14 Apr 2026
Photo by Nik Shuliahin The third and final preparatory commission for the High Seas Treaty concluded on 2 April at the United Nations headquarters in New York, wrapping up two weeks of intensive negotiations that the High Seas Alliance described as delivering meaningful progress, but also leaving several significant issues unresolved ahead of the treaty’s first Conference […]
14 Apr 2026
Image description: A puffin with fish in its beak. Photo by Tim Morgan Defra published its updated UK Marine Strategy Part One on 7 April 2026 – the first full update since 2019 and the opening of the strategy’s third six-year implementation cycle. The headline finding is stark: the UK is failing to meet Good Environmental Status in […]
07 Apr 2026
Photo Richard Bell Almost 40% of England’s seas are designated as marine protected areas. Their stated purpose, according to the government, is to protect and recover rare, threatened and important marine ecosystems from damage caused by human activities. Yet in the four years to 2024, trawlers using vast nets, including those that scour the […]
07 Apr 2026
Photo by Francesco Ungaro More than a tenth of the global ocean is now officially designated as protected or conserved, marking a historic milestone in the race to safeguard marine biodiversity. The figure — confirmed at 10.01% through the latest update to the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas — represents a significant leap from […]
17 Mar 2026
Photo by Cláudio Luiz Castro Chilean President Gabriel Boric has signed a decree granting full protection to 360,000km² of waters surrounding the Juan Fernández Archipelago and the Nazca-Desventuradas Marine Park – one of his final acts before leaving office on 11 March. Once fully implemented, the designation will bring the total fully protected area […]
10 Mar 2026
Photo by Torsten Dederichs The world’s largest krill harvester is at the centre of a growing dispute over its “sustainable” certification, after WWF and the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition formally objected to a proposal to recertify the fishery under the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue tick label — the latest development in a year […]
03 Mar 2026
Photo by Doncoombez The UK Government has laid a draft statutory instrument to amend the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations, bringing forward new powers to enable offshore wind deployment under the Energy Act 2023 — a long-awaited reform that conservation groups have cautiously welcomed, while warning that a critical flaw in the draft […]
24 Feb 2026
Photo by Maxwell Andrews The Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan has been formally adopted by Scottish Ministers, establishing a statutory framework for managing marine activities out to 12 nautical miles from the coast. The plan, the second of its kind for the Orkney Islands Scottish Marine Region, sets binding policy for a wide range of sectors […]
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