Big Blue Bulletin #9

Climate tipping points, fisheries tech, and a baby hammerhead nursery

May 10, 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

🎤 Interview -

🌊 ‘Our life support system is at risk’: Interview with ‘Her Deepness’ Sylvia Earle

“At the 9th Our Ocean Conference Sylvia Earle spoke about the pressures facing our oceans, actions needed to turn things around, and how to find hope for the future.”

🥵 Climate change: World's oceans suffer from record-breaking year of heat

“Fuelled by climate change, the world's oceans have broken temperature records every single day over the past year, a BBC analysis finds.”

🐋 Japanese government adds fin whales to its kill list

“This move could impact the future of the fin whaling industry in Iceland where lots of meat is exported to Japan.”

🌍 Record-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere

“Experts issue warning after finding global average concentration in March was 4.7ppm higher than same period last year.”

🧼 Unilever apologises after soapy water pumped into brook

“Consumer goods giant Unilever has apologised after soapy water was “incorrectly diverted” from its soap powder factory into an already-polluted river.”

🦈 CITES halts Ecuador’s shark trade; trafficking persists amid lack of transparency

“Ecuador had until the end of March to respond satisfactorily to the requirements imposed by CITES, otherwise the exportation of sharks and rays would be suspended.”

🌡️ World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

“Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds.”

🚣‍♂️ UK water sports alliance calls on government to end ‘death-knell’ pollution

“‘Further and faster action on pollution’ needed, says group.”

🏞️ Tourist numbers turning Lake Windermere green, researchers say

“The Save Windermere campaign group says a study shows a "direct correlation" between the number of visitors to the Lake District and algal blooms.”

🦈 ‘I’m happy we’re not killing them any more’

“Ireland’s last basking shark hunter on the return of the giants.”

🇮🇩 As plastic talks wrap up in Canada, fishers in Indonesia count the costs

“Fishers in the Thousand Islands archipelago off the Jakarta coast have reported extensive economic losses due to the scale of plastic waste littering their seas.”

🐟 Mackerel and snapper recover as US overfishing list reaches an all-time low

“The number of fish on the US government's overfishing list sunk to a new low last year in a sign of healthy fisheries, federal officials said.”

💩 Environment groups call for urgent action on sewage spills

“The Angling Trust and Action for the River Kennet (ARK) have called for immediate government intervention on sewage pollution.”

📱 Scaling up: the app that’s transforming lives in South African fishing communities

“Abalobi provides a real-time marketplace for fishers to sell their catch, while also monitoring fish populations, and the tech could go global.”

🔥 Countries’ carbon removal plans not enough for 1.5C warming limit, study warns

“Methods for taking CO2 out of the atmosphere range from planting trees to using technology to take it out of the atmosphere directly.”

⛏️ Deep-sea mining has deadly consequences for marine life

“A critical tension exists between the potential economic gains and the largely unknown environmental risks to these vast, unexplored habitats of marine world.”

🏭 Climeworks opens world's largest plant to extract CO2 from air in Iceland

“The world’s largest operational direct air capture plant to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere has opened, and is almost ten times larger than the current record holder.”

🐋 Scientists discover sperm whale ‘phonetic alphabet’

“Study reveals whale clicks make up building blocks of language, pointing to potential parallels with human society.”

🏛️ Government's climate plan ruled unlawful by High Court

“The government has been beaten in court for the second time by campaigners who said its plans to cut emissions and reach climate targets were coming up short.”

🔨 Scientists hit upon first nursery for hammerhead sharks in the Galápagos

“The scientists were also able to tag one of the elusive species for the first time, and hope their findings will lead to greater protection.”

🇦🇶 Researchers listen with delight to songs that hint at Antarctic resurgence

“Audio collected with underwater microphones suggests blue whale numbers at least stable after centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred alive.”

🌍 Africa dramatically dried out 5,500 years ago – our new study may warn us of future climate tipping points

“Places with highly variable cycles of changing climate today may in some cases by headed for tipping points of their own.”

🦪 Oyster researcher stars in billboard exhibition

“A leading University of Essex ecologist has become a billboard star at one of Britain’s busiest railway stations.”

🤿 Endangered red handfish returned to the wild off Tasmania after heatwave rescue

“Scientists have returned 18 red handfish to Tasmanian waters months after they were removed to protect them from record high sea temperatures.”

🤖 AI can ‘transform understanding of biodiversity threats and support action’

“UK researchers said they are working with partners across the world to trial monitoring equipment in some of the most biodiverse places.”

💰 Shell profits surprise as it battles major investors on climate commitments

“Europe's largest oil and gas firm reveals a further round of investor rewards on the back of much stronger than expected profits.”

🏞️ All we wanted was to protect the River Wye from pollution. Now we’re stuck in a catch-22

“To protect our local river we had to prove it was being used for swimming. But that, bizarrely, is the reason we were rejected.”

🥤 The godfather of microplastics on 20 years of pollution research and the fight for global action

“Everywhere we looked we found evidence.”

🇻🇪 Venezuela loses its last glacier as it shrinks down to an ice field

“Scientists reclassify Humboldt glacier, also known as La Corona, after it melted faster than expected.”

🪧 Plastic pollution talks end & Arctic peoples return home to a ‘sink’ of plastic

“In the wake of the plastics treaty talks in Ottawa, a new report highlights the severe impacts of plastics and petrochemicals on Arctic Indigenous communities.”