Antarctic woes, surfing solutions, and a penguin escapee

Big Blue Bulletin #27

Sep 13, 2024

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 -

🪧 Rich countries silencing climate protest while preaching about rights elsewhere, says study

“Report says governments in global north increasingly using draconian measures while criticising similar tactics in global south.”

🦦 Meet the snot otter, the US's ancient and unique salamander

“Scuba diving scientists are scouring riverbeds for the elusive, endangered hellbender – also known as the snot otter, or lasagne lizard – to give them a fighting chance of survival.”

💩 New Water Bill announcement a step towards ending sewage pollution

“The UK Government has announced new measures to clean up our waters and finally see an end to sewage pollution.”

🦈 Sharks deserting coral reefs as oceans heat up, study shows

“Climate crisis is driving key predators from their homes and threatening an already embattled ecosystem.”

🐬 Controversial event that killed 156 dolphins sparks uproar: 'Tradition used as an excuse'

“The Faroe Islands is quite unlike what most travellers imagine when they think of a European island.”

🧊 Record low Antarctic sea ice ‘extremely unlikely’ without climate change

“This low was a one-in-a-2000-year event without climate change and four times more likely under its effects.”

🐧 ‘Miracle’ penguin found two weeks after escaping captivity in Japan

“Pen-chan defies expectations to be reunited with keeper safe and sound after swimming 30 miles in open sea.”

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 We gathered centuries-old written records to show the seas around Wales once teemed with life

“Picture the nature documentary scene. Vast schools of baitfish “miles long” being pursued by “thousands of seabirds”, “great shoals” of dolphins and porpoises, sharks and cod.”

🇨🇲 Mysterious African manatees inspire a growing chorus of champions

“As a young student, Aristide Kamla had “big plans” when he traveled to Lake Ossa in Cameroon to conduct his master’s degree fieldwork with the little-known African manatee…”

🌍 Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami

“Landslide in Greenland caused unprecedented seismic event that shows impact of global heating, say scientists.”

🏛️ Pacific islands propose for ‘ecocide’ to be recognised as crime

“The proposal defines ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.”

🌱 National parkland in public hands 'would help nature'

“Restoring nature in the UK’s national parks is being held back because nearly 90% of their land remains in the hands of private owners, campaigners say.”

🇸🇸 South Sudan floods: the first example of a mass population permanently displaced by climate change?

“Enormous floods have once again engulfed much of South Sudan, as record water-levels in Lake Victoria flow downstream through the Nile. More than 700,000 people have been affected.”

🌍 Almost 200 people killed last year trying to defend the environment, report finds

“Latin America was the most deadly region in which to defend ecosystems from mining and deforestation, with Indigenous people among half the dead.”

🇯🇵 Japan shows first commercial fin whale catch in 48 years

“Fin whales are the world’s second-biggest animal after the blue whale.”

🐦 Sea ice melt impacts birds' feeding trips - study

“Several seabird species are having to fly further to find food because of sea ice melting in Antarctica, a study has claimed.”

🏄‍♀️ Surf therapy connects people to water – ocean health depends on this ‘blue attunement’

“As a lifelong surfer, born to pioneering surfing parents and named after a wave, the ocean has shaped my identity and sense of belonging.”

🐋 Rescuers saves two humpback whales tangled in fishing line off Fremantle

“Rescuers have successfully freed a pair of humpback whales entangled in fishing line off the Perth coast.”

🪨 Footage released by Greenpeace reveals damage in the deep ocean from industrial fishing

“In a new video Greenpeace International reveals dramatic damage of bottom trawling on the Emperor Seamounts in the North Pacific, devastating fragile ecosystems.”

💔 Russian 'spy whale' was not shot, say police

“A beloved whale thought to have been trained as a “spy” by Russia and found dead earlier this month was not shot, a police autopsy has found.”

🥩 Don’t eat up the claim, peddled by the Coalition and conservative media, that greenies are ‘coming for your steak’

“Climate Change Authority’s report didn’t even contain a recommendations section, let alone a command to eat less red meat.”

🛥️ Boat-ramming orcas may be using yachts as target practice toys, scientists suggest

“Experts have a new theory about why orcas are targeting sailboats in the Iberian Peninsula — they're using them to practice hunting their favourite food.”

🥤 Darièn Gap: The jungle where poor migration policies meet

“In the last year-and-a-half, almost 700,000 people crossed the Darién Gap, a swampy jungle at the Colombia-Panama border, on their journey north, often to the United States.”

🦈 Hunt for great white sharks begins off Irish coast

“The possibility of great whites in British or Irish seas has remained a tantalising prospect - a team of researchers is hoping to turn unconfirmed sightings into reality.”

🇦🇶 Another extreme low for Antarctic sea ice signals a permanent shift

“An area of missing Antarctic sea ice twice the size of Texas adds to concerns that the ice has seen a lasting “regime shift”, with consequences for ecosystems and global ocean circulation.”

🏞️ The Klamath Dam removals: A story of people and possibility

“The history of water in the West has been shaped by conflict, greed, and scarcity, but in a remote pocket of Southern Oregon and Northern California, a different Western water story is taking shape.”

🇨🇴 ‘Waste has value’: how surfing helps Colombia solve its plastic problem

“The Amigos del Mar has found a way to help Tierra Bomba island clean up its beaches – and get children back to school.”

📚 Ocean Research

🇦🇶 Antarctic krill sequester similar amounts of carbon to key coastal blue carbon habitats

“Here we show that just a single pelagic harvested species, Antarctic krill, sequesters a similar amount of carbon through its sinking faecal pellets as marshes, mangroves and seagrass.”

Have a great weekend! 📸