marine life

640,000 Metric Tons of Ghost Gear Enters Oceans Each Year

640,000 Metric Tons of Ghost Gear Enters Oceans Each Year

Governments around the world are waking up to the scourge of plastics on our oceans and its creatures by banning items such as shopping bags and drinking straws. But an often-overlooked form of plastic waste is also a major threat to our seas: “ghost” gear. A report released Thursday from World Animal Protection highlights that […]

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    Plastic Threatens to Swamp the Planet

    Plastic Threatens to Swamp the Planet

    By Paul Brown A ubiquitous tide of plastic particles has now swept throughout the world’s oceans. The human rights activist Bianca Jagger described to a conference in London Tuesday how a substance that was invented only in 1907 and seemed to have almost magical properties, because it was practically indestructible, is now threatening an environmental […]

    73% of Deep-Sea Fish Have Ingested Plastic

    73% of Deep-Sea Fish Have Ingested Plastic

    Microplastics can really be found everywhere, even in the stomachs of creatures living deep underwater. Marine scientists from the National University of Ireland (NUI) in Galway found the plastic bits in 73 percent of 233 deep-sea fish collected from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean—one of the highest microplastic frequencies in fish ever recorded worldwide. For the […]

    Coastal Recreation and Tourism Businesses Fight Offshore Oil Drilling Proposal

    Coastal Recreation and Tourism Businesses Fight Offshore Oil Drilling Proposal

    The Surfrider Foundation and leaders of the coastal recreation and tourism industry on Thursday presented Department of Interior representatives with a surfboard and letters signed by more than 1,000 coastal businesses and elected officials in opposition to new offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters. From Florida to Maine and California to Washington State, businesses including […]

    Scientists Connect Camera to Minke Whale in World-First Study

    Scientists Connect Camera to Minke Whale in World-First Study

    For the first time ever, scientists in Antarctica have attached a camera to a minke—one of the most poorly understood of all the whale species. And in an incredible bonus for researchers, the camera (which adheres with suction cups) slid down the side of the animal—but stayed attached—providing remarkable video of the way it feeds. […]

    Scientists Battle Mysterious Pathogen Destroying Coral Reefs Off Florida Coast

    Scientists Battle Mysterious Pathogen Destroying Coral Reefs Off Florida Coast

    By Robynne Boyd Off the coast of Broward County in southeast Florida, a 330-year-old coral colony has withered in the water thanks to a mysterious pathogen. At the height of its health, this slow-growing variety of coral, known as mountainous star, looked like a car-size brown mushroom cap scored by ridges and valleys and colored […]

    Lobster Industry Ensnared in North Atlantic Right Whale Deaths

    Lobster Industry Ensnared in North Atlantic Right Whale Deaths

    By Sam Schipani Last year was not a good one for the North Atlantic right whale. Seventeen of them were discovered to have died, about 4 percent of a total population of 455. Numbers have been low for decades—the species was declared endangered in 1973—but if the current trend continues, the North Atlantic right whale, […]

    18 Documentaries That Will Inspire, Outrage and Mobilize

    18 Documentaries That Will Inspire, Outrage and Mobilize

    By Eva Perroni Film is an incredible tool for effecting change in the food system with its unique ability to educate, inspire and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming. Film can transport viewers to unseen territories, from Colombian coffee-growing regions to the bottom of the ocean, and unveil the stories, struggles and triumphs […]

    Fishing With Insecticide-Laced Mosquito Nets Is a Global Phenomenon

    Fishing With Insecticide-Laced Mosquito Nets Is a Global Phenomenon

    By Benjamin Graham Fishermen in the Dili district of Timor-Leste have found an extra perk of the insecticide added to their mosquito bed nets: the chemicals act as a Taser for shrimp. The bed nets are supposed to ward off malaria, but, with a few strong branches and some twine, it’s easy to refashion them […]