16 Sep 2025

Matthew TenBruggencate   The UK Government has launched the parliamentary process to ratify the High Seas Treaty, a landmark international agreement designed to protect biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction. Announcing the move, the Foreign Office minister Seema Malhotra said: “Our oceans are under pressure, it’s undeniable. Unsustainable fishing, global warming, pollution—all threaten to deplete the […]

05 Aug 2025

  An unusually high number of jellyfish have arrived in UK seas this summer, with marine experts linking the phenomenon to record-breaking sea surface temperatures and the broader impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. The Marine Conservation Society recorded 1,432 jellyfish sightings in 2024, representing a 32% increase compared with the previous year, as […]

06 May 2024

To coincide with the Our Ocean conference, a new report, co-authored by Marine Conservation Society, Seas At Risk and Oceana, shows that in the seven countries analysed, 4.4 million hours of apparent bottom trawling was allowed in MPAs between 2015-2023 – equivalent to more than 500 years’ worth of trawling. Using data compiled by Global Fishing Watch, the breadth and […]

06 Nov 2023

A Marine Conservation Society survey has found that the number of jellyfish spotted in the UK has increased by 32% in the last year. The most commonly spotted were the barrel, or ‘dustbin-lid’, jellyfish. Jellyfish populations vary naturally over time but climate change warming the UK seas is creating favourable conditions. In August, oceans hit […]

10 Oct 2023

The Marine Conservation Society has released the latest update to its Good Fish Guide, which sees 53 rating changes, with 19 ratings moving down the sustainability scale. The Good Fish Guide includes 337 ratings for seafood caught in UK waters, split into three categories, where ‘green’ is the most sustainable best choice; ‘amber’, which indicates there are some […]

10 Apr 2023

The Marine Conservation Society’s latest ‘Good Fish Guide’ relegates mackerel from green list, while eel and Celtic cod remain on unsustainable red list. Mackerel is no longer deemed a sustainable seafood choice after the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has warned that populations of the fish have been in steady decline in recent years.     […]

28 Feb 2023

The High Court has given permission for a hearing to take place on whether the government’s plan for reducing sewage dumping is too lenient in what could potentially be “the most consequential environmental law case in recent history” according to the non-profit supporting the case, reported in New Civil Engineer.     Defra released the Storm […]

15 Nov 2022

Results have been collated, analysed and now released from the 2022 MCS beach cleans. 5,261 dedicated volunteers took part in the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Great British Beach Clean’ in 2022. Around 30 miles of beach was cleaned across the UK with litter items recorded over the ten days with volunteers helping to pick up over 141,048 pieces of […]