Image credit: Sea salps, captured by David Hamilton, won the Ocean Wonders category. BBC News Cornwall.
Welcome to OCF’s insights from the marine and coastal sector. This week we have summarised the most relevant stories for you from a range of Marine and Coastal Sectors, including: Fisheries; Aquaculture; Offshore Wind; Conservation; Climate; Science and Marine Pollution.
Fisheries
Following the United Kingdom’s decision to prohibit the fishing of sandeel, the EU has decided to request the establishment of an arbitration tribunal under the dispute settlement mechanism of the post-Brexit EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The EU contends the UK’s move may violate the TCA, which mandates that decisions affecting shared resources be non-discriminatory, proportionate and based on scientific evidence. This has been welcomed as a “necessary step” for protecting EU fishing rights by Danish fisheries, who’s vessels hold 96% of the EU’s North Sea sandeel quota.
A Dutch court has temporarily halted the publication of fishing quotas and contingent allocations following a legal challenge from the Dutch Fishermen’s Union and several Producers’ Organisations (POs). The Netherlands Enterprise Agency received a request to make fishing quotas public in early February 2024, but the Fishermen’s Union and POs are arguing that releasing this data could expose sensitive business information, and that even anonymised data could still be traced back to individual fishing businesses.
France is set to reimpose a temporary fishing ban in the Bay of Biscay in early 2025, a measure aimed at reducing accidental cetacean bycatch. This is following reports that a temporary ban last winter reduced dolphin deaths by an estimated 76%. However, it has been emphasised that the annual ban is not a long term solution, with the aim of lifting the restriction by 2027, and instead implementing other measures such as dolphin deterrent devices on vessels.
The European Union’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council reached an agreement last week on new catch limits for key fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, including herring, cod, plaice, sprat and salmon. Although many positive outcomes were noted, the plans have drawn widespread concern about the potential long-term impacts on fish stocks and marine biodiversity.
The Static Fishing Gear Safety Working Group Report 2024 dives into the problems relating to the marking and rigging of static fishing gear, UK regulations, and what can be improved.
The Scottish Government and stakeholders have introduced a range of voluntary and mandatory measures to enhance and protect salmon stocks as the numbers of Atlantic salmon returning to Scottish rivers continue to decline.
Aquaculture
Global fish farming may rely on significantly larger quantities of wild-caught ocean fish than previously calculated. New findings indicated that the ratio of wild fish inputs to farmed fish outputs is 27% to 307% higher than previous estimates, calling into question long-held assumptions about the sustainability of the rapidly growing aquaculture industry that relies more heavily on wild fish extraction than previous research has suggested.
Offshore Wind
As offshore wind, wave and tidal energy developments expand rapidly in Scotland, a new report commissioned by the Scottish Marine Energy Research (ScotMER programme) highlights the need for advanced benthic ecological surveys to support Marine Renewable Energy Developments (MREDs). The report reviews effective surveying options tailored to Scotland’s marine environment and National climate targets.
The nine countries in the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) have set a target of delivering at least 300 GW of offshore wind by 2050, affirming their commitment to transforming the North Seas into a central renewable power hub for Europe. The primary goals of the meeting were to accelerate deployment of offshore wind and ensure the EU renewables industry remains competitive.
The New Bedford Port Authority in Massachusetts, one of the U.S.’s most valuable fishing harbours, raised significant concerns with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for “failing to avoid and address the interaction and conflicts between offshore wind and commercial fishing” in setting up a second leasing round in the Central Atlantic.
New Zealand’s government has been accused of creating a hostile environment for companies seeking to build offshore wind farms, instead choosing to fast-track a seabed mining project in the same area.
Conservation
“Protecting our ocean is more than a conservation measure, it’s a lifeline” – environment director of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Antha Williams, and the founder of Pristine Seas, Dr. Enric Sala.
Commonwealth countries adopted the Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration for One Resilient Common Future, which calls on all 56 Commonwealth nations to protect and restore the ocean in the face of severe climate change, pollution and impacts related to over-exploitation. This followed hot on the heels from the recent report highlighting the impact of the Commonwealth Blue Charter and how the Charter’s 10 Action Groups have tackled ocean-related challenges and advanced sustainable ocean development. The summit was also dominated by discourse around the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade from Britain’s colonial history, and calls to engage governments and stakeholders in reparatory justice consultations.
