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 -
🗳️ No Tory MPs voted positively on climate issues since party took power, study finds
“Labour and Liberal Democrats dominated list of MPs who were rated as very good in backing environmental policies.”
✈️ Top 1% of UK earners cause 'seven times more transport emissions than average'
“A "small minority" are behind the bulk of emissions from cars, trains and planes, the report by think tank IPPR found, while British men tend to travel and emit more than women.”
🇳🇴 Norway sued over deep-sea mining plans
“WWF says the government has breached the law ‘without adequately assessing the consequences’.”
🌿 Bid to transform former farm into nature reserve
“A former farm could be transformed into a nature reserve, if a public appeal for funds succeeds.”
🎣 Small-scale fishers lose out to trawlers in race to catch Cambodia’s last fish
“On Cambodia’s coast, fish catches have dropped precipitously in recent years, and so have small-scale fishers’ incomes.”
💧 Thames Water urged to ‘get a grip’ on testing water supply after illness outbreak
“Labour calls on firm to urgently test treatment works after dozens in south-east London experience vomiting and diarrhoea.”
🇮🇳 Animals collapse, water shortages bite amid India's searing heat
“Animals collapsed and people jumped on water tankers with buckets amid shortages as blistering summer heat kept its grip on north India.”
🟢 Corporations invested in carbon offsets that were ‘likely junk’, analysis says
“Analysis of the carbon offset projects used by top corporations including Delta, Gucci and ExxonMobil raises concerns around their emission cuts claims.”
🐙 Octopus caught on camera changing its colour at North Wales beach
“The footage, which shows a curled octopus changing from white to bright orange, was shot by the Marine Conservation Society.”
🇸🇱 As catches fall, Sierra Leone’s artisanal fishers turn to destructive practices
“Sierra Leone’s fish stocks have been under severe strain in recent years due to intensive industrial fishing and a growing population of artisanal fishers.”
🏞️ Country diary: My ponds are teeming with unseen life
“The joy of pond-dipping never goes away, and now I’m armed with more knowledge to find out what’s in my garden this spring.”
👨🔬 2 teens won $50,000 for inventing device that can filter microplastics from water
“They tested a new technique using ultrasound to filter microplastics from water.”
🥤 Bright colours make plastics break down faster, fuelling microplastic pollution
“The study’s authors say manufacturers should give more thought to what colour they make short-lived items.”
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan plants a forest where a sea once lay
“The Aral Sea, once the lifeblood of peoples in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is parched, shrouded in a layer of toxic salt and dust.”
☣️ North Yorkshire town has UK’s highest concentration of ‘forever chemicals’
“PFAS contamination recorded in groundwater on Angus Fire site in Bentham, and includes chemicals with known health impacts.”
🇹🇭 Thai marine life suffers as record sea temperatures bleach entire reefs
“‘Almost all of the species have bleached, there’s very little that’s not affected’.”
🚢 Cleaner shipping fuel accelerated global warming: study
“An international effort to improve air quality by requiring ships to use less-polluting fuel caused a spike in global warming, according to research”
🌊 Scientists advance knowledge of seaweed causing chaos in Caribbean and W. Africa
“Researchers have been working to track and study floating sargassum, a prolific seaweed swamping shorelines, and causing environmental and economic harm.”
🌍 Saltmarshes do store carbon, but their climate impact may have been overestimated
“Research suggests the role played by UK and north-west Europe saltmarshes in reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has been significantly overestimated.”
🚨 Nearly 175 arrested as climate protesters target France’s TotalEnergies
“Demonstrators gathered outside Paris meetings of energy giant and Amundi, with some forcing their way into fund manager’s tower block.”
🧴 Why are bottle caps attached to the bottle? Inside the EU directive causing drink spills everywhere
“A new tethered design for plastic caps on drinks bottles has some consumers in a huff, but what’s behind the move?”
🌍 Humanity’s survival is still within our grasp. But only if we take these radical steps
“Reduce emissions, build resilience, repair ecosystems, remove greenhouse gases: these are the four Rs that can save us.”
🐦 Plastics in birds’ stomachs release toxic chemicals, study suggests
“The researchers are just finishing the six-month study of deliberately degrading plastic in artificial seawater.”
🍂 Attenborough praises ecologist's 'wonderful work'
“A Worcestershire man has received a handwritten letter from Sir David Attenborough congratulating him on his continued support of the natural world.”
🌱 Buried kelp: seaweed carried to the deep sea stores more carbon than we thought
“Of the roughly 10 billion tonnes carbon dioxide we emit each year, about 3 billion tonnes are taken up and stored in the oceans – and largely by plants.”
🇮🇹 Italy’s Po Delta is a nature-rich UNESCO reserve now at risk from offshore drilling
“The Po Delta is also having to brace against a barrage of problematic, climate change-induced conditions.”
📸 Say cheese: Public photography contributes to Puffin population study
“Equipped with long lenses, the ‘Puffarazzi’ have submitted photos to Project Puffin in their thousands!”
🌊 New guidance will support effective use of emerging marine protection tool
“Added clarity on ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ can improve safeguards for habitat and biodiversity.”
🇨🇦 ‘It was like the wild west’: meet the First Nations guardians protecting Canada’s pristine shores
“From crab monitoring and bear patrols to rescue operations, the watchmen are the official eyes and ears of indigenous communities.”
❗ Ocean Action
✍️ Demand full funding for NOAA
“NOAA is dedicated to safeguarding our ocean from these pressing issues from plastic pollution to climate change. Don’t wait—tell your member of Congress to protect our ocean by fully funding NOAA.”
Have a great weekend! 📸
Cover image by Anastasia Palagutina
It’s great to follow these roundups, Amie.