location: Mediterranean Sea

location: Mediterranean Sea

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Shipbreaking pollutes Türkiye’s coast despite European cleanup efforts
- Over the past decade, more than 2,000 ships have been dismantled at shipyards in Türkiye’s coastal town of Aliağa, one of the world’s main destinations for decommissioned vessels.
- Locals and environmentalists alike complain of rampant water and air pollution linked to shipbreaking, among other industrial activities.
- Workers’ unions and activists have also called out substandard working conditions at the yards, recording 11 deadly accidents between 2018 and 2024.
- Efforts by the European Union to promote better practices in some yards by allowing them to dismantle European ships have had a mixed effect, according to workers and experts Mongabay interviewed, encouraging some yards to improve practices without solving the pollution problem.

In the dark of the night, sponges help possum shrimp ‘smell’ their way home
- Tiny mysid shrimp in Mediterranean underwater caves use a unique “smelling” ability to navigate back to their specific home caves after nightly feeding trips in the open sea.
- Researchers discovered that these shrimp can distinguish their home cave’s unique “chemical seascape” from other nearby caves, spending up to 16 times longer in water from their home cave in experimental settings.
- The mysids’ ability to return to their caves is crucial for their survival and for the broader ecosystem, as they transport nutrients from the sea into cave environments.
- Climate change and pollution pose significant threats to this delicate ecosystem; they could alter the chemical signatures that guide the mysids and impact the sponges that help generate these signatures.

Can aquaculture solve the Mediterranean’s overfishing problem?
- In the Mediterranean, 73% of commercial fish stocks are fished beyond biologically sustainable limits.
- Part of the strategy to reduce overfishing promoted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, a regional fisheries management organization, is to promote the expansion of aquaculture, which is growing rapidly.
- However, most fish farms in the region produce carnivorous species, causing concern among experts and NGOs about the risk of worsening the burden on wild marine stocks to produce enough feed.

As climate change hits the Turkish coast, more marine reserves are needed (commentary)
- The Mediterranean Sea’s marine life is facing many threats, not least of which is the rapidly rising water temperatures.
- The sea is warming faster than the global average, and with that warmth comes unwelcome tropical visitors like lionfish, which prey on native marine biodiversity, spurring conservationists to focus fishing pressure on these voracious predators, but that’s not all they’re doing.
- “We believe the expansion of the marine protected area network is now an essential next step, and we are working with the Turkish government to make this happen,” one such conservationist writes in a new op-ed.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Illegal trawling ravages Tunisian seagrass meadows crucial for fish
- The largest remaining seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean are in Tunisia’s Gulf of Gabès, a hotspot for biodiversity and fishing.
- But illegal bottom trawling and industrial pollution are destroying this unique habitat, a natural nursery to numerous species of fish and other marine fauna.
- Hundreds of trawlers ply their trade overtly with little consequence, and most of the catch makes its way to Europe, skirting laws designed to prevent the entry of illegally caught seafood.

More than half of reef sharks and rays threatened with extinction, study shows
- More than half of known species of coral reef sharks and rays are already threatened with extinction, mostly because of overfishing, according to new research.
- The researchers reported that population trends were declining for 94 coral reef shark and ray species; of the two groups, rays were more threatened than sharks.
- Reef sharks and rays are typically caught for human consumption, and to a lesser extent for use in apparel or accessories, in aquarium displays, as food for domestic animals, and in traditional medicine.
- The study calls for urgent urgent measures to improve regional fisheries and marine protected areas management.

Illegal bottom trawling widespread inside Mediterranean marine protected areas
- A new “atlas” reveals widespread illegal bottom trawling inside Mediterranean marine protected areas.
- The atlas, an interactive online map, shows thousands of days of apparent bottom-trawling activity in areas where it is banned, in 2020 and 2021.
- Bottom trawlers can damage the seabed, destroy coral and sponge habitats, and catch unintended species at a high rate.
- The findings demonstrate “the lack of enforcement and transparency in the Med, which is the most overfished sea in the world,” an atlas coordinator told Mongabay.

‘Mind-blowing’ marine heat waves put Mediterranean ecosystems at grave risk
- A recent study reveals the widespread effects of climate change-driven marine heat waves on the ecological communities of the Mediterranean Sea.
- Rises in sea surface temperatures as high as 5° Celsius (9° Fahrenheit) above normal have caused die-offs in 50 different taxonomic groups of animals from around the Mediterranean Basin.
- These far-reaching impacts of the warming sea could devastate the fisheries on which many of the Mediterranean region’s 400 million people rely.
- Researchers advocate bolstering and expanding marine protected areas. Although they can’t hold back the warmer waters that have proven deadly to the sea’s rich biodiversity, these sanctuaries can help ensure that these species don’t have to cope simultaneously with other pressures, such as overfishing or pollution.

