Oceans

Microplastics shed from plastic products like clothing and packaging are ending up in the fish we eat, according to researchers from Portland State University (PSU). The findings of the study highlight a need for strategies and technologies to reduce the microfiber pollution that makes its way into the environment, a press release from PSU said. […]

Following years of campaigning by environmental activists, Thailand has banned foreign imports of plastic waste due to concerns about toxic pollution. Experts warn that the failure to reach an agreement on a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste will have adverse impacts on human health, reported The Guardian. “The ban on imports will help stimulate […]

President Joe Biden is planning to ban the development of offshore oil and gas across 625 million acres of United States coastal waters in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf of Mexico. The move is an effort to provide permanent protection of U.S. coastal waters and the communities that rely on them from oil and […]

In devastating news for the Pacific Northwest population of southern resident killer whales (SRKW), Tahlequah, a 25-year-old member of the group, has lost another newborn female calf. The mother made headlines seven years ago when she swam with her deceased calf for 17 days around the Salish Sea in an act of grieving. She has […]

Quick Key Facts What Is ‘Deep-Sea Mining’? Deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the ocean floor using destructive methods such as dredging, drilling and hydraulic pumps. These methods disrupt and harm marine life and their ecosystems. The seabed is a largely unexplored world of unidentified species and mystery. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone […]

Scientists have estimated that bowhead whales — the longest-living whale species — can live more than 200 years. It was once thought that the bowhead’s cousin, the right whale, had an average lifespan of about 70 to 80 years, but new research has revised that estimate to more than 130 years — nearly twice as […]

Beginning in late fall 2014 and lasting into 2016, an anomalous, massive marine heatwave nicknamed “the Blob” developed off the western coast of the U.S., covering all of Alaska’s coastwater and extending as far south as Southern California, raising ocean temperatures by several degrees Celsius. The Blob had an extreme effect on Alaska in particular. […]

An abnormally active typhoon season that hit the Philippines this year was “supercharged” by climate change, according to a new attribution study published Thursday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA). The report found that climate change exacerbated the conditions that led to the typhoon season and made the formation of typhoons nearly twice as likely. […]