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 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 […]
16 Jun 2026
Photo credit: Nicola / Adobe Stock The Caribbean island of Montserrat has joined the Blue Belt Programme, the UK Government’s flagship international marine conservation initiative, making it the eleventh UK Overseas Territory to enter the scheme and the fourth from the Caribbean. The announcement was made on 8 June, World Ocean Day, as the programme also marked its tenth anniversary. Known as the “Emerald Isle […]
02 Jun 2026
Photo by Rau Ling Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has launched a 12-week consultation on proposed fisheries management measures for three offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Irish Sea, with restrictions on bottom trawling for nephrops among the measures under consideration. The three sites, the Pisces Reef Complex Special Area […]
18 May 2026
Photo by Jacqueline Heron Wray A new study of Scotland’s South Arran Marine Protected Area has found that nearly a decade of protection from bottom trawling and dredging has produced striking ecological recovery, with highly protected seabeds recording around three times the abundance of marine life and twice as many species compared with nearby […]
12 May 2026
Photo by Paul Einerhand A Dutch court has ruled that bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank without permits is unlawful, in what is believed to be the first European judgment confirming that governments have a binding legal duty to regulate the impact of bottom trawling on offshore marine protected areas. The District Court of […]
12 May 2026
Photo by Phill Brown A team of 26 scientists drawn from eleven government bodies is currently mapping the seabed off Britain’s south-west coast in what has been described as the most ambitious collaborative survey of its kind ever undertaken in the UK. The four-week mission, designated CSM2026, is being carried out aboard the research vessel Cefas Endeavour […]
12 May 2026
Photo by Igor Francetic Three ScotWind offshore wind developers have joined forces with Crown Estate Scotland and NatureScot to fund a two-year acoustic study of minke whale activity in a marine protected area that lies directly in the path of planned grid connection infrastructure off the Aberdeenshire coast. The study, led by the Scottish […]
