15 May 2023

On May 9, Ecuador launched a plan that would effectively wipe out the interest on part of its debt in exchange for its protection of the Galápagos Islands, one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world. The strategy will allow Ecuador to convert $1.6 billion of its existing commercial debt into a $656 […]

15 May 2023

In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers documented 851 seabird restoration events that took place over the last 70 years (although most took place during the previous 10 years). These projects spanned 551 locations and targeted 138 seabird species. Forty-nine of these events used […]

15 May 2023

Apply for funding to enhance the resilience, health and wellbeing of UK coastal communities and seas. Successful transdisciplinary research projects will apply a place-based approach to transform our understanding of UK coastal communities and seas. They will utilise relevant approaches to build understanding and collaborate with stakeholders to enable transformative decision making. The programme will […]

09 May 2023

The UK government is planning to consult on expanding its targets to tackle sewage even further to cover all coasts, estuaries and marine protected sites, Defra has confirmed. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published in August 2022, set out stringent targets to protect people and the environment, backed up by £56 billion capital investment – […]

09 May 2023

Seals, sea lions and walruses – a group of animals called pinnipeds – have been heavily exploited throughout much of human history. Many of these species have at some point even been threatened with extinction. But, in the UK, their decline has largely been reversed. Since the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 prohibited the killing or injuring of grey […]

09 May 2023

Government and political institutions should do more to make citizens feel empowered within marine environment decisions and give them the right to participate, new research shows. Marine Citizenship is the term used for people who get involved in changing how humans use the ocean. It has been investigated as a potential policy tool to engage the […]

09 May 2023

Kelp forests provide an estimated value of $500 billion to the world and capture 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from seawater each year. A new paper published in Nature Communications aims to fill knowledge gaps by identifying the economic value of marine kelp forests. It suggests that kelp forests across the world provide three main […]