Love ‘em and loathe ‘em: Mediterranean grapples with tasty, voracious invasive crabs
- Two invasive blue crab species have recently settled in the Mediterranean.
- Both species are voracious predators that disrupt bottom habitats, shred fishers’ nets and ruin their catches. They’re also edible.
- Mediterranean countries are considering whether to target the invasive crabs to control them, or embrace and even protect them as a new socioeconomic resource for the future.
- This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

Cradle of transformation: The Mediterranean and climate change
- The Mediterranean region is warming 20% faster than the world as a whole, raising concerns about the impacts that climate change and other environmental upheaval will have on ecosystems, agriculture and the region’s 542 million people.
- Heat waves, drought, extreme weather and sea-level rise are among the impacts that the region can expect to see continue through the end of the century, and failing to stop emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could make these issues worse.
- Charting a course that both mitigates climate change and bolsters adaption to its effects is further complicated by the Mediterranean’s mix of countries, cultures and socioeconomics, leading to wide gaps in vulnerability in the region.

Seagrass joins other marine life in accumulating sunscreen compounds
- Ultraviolet filters typically found in sunscreen lotions can accumulate in high concentrations in seagrass rhizomes, a new study shows.
- This discovery is raising concerns about the potential effect on important seagrass ecosystems, though the full ramifications remain unclear.
- The findings indicate that such components not only end up in organisms in the coastal environment but also tend to remain there for a long time, one expert says.
- UV filters are already known to accumulate in a variety of aquatic species, such as dolphins, sea turtles, fish and mussels, and can cause harm, including birth defects and reduced fertility, as well as damage to coral reefs.

‘There’s not much hope’: Mediterranean corals collapse under relentless heat
- In 2003, a marine heat wave devastated coral reef communities in the Mediterranean Sea, including the reefs in the Scandola Marine Reserve, a protected region off the coast of Corsica.
- More than 15 years later, the coral reef communities in Scandola still have not recovered.
- Researchers determined that persistent marine heat waves, which are now happening every year in the Mediterranean, are preventing Scandola’s slow-growing coral reefs from recuperating.
- Human-induced climate change is the culprit; persistent rising temperatures in the ocean have normalized marine heat waves, not only in the Mediterranean, but in the global oceans.

Despite deals, plans and bans, the Mediterranean is awash in plastic
- The Mediterranean is considered to be one of the world’s most polluted bodies of water due to waste disposal problems in many countries bordering the sea, as well as the intensity of marine activity in the region.
- There are several existing policies and treaties in place aimed at regulating plastics and reducing plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, but experts say more international cooperation is needed to tackle the problem.
- Citizen science organization OceanEye has been collecting water samples to measure the amount of microplastics present in the surface waters of the Mediterranean.

Israel-U.A.E. pipeline deal ‘invitation to disaster’ for globally important corals
- Israel and the U.A.E are moving to extend oil operations using Israel’s “land bridge,” an alternative to the Suez Canal, following the signing of the Abraham Accords peace treaty.
- Tanker traffic is set to increase in the northern Red Sea, with a tanker terminal close to Eilat’s coral reefs endangering species that are very resilient to high temperatures.
- Scientists, environmentalists and politicians are campaigning for a reversal of the decision, citing the environmental track record of the state-run company in charge of the pipeline’s operations, fears of ecological damages and economic consequences for coral reef tourism.

Climate change isn’t fueling algal blooms the way we think, study shows
- A team of international researchers recently published the first global assessment of harmful algal blooms (HABs) — events in which toxic algae proliferate and cause harm to marine life and humans — based on nearly 10,000 recorded events between 1985 and 2018.
- The study found that there are no global trends that would suggest that climate change is having a uniform impact on HABs throughout the world, although this is a commonly held belief.
- The researchers were able to detect clearer regional trends that showed increases, decreases or no significant changes in HABs in certain parts of the world.
- It also found that there was a perceived increase in HABs amid the booming aquaculture industry, although the study does not necessarily suggest that aquaculture is causing an increase in HABs.

