strandings on the East Coast of the United States
“Populations of many large whales were devastated by commercial whaling, and today large whales are still affected by multiple anthropogenic stressors that can influence their population recovery.”
“The Watershed Pollution Map reveals a huge range of potential pollution sources that can harm rivers, lakes, groundwater, coasts and more.”
Have a great weekend! 📸
Cover image by Henrique Setim