marine life

Emergency Order Aims to Protect Resident Orcas

Emergency Order Aims to Protect Resident Orcas

Canada is losing a lot of its wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund’s 2017 Living Planet Report Canada found half the monitored mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species declined from 1970 to 2014. Threatened and endangered species continue to disappear despite federal legislation designed to protect them and help their populations recover. What’s going wrong? […]

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    Scotland Readies Ban on Plastic Cotton Buds

    Scotland Readies Ban on Plastic Cotton Buds

    To combat the growing problem of plastic pollution in the ocean, the Scottish government plans to introduce legislation to ban the manufacture and sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds. According to the UK’s Marine Conservation Society, plastic cotton buds, which are often flushed down the toilet and can pass through sewage treatment plants, are consistently listed […]

    Great Barrier Reef: 99% of These Sea Turtles Are Turning Female

    Great Barrier Reef: 99% of These Sea Turtles Are Turning Female

    A new study reveals increasing temperatures are turning green turtle populations almost completely female in the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The Current Biology paper says the northern GBR population of more than 200,000 nesting females—one of the largest in the world—could eventually crash without more males. Increasing temperatures in Queensland’s north, linked to climate […]

    Belize Ends Oil Operations in Its Ocean Waters

    Belize Ends Oil Operations in Its Ocean Waters

    Belize, home of the largest barrier reef in the western hemisphere, has permanently suspended oil operations in its ocean waters. The legislation marks the first time that a developing country has taken such a major step to protect its oceans—and all the life within—from oil exploration and extraction. The new suspension of oil activity marks […]

    Trump Moves to Open 90 Percent of Our Coastal Waters to Oil Drilling

    Trump Moves to Open 90 Percent of Our Coastal Waters to Oil Drilling

    President Trump has launched the most sweeping industrial assault in history on our oceans, marine life, coasts and all they support, proposing to expose nearly all U.S. waters to the risk of another BP oil spill–style disaster. In a move that would put every American coastal community at risk, Trump proposed Thursday to hand over […]

    Oceans Losing Oxygen at Breathtaking Speeds

    Oceans Losing Oxygen at Breathtaking Speeds

    Ocean dead zones quadrupled in size since 1950, while low oxygen sites around the world increased tenfold, threatening large swaths of marine life, scientists warned in a study released on Friday. “Major extinction events in Earth’s history have been associated with warm climates and oxygen-deficient oceans,” the analysis published in the journal Science stated. “Under […]

    2017 Year in Review

    2017 Year in Review

    As we look back on the most noteworthy environmental stories of 2017, one cannot help but start with the extreme weather that has caused so much destruction to so many around the globe. And with that, the year brought heightened concern for protecting our planet with focused attention on issues like renewable energy, electric vehicles […]