Governments and ocean leaders meeting at the UN global nature summit called on all nations today to address the biodiversity crisis by swiftly ratifying the High Seas Treaty and preparing proposals for the first wave of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the High Seas to conserve and restore marine life as soon as the new Treaty enters into force.
SeaTrees has announced the launch of the first Marine Biodiversity Credits at COP16, in Cali, Colombia. Currently only 4% of all conservation and restoration funding is allocated to marine ecosystems, and this new project aims to deal with this issue using a block allocation model. The first three blocks include; a Kenyan mangrove forest; a kelp forest off Sydney’s coast; and a Fijian coral reef.
Russia and China have been accused of blocking every proposal at The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), an international conference tasked with conserving Antarctic marine life. Key proposals presented at the meeting included establishing new marine protected areas in the waters surrounding Antarctica and revisions to the krill fishery management plan.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Matson Navigation Company have announced a new joint effort to combat one of the leading causes of marine mammal fatalities, vessel strikes. The partnership aims to implement a WHOI large mammal detection system on vessels, giving the ship’s crew almost instant information when whale surfacing and exhalation are present in the area and giving them time to slow down or change course.
New research suggests the protection of coral reefs has boosted the amount of fish they harbour by around 10%. The study built a statistical model with data from around 2,600 reefs and simulated how removing all protections from those reefs would impact the total fish biomass, which led to a drop in biomass of about 10%. Crucially the simulations suggest increased gains as the proportion of protected areas rises and expanding coverage to 30% of the world’s reefs could bring the increase up to 28%.
Two eNGOS, The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and Défense des Milieux Aquatiques (DMA), have issued a formal request to the French government to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas (MPAs). They contest that allowing such practices in MPAS undermines the environmental integrity of these sites, directly violating both French and European Union Laws.
Millions of critically endangered eels have been exported from the UK’s Severn estuary to Russia this year, double the amount exported the previous year. Eel industry sources have told the Guardian that next year’s application could increase five-fold, to an estimated 15 million fish. Defra’s permitting of the export of glass eels, as a result of a Brexit loophole, is to supply a Russian restocking programme, however this has been questioned by other leading authorities in eel conservation.
The population of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale increased by five individuals, bringing the estimated total to 372 in 2023. While the slight rise in recent years may signal some stability for the threatened whales, for the species to fully recover there need to be 50 or more calves born every year.
A threatened species of UK coral, Pink Sea Fan (Eunicella verrucosa), has been bred for the first time in a UK aquarium. Horniman Aquarium’s Project Coral lab is home to pioneering coral reproduction research and the spawning was part of University of Exeter PhD student Kaila Wheatley Kornblum’s research into the reproduction, larval dispersal and population connectivity of E. verrucosa.
Politicians have voted unanimously for a marine plan from Jersey’s government, however rejected another proposal to increase the amount of protected areas in it due to fears it would put some fishers out of business.
The Environment Agency has improved access for sea trout and eels in the upper reaches of the New Forest’s Highland Water ecosystem. A bespoke structure has been built to create more favourable conditions for fish to migrate upstream over a wider range of water levels and flows. The fish can now access over 2km of habitat under a greater range of flows.
A research team that has been working to save one of the most endangered white shark populations on the planet, has managed to detect the presence of white sharks at four sites in the Mediterranean. Unlike places such as California, where white sharks gather near seal colonies, Mediterranean white sharks have no known aggregation areas, but were able to be detected using advanced technologies such as (eDNA) sampling.
Climate
Enhanced melting of Arctic sea-ice likely resulted in significant cooling in northern Europe in the Earth’s past. As sea-ice melted, it altered the salinity and density of the water and disrupted the normal flow of currents, leading to changes in circulation patterns and heat distribution across the ocean. Many questions still remain unanswered, but it is hoped these findings provide a benchmark for climate modellers to better constrain the impacts of ice changes on regional and global climate.
New research by UC Riverside has suggested the slowing of a key ocean current could reduce projected Arctic warming by up to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. However, researchers caution that it may cause other climate disruptions, such as a potential southward shift in the Intertropical Convergence Zone that would cause more frequent droughts that affect agriculture and water supplies in regions that depend on its rainfall.
