A Tahitian rahui tradition, lab-grown meat, and a sea worm enthusiast
Big Blue Bulletin #24
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
💡 Thought piece -
🦐 Strange and wondrous creatures: plankton and the origins of life on Earth
“Without plankton, the modern ocean ecosystem – the very idea of the ocean as we understand it – would collapse. Earth would have no complex life of any kind.”
🌊 A 600-year-old coral shows us how the Pacific Ocean has changed since 1370
“A single coral in Fiji that is more than 600 years old has recorded how Pacific Ocean temperatures have varied during its long life.”
🎣 Workers 'treated like slaves' on Scottish fishing boats
“Dozens of workers from around the world may have been trafficked into the UK to work for a small family-owned Scottish fishing firm, a BBC investigation has revealed.”
🛳️ ‘They have no place’: Bordeaux pushes for ban on cruise ships in the city centre
“The move comes after complaints that the liners are an eyesore and cause environmental damage.”
🦒 Humans to push further into wildlife habitats across more than 50% of land by 2070 – study
“Sharing increasingly crowded spaces could result in greater risk of pandemics, human and animal conflicts and loss of nature, say researchers.”
🐬 Drought-threatened Amazon dolphins studied for climate change impact
“A team temporarily captured rare freshwater dolphins in the Amazon to study their health in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the deaths of hundreds of the mammals last year due to a severe drought.”
🏴 Scottish isles may solve mystery of 'Snowball Earth'
“A cluster of Scottish islands could help solve one of our planet's greatest mysteries, scientists say.”
⛈️ Victorian technology for measuring the weather is still remarkably accurate
“What is now widely known as a Stevenson screen was originally described by its creator as simply a “…box for holding thermometers”.
🇿🇦 ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature
“amaMpondo environmental defenders on South Africa’s Wild Coast bring the same spirit of resistance to extractive mining interests today as their forebears did to the apartheid state in the 1960s.”
🌱 The livestock lobby is waging war on ‘lab-grown meat’. This is why we can’t let them win
“These new proteins could be our best hope of averting catastrophe. But governments are trying to have them banned.”
🐧 Sea Life penguins captive with 'no daylight'
“Penguins at the Sea Life London Aquarium are being kept captive with "no daylight, no fresh air, and just a pitiful pool of a few feet in depth", it has been claimed.”
🔥 Death toll in Europe from extreme temperatures will surge by end of century
“Deaths from extreme heat are projected to rise sharply in the coming years, far outpacing an expected slowdown in cold-related deaths.”
🇵🇫 Tahiti's rahui tradition has helped revive ecosystems—including near the Olympics surfing venue
“While local communities and leaders acknowledge that rahui aren't a one-stop solution to all environmental issues, they're working with researchers and scientists to help strengthen the ground-up, community-based approach.”
🪱 I’m obsessed with sea worms: ‘Thankfully, in 25 years of working with them, I’ve never been bitten’
“An associate professor in marine biology explains her fascination with the surprisingly diverse animals – and how they could help to address the climate crisis.”
🐍 Scientists stumped as rare deep sea ‘doomsday serpent’ found in California
“The fish have a mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters or earthquakes.”
💧 Water pollution: What these kids are doing to help
“The River Wye is one of the longest rivers in the UK, stretching across England and Wales. But like lots of rivers in the UK it has a problem with pollution.”
“Underwater avalanches are powerful natural events that happen all the time under the surface of the ocean. They are impossible to see and extremely difficult to measure, which means we know little about how they work.”
🇦🇶 Rising temperatures and melting ice could bring alien species to Antarctica, study warns
“Floating rubbish from Africa, Australia and South America could bring diseases and invasive species.”
☀️ Humanitarian workers forced to make changes to how they work as climate change takes its toll
“Humanitarian aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says the impact of climate change is having devastating effects on its workers.”
🦪 Mussel farm could be reviving shellfish reef
“A shellfish reef in Devon that was wiped out by bottom trawling fishing could be returning thanks to a mussel farm, a new study has suggested.”
“Like the proverbial frog in the heating pan of water, we refuse to respond to the climate and ecological crisis with any sense of urgency.”
🇧🇩 Bangladesh floods maroon nearly three million people
“Relentless monsoon rains and flooding have stranded nearly three million people in Bangladesh and killed two, submerging vast areas and damaging homes and infrastructure.”
🐋 Humpback whale joins elite list of animals known to make and use tools
“Marine mammal creates ‘bubble net’ to capture up to seven times more prey in single dive, study finds.”
🏞️ River reconnected to flood-plain to boost habitats
“Work to reconnect a river with its flood-plain, in order to improve wildlife habitats, has been completed.”
🇲🇷 New fish species discovered in Mauritanian deep-water coral reefs
“Together with a European team, researchers from Senckenberg am Meer in Wilhelmshaven have described a new fish species.”
🇬🇧 UK faces legal action over new North Sea oil and gas licences
“Britain's decision to issue dozens of new oil and gas exploration licences is being challenged in court by a marine conservation organisation, which argues ministers unlawfully failed to consider the impact on marine life.”
🐬 Pink dolphin trapped on riverbank rescued by Bolivian locals
“A pink dolphin stranded on a riverbank in Bolivia was rescued by locals in Yapacani. Footage showed the marine mammal swimming away after being helped to safety.”
🦦 Shelf will help otters safely cross road
“A shelf is to be installed under a bridge in West Sussex to help otters safely cross a main road.”
🎨 Ocean Artwork
📸 Whale sharks, birds, coral and wasps win scientific photography competition
“An annual competition to showcase scientific work in action has revealed its winners, with spectacular photos from around the world taking the top spots.”
Have a great weekend! 📸
Cover image by Josh Humbert
The piece on the humpbacks creating their own bubble nets AND controlling details like the number of rings and the spacing between bubbles is mind boggling!