30 Jun 2026
Photo by Paolo Chiabrando Western Isles councillors have formally objected to a proposed 60-turbine offshore wind farm off the west coast of Lewis, after planning officers recommended opposition on the grounds of landscape, seascape and historic environment harm. The decision was taken at a full meeting of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar on 29 June, […]
30 Jun 2026
Photo by Theirry Meier A new umbrella body, Marine Science UK (MSUK), has been launched to bring UK universities and research organisations together under a single voice, with the aim of feeding more coherent scientific evidence into government and industry decision-making on the ocean. A single voice for a fragmented sector According to its own description, […]
30 Jun 2026
Photo by Markus Spiske Greenpeace UK has announced plans to create new underwater boulder barriers in UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), a decade after the Brexit vote and five years after the Fisheries Act 2020 gave ministers full powers to protect them. As Afloat.ie reported, the charity argues those powers have gone largely unused, with destructive industrial […]
23 Jun 2026
Photo by Thimo van Leeuwen Scottish Ministers have been both non-compliant with, and ineffective in implementing, their legal duties to protect and restore the seafloor, according to a new report published on 23 June by Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS), the independent body that monitors environmental law in Scotland. The findings landed on the same day campaigners […]
23 Jun 2026
Photo by Denys Nevozhai The UK has committed £13.9 million to international programmes tackling ocean protection, coastal resilience and plastic pollution, with Marine Minister Emma Hardy announcing the funding at the eleventh Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya. The money is channelled through the Blue Planet Fund, the UK’s flagship ocean financing vehicle, which marks its fifth anniversary this […]
23 Jun 2026
Photo by Paul Einerhand Global fisheries and aquaculture production hit a record high in 2024, even as the share of the world’s fish stocks classed as biologically sustainable fell for the second report running, according to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026 (SOFIA 2026), the Food and Agriculture Organization’s flagship biennial assessment. The […]
23 Jun 2026
Photo by Dylan Shaw A vast area of winter sea ice has failed to form off West Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea, with scientists warning the region may now be entering a permanently reduced state with consequences for penguins, krill and some of the continent’s most significant glaciers. The gap was first reported in detail by […]
23 Jun 2026
Photo by Gerland Schömbs French Polynesia has become the world’s largest contributor to the global 30×30 ocean protection target, after President Moetai Brotherson announced on 7 June that a further 520,000 km² of the territory’s waters will be fully protected from extractive industries. The move brings the total share of French Polynesia’s exclusive economic zone under full protection to around 30%, an area covering roughly 1.4 million […]
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