Conservation actions see Iberian lynx claw back from brink of extinction
- By 2002, the Iberian lynx was extinct in its native Portugal and down to fewer than 100 animals in Spain, well on track to becoming the first cat species to go extinct since the saber-toothed tiger 12,000 years ago.
- But a battery of conservation measures targeting the wide range of threats to the species has seen it bounce back from the brink, with a wild population today of around 1,000.
- Reintroduction of captive-bred lynx has been complemented by rewilding of historical lynx ranges, along with boosting of prey species and the creation of wildlife corridors and highway tunnels to reduce deaths from road collisions.
- The species is one of a handful highlighted in a study showing how targeted conservation solutions can save species from going extinct, although threats still remain, including climate change.

This Mediterranean seagrass filters plastic waste — but it’s also under threat
- Posidonia oceanica, a species of seagrass that grows in meadows in the Mediterranean Sea, has been found to trap plastic waste particles at much higher concentrations than previously thought.
- Researchers in Spain found that balled-up clumps of this fibrous plant were trapping up to 1,500 plastic particles per kilogram of seagrass.
- They estimate that the total extent of P. oceanica may be capable of trapping nearly 900 million pieces of plastic debris each year.
- However, the seagrass meadows are receding across their range, due to threats from climate change, the spread of invasive species, pollution, erosion, and loss of coastal habitats from dredging, trawling and boat anchoring.

Sharks are ‘functionally extinct’ in many global reef systems, study finds
- A new study surveyed 371 coral reefs in 58 countries, and found sharks were virtually absent from 20% of the surveyed reefs, indicating that they were functionally extinct from these ecosystems.
- The research team collected 15,165 hours of video via baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS), and used this data to analyze shark abundance on global reef systems.
- The absence of sharks was usually connected to poor governance of nearby human settlements, including unregulated and destructive fisheries.
- While sharks were missing from many reefs around the world, other locations boasted healthy shark populations due to rigorous conservation efforts.

In ocean biodiversity hotspots, microplastics come with the currents
- A new study has found that microplastics are falling to the seafloor, being carried by bottom currents, and accumulating at certain points in the ocean, coined as “microplastic hotspots” by the authors.
- Microplastic hotspots contain up to 1.9 million pieces of plastic per square meter, the highest concentration of plastic ever recorded on the seafloor.
- The most common microplastic found in the ocean is microfibers from textiles, which enters the ocean through domestic and industrial waste water systems.
- The study suggests that microplastics are ending up in biodiversity hotspots in the ocean, where they can easily enter and disrupt the marine ecosystem.

For the Mediterranean, the Suez is a wormhole bringing in alien invaders
- An influx of Indo-Pacific species has invaded the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, changing the sea’s ecology and threatening the region’s fisheries.
- Climate change is amplifying the invasion by stressing endemic populations and creating new space for invasive species.
- Researchers say governments are not effectively managing impacts of the invasion on aquaculture, tourism, human health and endemic biodiversity. This includes Egypt, which manages the Suez Canal but is not currently acting to stem the invasion.
- Experts say what’s needed is collaboration by Mediterranean countries to develop and execute adequate management policy before the situation gets worse.

Beaked whales’ stealth behavior gives clues to mystery of mass stranding
- A new study suggests that beaked whales have evolved stealthy and synchronized behavior to evade predators such as killer whales.
- They dive in synch to maximize their foraging time together and minimize their time at the surface, where killer whales can more easily target them.
- And even though they depend on echolocation to communicate and forage, they go into silent mode in depths that killer whales typically hunt in.
- Predator avoidance is such a strong driver of their behavior that researchers say any hint of danger —even a naval sonar — could trigger an intense stress response, and possibly explain why beaked whales are prone to mass stranding.

Sponges supply DNA for new method of monitoring aquatic biodiversity
- Tracking environmental DNA (eDNA) is fast becoming a popular method of monitoring aquatic biodiversity, but current methods are expensive and cumbersome.
- Filter-feeding sponges can act as natural sieves to collect and concentrate eDNA from seawater.
- Using sponge samples collected from the Antarctic and the Mediterranean Sea, researchers identified 31 organisms, including fish, penguins, and seals, clearly separated by location.
- Although the method is still a proof of concept, it may lead to the development of simpler, less expensive technologies for aquatic eDNA collection.

In Malta, legal loopholes give poachers cover to hunt migratory birds
- Malta is a stopping-off point for some 170 species of birds migrating between Europe and Africa. But poachers kill or capture up to 200,000 wild birds every year — a problem widespread across the Mediterranean.
- In particular, illegal trapping of birds such as finches continues to persist in Malta, despite the European Court of Justice ruling against Malta for allowing the trapping of protected species.
- To legalize finch trapping within the framework of European law, Malta used a legal maneuver called a derogation by claiming that finch trapping was a traditional practice in the country.
- Such legal derogations are being used as a smokescreen to illegally trap finches and other protected species not just in Malta but in other countries as well.

