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New Agreement Offers Brighter Future for Pacific Bluefin Tuna

By Amanda Nickson

The Pacific bluefin tuna is among the most depleted species on the planet, having been fished down more than 97 percent from its historic, unfished size. For years, this prized fish has been in dire need of strong policies that would reverse that decline, but the two organizations responsible for its management—the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)—failed in their recent efforts, allowing overfishing to continue and further risking the future of the species.

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Pledge to End Ocean Plastics

By Louisa Casson

We know our oceans and coastlines are choking on plastic. We've all seen plastic bottles, food wrappers and plastic bags polluting beaches, and been horrified by the stories of marine creatures like seabirds and whales starving when their stomachs become packed full of plastic.

Scientists have shown that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic is entering our oceans every year—that's a rubbish truck full every minute. Single-use plastic packaging for food and drink is a particularly common part of the problem.

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Vaquita killed in gill net fishery for totoaba in El Golfo de Santa Clara, Sonora, Mexico. Christian Faesi / Omar Vidal

China, Mexico and U.S. Target Illegal Totoaba Trade to Save Nearly Extinct Vaquita

As the first trilateral meeting of the governments of China, Mexico and the U.S. on illegal totoaba trade came to an end Friday, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) urged swift action to halt the trafficking of totoaba swim bladders and save the vaquita.

The world's most endangered marine mammal—the vaquita porpoise—is teetering on the brink of extinction as individuals are trapped as bycatch in gillnets cast illegally to capture totoaba—also a critically endangered species.

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Did the Solar Eclipse Cause Farmed Salmon to Stage a Massive Jailbreak?

By Katherine Ripley

On Aug. 19, around 4 p.m., 5,000 salmon escaped from Cooke Aquaculture, an aquaculture farm in the Puget Sound in Washington. There have been some anecdotal accounts of animals behaving strangely in response to the solar eclipse that happened on Aug. 21. Could this salmon jailbreak have been the animals' reaction to the impending celestial event?

Not likely.

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Extensive Coral Bleaching in the Pacific Shocks Scientists

By Marnie Cunningham

A crew of scientists who are spending two years aboard a research ship traveling around the world have said they were shocked to find basically all of the Pacific Ocean's reefs to be affected by bleaching.

"What we've seen in really isolated spots like Samoa for example, even though it's very far away from [developed] countries with pollution, we struggled to find any coral life," the captain of the ship, Nicolas De La Brosse, told the ABC.

"It doesn't matter where you are in the Pacific, coral is starting to bleach."

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21-Year-Old Filmmaker Takes Audiences on a Provocative Journey to Save Coral Reefs

The recent documentary, Sea of Life, exposes key threats to the oceans, and calls for action.

Sea of Life follows filmmaker Julia Barnes on a three year adventure, spanning seven countries, to save coral reefs.

Although they cover less than 1 percent of the sea floor coral reefs support up to 30 percent of all species in the ocean at some stage in their life cycles. Often referred to as the rainforests of the ocean, coral reefs are one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. They're also an indicator for the future of the oceans and all life on Earth.

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Anchovies are eating plastic because it smells like prey, study finds. Photo credit: David Abercrombie/Flickr

Another Reason to Ditch Plastic—It Smells Like Food to Fish

We know that the massive amount of plastic that's continually dumped into our oceans can end up in the stomachs of marine species (and ultimately on our plates), but why would they want to eat it?

Well, new research suggests that fish are not just accidentally gobbling up our plastic trash—they could be actively seeking it out because they like how the debris smells and are confusing it for their natural prey.

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Scuba Divers Rescue World's Biggest Fish Trapped in Net

In this beautiful video from The Dodo, scuba divers rescue whale sharks stuck in a fishing net. The best part comes next—when the divers' newfound friends hang around to celebrate.

The extraordinary whale shark takes 30 years to reach maturity and can live more than 100 years. They can grow more than 40 feet long. They can even stand on their tails.

And while they are the largest fish in the sea, they are not predators, but rather filter feeders subsisting on the tiniest food available—zooplankton and small fish such as sardines and anchovies swimming into their open mouths.

Their size and thick skin help protect them from predators, but not from humans, as commercial fishing has exploited them to the brink of extinction.

This amazing footage was shared by Txus R. at Indocruises.

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Hong Kong's Palm Oil Spill Is Wreaking Havoc on Marine Life

On the night of Aug. 3 two ships collided south of Hong Kong in the approach waters to the Pearl River Delta. According to information obtained from the Tradewinds News, the Japanese GMS chemical tanker Global Apollon and the Pacific International Lines containership Kota Ganteng had a collision but details remain very slim. Details of the damage is also unknown however the Kota Ganteng containership has since sailed onwards to Singapore. The Global Apollon remains at anchor in the waters near the Chinese Guishan Islands just to the South West of Hong Kong's Soko Islands.

The Global Apollon was carrying 9,000 tons of raw palm oil and a substantial (unknown) amount of this was spilt into the surrounding waters. The Guangzhou authorities dispatched nine vessels to assist and contain from reports we have seen, yet the Hong Kong government claim that they were not told of the spill until Aug. 5. By the time the Hong Kong government found out, large amounts of this palm oil began washing up on Hong Kong's southern beaches.

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