Restoring Estuarine and Coastal Habitats in the North East Atlantic The REACH Conference: Our near shore seas and estuaries in the North East Atlantic have been transformed by human activity with significant losses of key habitats and the services they once provided. We have the capability to reverse some of these changes and there is […]
The Environment Agency has today (10 October) set itself the aim of becoming a net zero organisation by 2030 – ensuring that its own activities and its supply chain are taking as much carbon out of the atmosphere as it is putting into it. Meeting this goal, which is based on the internationally-recognised Science Based […]
Ever since the Brexit referendum we’ve heard a lot about ‘our fish’. No one truly owns the fish in the sea – fish eggs and fast swimmers prevent ear tags from working here – but for the purposes of management, fish are fundamentally a public resource owned by all of us. In the UK, neglect […]
Scotland has become the first part of the UK to ban the sale of plastic cotton buds. New regulations have come into force prohibiting the manufacture and sale of the items, as part of measures to reduce plastic waste. Environmental campaigners at the Marine Conservative Society, who have cleared more than 150,000 plastic cotton bud sticks from Scotland’s […]
Michael Stachowitsch on “The Beachcomber’s Guide to Marine Debris” This richly illustrated book serves as the ideal guide to the items that litter the world’s beaches. Forget sea shells and other fauna and flora. Here, you will find what a beachcomber is actually most likely to encounter these days: glass, plastic, wood, metal, paper, oil, […]
A humpback whale measuring at least 5 metres (16ft) has been spotted in the River Thames east of London. It was first seen over the weekend with sightings either side of the Dartford Crossing. Ships have been advised to proceed with caution through the area. Last year, a beluga whale, nicknamed Benny the Beluga, spent […]
Three years on from the State of Nature 2016, this latest review of the biggest threats to nature in the UK, based on changes in key indicators, shows a continuing downward trend. The report reveals that for UK priority species, those of greatest conservation concern, more have shown strong or moderate decreases in abundance (41%) […]
Kelp once stretched along 40 km of the West Sussex coastline from Selsey to Shoreham, forming an underwater forest that extended at least 4 km seaward. It provided a vital habitat, nursery and feeding ground for seahorses, cuttlefish, lobster, sea bream and bass. It locked up huge quantities of carbon, helping us to fight climate […]