1. Britain Closer to Ban on Shark Fin Soup

Shark fin soup was found on menus in London, Manchester and Liverpool – but now the import and export of shark fins is banned. i Labour MP Christina Reeswon cross-party support in the House of Commons on Friday and backers now hope it will become law before Christmas. She said: “This Bill is crucial to ensuring the survival and recovery of vital shark populations. It is an important step for the UK to demonstrate its leadership and commitment to shark conservation.” Activists hope the law will send a strong signal to the EU where Spain still exports around 200,000 kilos of shark fins each year.

2. Offshore Wind Farms Could Turn the Tide for Ocean Biodiversity

Ocean heating and acidification, sea-level rise and greenhouse gas concentrations all hit record levels last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate 2021 report. Overfishing is laying waste to fish stocks and marine pollution is creating vast dead zones; populations of species such as sharks and rays have withered by more than 70% in the past 50 years. Marine biologists last month planted coral larvae at the base of offshore wind turbines in an attempt to grow new reefs off the coast of Taiwan. The waters of offshore wind farms further from shore tend to benefit from more stable temperatures than the shallower locations in which tropical coral reefs typically set up shop, because of a phenomenon called ‘vertical mixing’ in the water column.

4. Trudeau Announces Expanded Oceans Protection Plan

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced new details of the federal government’s $3.5-billion plan to protect the oceans and boost coast guard facilities on the world’s longest national coastline. In its most recent budget, the government pledged to add $2 billion over nine years to the $1.5 billion already set aside for ocean protection. Initiatives already funded by the program include the opening of six coast guard stations in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, establishing an Indigenous-led coast guard auxiliary in B.C., the restoration of coastal aquatic habitats, and the removal and disposal of hundreds of abandoned boats. It has also funded efforts to protect at-risk species, including southern resident killer whales and North Atlantic right whales. The new money is aimed at expanding such environmental and safety efforts to more regions.

5. Great White Shark Might Change Colour – Study in Progress

In a new documentary, Camo Sharks, marine biologist Dr Ryan Johnson, and his team of scientists, are filmed as they gather evidence to prove Great White Sharks can alter the cells in their skin. To help analyse photo evidence the scientists devised a colour board to use as a reference point. Computer software corrected variables such as weather, light levels, and camera settings. The documentary follows the scientists as they try to gather living samples from sharks. Tests revealed melanocytes in the skin cells which contracted and turned lighter in colour when in contact with adrenaline. Other hormones caused the same cells to disperse, resulting in a darker skin colour. Exactly why sharks do this remains the subject of study, but Ryan is convinced it is connected to the great white’s position as the most effective predator in the oceans.

6. Whole-site Management of Marine Protected Areas can Lead to 95% Increase in Reef Species

The whole-site management of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) is in contrast to regions where only known features are conserved, with species abundance increasing by just 15% in those areas compared to others where human activity is allowed unchecked.

The findings are highlighted in a study by the University of Plymouth, and are the latest to emerge from the monitoring of marine conservation measures in Lyme Bay, off the coast of England. There is a 270 square kilometer Special Area of Conservation (SAC), where measures are in place to protect the known extent of sensitive reef habitats. Within that is a 206 square kilometer area where the whole site is protected under a Statutory Instrument. The new study, published in Fisheries Management and Ecology, showed that in addition to an increase in overall reef abundance, the whole-site approach can have significant other benefits.

7. Divers Remove Invasive Crown-of-Thorns Starfish to Protect Coral Reefs

The island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands is experiencing an outbreak of crown-of-thorns-starfish, which could jeopardize the survival of its surrounding coral reef. Adult taramea are encrusted with sharp, venomous thorns. To eat, they slide their stomachs out through their mouths to digest the coral’s living tissue. When there are too many of them in an area, the healthy reef is replaced by coral skeletons, where few other species can survive. Local environmental organization Kōrero O Te `Ōrau has been tackling the outbreak since 2020 by training young Māori people in scuba diving and running regular expeditions to remove taramea from the reef and bury them inland. The work has contained the outbreak on two sides of the island by collecting over 3,700 crown-of-thorns starfish, ultimately mitigating its impact on reef health. However, ongoing efforts are required. The project is also upskilling young Cook Islanders in marine management theory and practice.

8. US Pledges to Increase Presence in Pacific Region

Vice President Kamala Harris made the pledge for more diplomatic and financial support to the Pacific region Wednesday in a video address to the Pacific Islands Forum being held in Suva, Fiji. President Joe Biden has requested $60 million a year from the U.S. Congress that would triple current funding for fisheries assistance, marine conservation and climate resilience projects. The Vice President acknowledged “that in recent years the Pacific islands may not have received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve” from the United States. “So today I am here to tell you directly, we are going to change that.”

9. Electronic Monitoring Will “Net” Data and Increase Understanding of Tuna Fishery

One potential solution to increasing data collection is requiring the use of electronic monitoring (EM) onboard fishing vessels, including for the eastern Pacific tuna longline fleets that currently have very low observer coverage. A new report by economists from Sea Change Economics, an environmental economics consultancy; the University of California, San Diego; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looked at the costs and benefits of implementing EM on eastern Pacific longline vessels and found that wide adoption of the technology could benefit the fishery economically. The report concluded that increasing data collection using EM would lead to up to US$200 million in net benefits across the fishery over 10 years due to factors such as increased scientific data, reduced mortality of bycatch species, increased market premiums for tuna, and better compliance with fishing rules and regulations.