This year’s BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) had sovereignty as its theme for the 16th annual conference, and is now fielding membership applications from all over the world. This is cause for concern when in a BRICS world order international scientific agreement will come second to national jurisdiction when it comes to climate and environment.
Researchers from the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall used precision measurements to confirm that a sliver of cool surface water, less than 2mm deep, enhances carbon dioxide uptake by the ocean. The findings suggest the Atlantic ocean absorbs about 7% more CO₂ each year than previously thought, and when applied across all oceans this additional carbon absorption is equivalent to one and half times the carbon captured by annual forest growth in the Amazon rainforest.
Commercial whaling has decreased the effective population size of bowhead whales by more than tenfold, significantly reducing genetic variation and their ability to adapt to climate change. Urgent conservation action may preserve the remaining genetic variation, allowing bowhead whales to partially recover and hopefully endure the worst impacts.
Climate scientists who were mocked and gaslighted after speaking up about their fears for the future have said acknowledging strong emotions is vital to their work.
Science
An article summarises current research documenting smellscapes of the ocean could provide insight into the state of our seas and our relationship with coastal waters as the environment changes. A “smellscape” is the perceived smell environment which can be fleeting or may build over time, depending on our past experiences and backgrounds. Smellscapes of the sea are multi-layered; shaped by interactions between water, marine life and environmental conditions, and preserving the natural scents of the sea will require concerted efforts to prevent marine pollution and mitigate climate change.
A researcher from the “Sea the Value” project explores the importance of tools that help quantify the value of nature, such as ecosystem services, to make sure certain aspects of the environment are conserved and protected.
The newly classified Melita panda, a species of crustacean with unique black-and-white colouring that resembles a panda, has been confirmed as new to science after being first found in the 1990s. The findings emphasise the importance of studying species taxonomy for conservation efforts, as it is impossible to know if a species is in danger of disappearing if it hasn’t even been identified.
Marine Pollution
For the first time ever scientists have directly measured the behavioural responses of some of the most common marine mammals to military sonar, finding that these animals were sensitive to the sounds at much lower levels than previously predicted. Mass strandings of cetaceans coinciding with the use of sonar systems by navies around the world have raised concern about the threat they pose to whales, dolphins, and porpoises. These new findings are important for mitigating the impacts this disturbance can have on social animals that rely on acoustics for communication, feeding, and other critical facets of their lives.
Shell announced the containment of an oil spill from a land-based pipeline at its energy and chemicals park on Bukom Island, Singapore. The spill released between 30 and 40 metric tonnes of slop, a mixture of oil and water, into the sea.
Marine mucilage, first detected in the Marmara Sea about three years ago and leading to extensive measures from authorities, has recently resurfaced. Professor Mustafa Sarı said the mucilage has returned as “the Marmara Sea Action Plan was not implemented successfully and failed to lower the Marmara Sea’s pollution burden”. He urged swift action is needed to lessen the harm to the marine ecosystem and prevent economic losses, particularly in the fishing and tourism industries.
Fourteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the wildlife and ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico have still not recovered. As scientists continue to uncover new and disturbing things about the long-term impacts of the spill, proposals currently on the table to increase offshore drilling show that the lessons of Deepwater Horizon have not been learned.
Trinidad and Tobago officials have successfully arrested the tug Solo Creed, accused of being responsible for an oil spill that seriously damaged Tobago’s coastline earlier this year.
Volunteers for the charity Clean Planet UK removed two tonnes of abandoned or lost “ghost” fishing nets, line and rope from the sea between Hartlepool and Saltburn last year.
Marine Media
David Attenborough’s new documentary ‘Asia’ will air Sunday 3 November, featuring the coral seas of the Indian Ocean.
Iceberg A-68: The story of how a mega-berg transformed the ocean.
Opportunities
The Marine Planning Team at the Marine Management Organisation are hosting seven in-person and eight online marine plan user training sessions across England to support to provide support and guidance to applicants, decision-makers, and other marine stakeholders. Sessions are running between 11 November and 6 December and will cover a range of topics to support the effective use of marine plans in England, ensuring the right activities happen in the right place and in the right way, placing sustainable development at the centre of all decisions.