13 Oct 2019
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 […]
13 Oct 2019
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, […]
07 Oct 2019
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 […]
06 Oct 2019
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%) […]
06 Oct 2019
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 […]
06 Oct 2019
Earlier this year Defra announced a review to examine whether and how the strongest protections for areas of sea, known as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), could be introduced. The review, led by Richard Benyon MP, which will run to early 2020, is considering the waters for which the Secretary of State has responsibility: the […]
06 Oct 2019
Developers of a 600m long free-floating boom to collect plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch have reported a successful trial after an earlier setback when the boom broke. The boon acts as a barrier floating on the surface with a three metre-deep (10ft) screen below it, which is intended to trap some of the […]
06 Oct 2019
Scientists have warned that existing levels of tuna fishing are unsustainable after researchers found that global catches have increased more than 1,000% over the past 60 years. A study in the journal Fisheries Research estimated that about 6m tonnes of tuna are now caught annually, a rate that “risks driving tuna populations to unsustainable levels […]
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