10. Action Needed: Enforce International Laws to Stop Fishing Vessel Plastic Pollution

Ocean plastic pollution was a focus at the recent UN oceans conference, which issued a declaration in support of an earlier decision by the UN Environment Assembly to start negotiations for a global plastics treaty. An estimated half of ocean plastic pollution comes from some 4.5 million fishing vessels operating in national and international waters. Recent research suggests more than 100 million pounds of plastic enters the oceans from industrial fishing gear alone. Better implementation and enforcement of existing laws would be a much faster way of addressing ship-source plastic pollution than waiting for a new treaty to be adopted. Lost or abandoned fishing gear can result in “ghost fishing” where nets, FADs and other gear continue to “fish” for decades. Other impacts of ocean plastic pollution include entanglement, ingestion, transfer of invasive species and toxins, navigational hazards and beach fouling.

11. Experts Confirm Dead White Whale Found on Victorian Beach is Not Beloved Migaloo

The carcass of an albino whale was found at a beach in Mallacoota, Australia this week, sparking concern it could be the beloved Migaloo, who was first spotted off Byron Bay in 1991. Peter Brick, of Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP), said images of the carcass proved it was not Migaloo. “DELWP officers have examined images of the dead humpback whale at Mallacoota and have confirmed it is a sub-adult female,” Brick told AAP. “Migaloo is a male.” Testing will be done on the whale to determine whether it was another white whale, and how it may have died. “What is going to go on now is that they are now going to try and assess whether this is a white whale or not. The mystery continues…because now the question is, where is Migaloo, who is this? What has happened to this whale?”

12. Australian Science Agency Joins Controversial Deep-Sea Mining Project as Island Nations Call For Halt

Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, has agreed to work with a controversial deep-sea mining project in the Pacific as a fourth island nation joins a call for a moratorium on the industry. CSIRO will lead a consortium of scientists from Australia and New Zealand to help the Metals Company (TMC) develop an environmental management plan for its project, which is backed by the Nauru government. New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research will also be part of the CSIRO-led consortium. The Metals Company would pay $1.5m for the work. A coalition of conservation groups opposed to seabed mining said the governments of Australia and New Zealand were on “the wrong side of the debate” and that deep-sea mining would be “enormously damaging.”

13. Scientists Discover World’s Largest Underwater Avalanche

Scientists recovered sensors drifting across the Atlantic Ocean that held data on a seabed sediment avalanche that traveled for 1,100 km to ocean depths of 4,500 km. The data was recovered after anchors mooring these sensors to the seabed had been broken by these huge underwater flows. The recovered data will help predict hazards to seabed telecommunications cables, improving reliability and reducing future breakages, while also providing insight into how future climate or land-use changes may impact the deep-sea. Scientists worked with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and National Oceanography Center (NOC). Peter Talling, Professor in Submarine Geohazards at Durham University and the study’s lead investigator, says that “the odds of retrieving football-sized sensors were tiny, as they drifted in different directions, dragged by currents across hundreds of kilometers of ocean. Rescuing those buoys seemed entirely improbable.”

14. Existing Fiber Optic Cables Can Monitor Whales

“Eavesdropping at the Speed of Light: Distributed Acoustic Sensing of Baleen Whales in the Arctic,” was published July 5 in Frontiers in Marine Science. It describes tracking whales using optic fiber and a technique called Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). “Sound travels five times faster in the ocean than in the air,” said Léa Bouffaut, a postdoctoral researcher at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and first author of the study. “Because whales are highly vocal, acoustic monitoring is a very effective way for us to assess where they are located and where they are going.” Traditional acoustic whale monitoring methods involve the deployment of an array of hydrophones to detect sound waves in a specific area. By using fiber optics, scientists could have access to many more sensors over longer distances, enabling them to better monitor whales in real time.

15. Rare Red Sea Brine Pools Discovered – Hold Information About Past

Deep-sea brine pools are extraordinarily salty or “hypersaline” lakes that form on the seafloor. The Red Sea possesses the highest known number of deep-sea brine pools. Until now, all known deep-sea brine pools in the Red Sea were located at least 15.5 miles (25 km) offshore. Now, scientists have discovered the first such pools in the Gulf of Aqaba, a northern pocket of the Red Sea, where the submerged salty lakes lie just 1.25 miles (2 km) from shore. Because the brine lacks oxygen, the pool keeps out the usual animals that live in and on the seabed, such as burrowing shrimp, worms and mollusks. Core samples that the researchers extracted suggest that in the past 1,000 years, major floods from serious rain occur about once every 25 years, and tsunamis [take place] about once every 100 years.

16. Indonesian Ban on Destructive Nets Fail Due to Noncompliance

Fisheries observers say a year-old ban on a seine net considered unsustainable and destructive has been largely ineffective. Reports show fishers continue to use the square-meshed cantrang net despite the ban, and can even modify the diamond-meshed replacement introduced by the fisheries ministry. While in theory the replacement net should allow juvenile fish to escape, in practice it’s used much the same way as the cantrang, threatening already depleted fish stocks around the country. Observers blame the continued violations on authorities’ reluctance to crack down on the hugely popular cantrang for fear of angering the millions-strong and politically important demographic of fishing communities. “Of course, there’s hope that the replacement has had some impact because the ministry must have done their research” when introducing it, said Oktavianto Darmono, a marine researcher at the think tank Fisheries Resource Center of Indonesia (FRCI). “But if you ask me if the impact has been significant, frankly speaking, no.”