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Science
Three new species have been discovered in South Africa!
Comb jellies can fuse their bodies together, and synchronise their body functions.
Sponges help possum shrimp smell their way around.
Fisheries
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has issued a warning to some fishing fleets after some inspections revealed that up to 70% of the herring caught had been under the legal-size limit.
The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) has raised concerns about the urgency needed for management agreements among fishing nations on the declining mackerel stock.
Fisherwomen in Indonesia are fighting against the government’s decision to dredge sea sand for export, as they fear it may worsen the impacts of rising sea levels and the marine environment.
The body which provides scientific advice, ICES, today issued zero-catch advice for Norway pout in the North Sea and Skagerrak due to declines in recruitment. Another Russian industry group has questioned the value of ICES in the North Atlantic as concerns continue to grow that Russia will quit ICES.
The UK Government has opened public consultations for the five new draft Fisheries Management Plans: Cockle, North Sea and Channel Sprat, Queen Scallop, Southern North Sea and Channel skates and rays and Southern North Sea and demersal non-quota species. The Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel mixed flatfish Fisheries Management Plan has also been published.
British Overseas Territories
The prime minister has ‘refused to rule out ending British control of Gibraltar and the Falklands‘ as he faced backlash over the Chagos deal with Mauritius. See the debate here. The Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute has been described as ‘a step forward towards establishment of a Mauritian Marine Protected Area’.
A new squid trawler has arrived in the Falkland Islands.
Watch a spotted eagle ray glide by, captured from the British Virgin Islands. Spotted eagle rays ‘detect prey via the electrical pulses that are emitted from muscle contractions and use their snout to dig into the seabed’.
Marine Protection
Nature has declined by 73% since 1970, with freshwater species experiencing the greatest decline of 85%. The Environment Agency and CEFAS has revealed that salmon stocks have dropped to their lowest ever levels. Moreover, there are only 73 southern resident orcas left in Puget Sound, one of the lowest numbers recorded, and the decline of jumbo squid populations have been linked to the departure of sperm whales from the Gulf of California.
New findings have revealed that environmental protections account for only 10% of fish stocks on and around coral reefs.
Sea turtles are losing one of their nesting favourites in Suriname due to coastal erosion and climate change impacts.
There are new predictions that collisions between whale sharks and ships could increase by 15,000 times by 2100.
Conservation
Australia has committed to protect 52% of its ocean, more than any other country, but some scientists say some major biodiversity hotspots have been missed, and others argue that industrial longline fishing will still be allowed in some of these areas. Environmental law reform is needed to manage the trade of Australia’s threatened marine species.
The European Commission has reaffirmed their position on continuing to advocate for prohibiting deep-sea mining, until scientific gaps have been properly filled.
Ahead of the US election, new polling has revealed that 87% say that a 2024 presidential candidate’s commitment to conservation is important.
Residents in Cambodia have been trained about the threats to marine mammals and how to track bycatch and strandings of them.
A threatened species of UK coral, the pink sea fan, has been bred for the first time in London.
Climate Crisis
Labour’s carbon-capture scheme has been described as a ‘terrible mistake’, and England’s water system has been criticised by UN special rapporteur, who says ‘regulator Ofwat is complacent about water firms putting their shareholders before public’. The Labour government’s progress on climate and environment has been measured over the first hundred days of being in power.
Global heating makes hurricanes like Helene twice as likely. Scientists have said Helene, and Hurricane Milton are proof that climate change is ‘here and now’. In addition, the world’s rivers are drying up at the fastest rate in 30 years.
Declines in plant resilience are threatening carbon storage in the Arctic, and wild bulls are being used to help store carbon in the Scottish Highlands!
Misc
Are humans to blame for pushing this unusual predator and prey together: caracal vs penguin.
‘Nature is free, and the best kind of medicine’. The perfect walk has been described as having “something to see, somewhere to pee, and somewhere to get a cup of tea”.
