21 Jul 2026

Photo Credit: AdobeStock   The Scottish Government has granted consents and marine licences for the Caledonia North and South offshore wind farms in the outer Moray Firth, allowing developer Ocean Winds to progress plans for a two-gigawatt project. The two sites will cover a combined 429 square kilometres and are permitted to install up to […]

21 Jul 2026

Photo Credit: AdobeStock   The most comprehensive UK-wide assessment yet of where and how sensitive marine species are being accidentally caught in fishing gear has been published by Clean Catch, the Defra-funded bycatch mitigation programme. The literature review and a shorter policy brief identify four broad hotspot fisheries in UK waters, set out the species most at risk in each, […]

21 Jul 2026

Photo Credit: AdobeStock   Work to remove the three masts from the SS Richard Montgomery, the American Second World War Liberty ship that sank in the Thames Estuary in 1944 with 1,400 tonnes of unexploded munitions still on board, will begin in early September, the Department for Transport has confirmed. The £9.5 million operation, which […]

21 Jul 2026

Photo Credit: AdobeStock   Southern Water has been fined £7,127,083 at Canterbury Crown Court for a series of illegal sewage discharges from pumping stations at Margate and Broadstairs between 2019 and 2021 that led Thanet District Council to close beaches at the height of successive summers. The company pleaded guilty earlier this year to 13 […]

21 Jul 2026

Photo Credit: AdobeStock   The UK Maritime Innovation Hub is emerging as a central point of engagement between innovators and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the agency says in a progress update on its first three months of operation. Since its formal showcase at the Flag Forum in London on 16 April 2026, the […]

14 Jul 2026

Photo credit: Adobe Stock The regulatory system in England and Wales is the primary obstacle to restoring marine habitats at scale, according to a new report from the Blue Marine Foundation. Coastal Comeback argues that a licensing regime designed to control industrial development is being applied, largely unchanged, to projects whose purpose is ecological recovery, and sets […]

14 Jul 2026

Photo credit: Adobe Stock Bottom trawling is damaging the seabirds, dolphins and porpoises that many UK marine protected areas were created to safeguard, and should be banned across those sites, according to a new report from the campaign group Oceana UK. The report, Trawled and Mauled, argues that protection existing on paper is not being delivered […]

14 Jul 2026

Photo credit: Adobe Stock A new fund for the recovery of Wales’s marine and coastal ecosystems has opened a call for ideas, asking organisations across the country what work is needed and where the gaps lie. MARINE Fund Cymru, which stands for Marine Resilience and Improvement of Natural Ecosystems, is managed by the Wales Council for […]