Drone 3D models help assess risk of turtle nesting beaches to sea level rise
- In a recent study, researchers took drone-based images to map the structure of sea turtle nesting beaches in northern Cyprus to determine their susceptibility to flooding from sea level rise.
- Automated drone flights with on-board cameras can record sequences of photos of the surface below, which can be merged in a process called photogrammetry to construct three-dimensional models of the survey area.
- The fast pace of innovation and versatility of drones can improve sea turtle conservation efforts through cheaper, more efficient monitoring.

Every sea turtle in global study found to have synthetic fibers and microplastics in their guts
- A recent study found microplastics in the intestines of humans around the globe, and new research has now done the same for sea turtles.
- Researchers studied 102 sea turtles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea. According to a paper published in the journal Global Change Biology earlier this month detailing their findings, synthetic particles less than 5 millimeters in length, including microplastics, were found in every single turtle studied.
- More than 800 synthetic particles were found in the 102 turtles included in the study, with the most common being fibers that are shed by things like clothing, car tires, cigarette filters, ropes, and fishing nets as they break down after finding their way into the sea.

Ongoing rise in sea levels will increase threats to World Heritage Sites
- New research finds that rising sea levels due to climate change will put dozens of World Heritage Sites in the Mediterranean region at increased risk of flooding and erosion — threats many of the sites are already facing.
- 47 of the 49 cultural World Heritage Sites studied were found to be potentially threatened by coastal erosion or storm surges by the end of the century.
- The study also showed that 93 percent of the sites at risk from a 100-year flooding and 91 percent of the sites at risk from coastal erosion are already at risk under current conditions, “which stresses the urgency of adaptation in these locations,” according to the researchers.

Predatory coral bring down jellyfish by working together
- For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that corals can work cooperatively to capture jellyfish.
- The team observed the bright orange Astroides calycularis, which lives on sea walls and caves in the Mediterranean Sea, snagging mauve stinger jellyfish that became trapped by ocean currents.
- Coral polyps first grab onto a jellyfish’s bell, and then others will begin ingesting the jellyfish’s arms in a process that takes just a few minutes.

Over 50% of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea are at risk of extinction
- Nearly 40 of the 73 species of sharks and rays assessed are threatened, with 31 of them evaluated as Critically Endangered and Endangered.
- The conservation status of the sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea show no sign of improvement, experts warn.
- This rapid decline in the number of shark and ray species in the Mediterranean waters is mainly due to overfishing, with most species being taken as bycatch, according to the report.

Fishing nets kill ‘high proportion’ of adult loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean
- Researchers tracked 27 female loggerhead turtles using satellite devices over a ten-year period from 2001 to 2012.
- The year-long survey revealed, for the first time, that the turtles were using multiple nesting sites hundreds of kilometres apart, researchers say.
- Three of the 27 turtles died within the first year of being followed due to entanglement in fishing nets, suggesting an annual mortality rate of 11 percent, which the team says is “alarmingly high”.

A small European island teaches conservation through its herbs and spices
- A series of workshops called Stejjer Imfewħa (“Scented Stories” in Maltese) lets participants exchange knowledge about Malta’s native plants and their significance in the local culture and cuisine.
- The workshops come at a time when immigrants are altering Malta’s social structure. The idea is to approach conservation through the lens of ethnobotany as a way to bring people together and foster an awareness of conservation.
- Ultimately, the workshops aim to change attitudes and behavior related to conservation as well as the integration of different communities in Malta, something the organizers acknowledge will take time.

Success! Biologists may have found a way to eliminate amphibian-killing fungus in the wild
- For the first time, scientists say that they have succeeded in treating fatal chytrid fungal disease in a wild toad species.
- Study found that treating tadpoles with antifungal drug itraconazole, and applying agricultural disinfectant Virkon S on toad habitat, managed to rid the toads of infection for continued period of time.
- But the cure may not be applicable over other vast, complex landscapes, other researchers warn.

Does conservation work? Using the IUCN Red List to evaluate groups’ performance
- Researchers came up with a new method to determine whether a conservation group’s programs work.
- The method involves tracking the status of species over time to see whether their risk of extinction increases or decreases, then comparing the outcome to a hypothetical “what if” scenario in which no conservation interventions took place.
- The study, conducted by researchers at UK-based Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, examined 17 species subjected to Durrell’s own conservation interventions, and found that of the nine species whose status changed over time, eight improved and one worsened.

Scientists uncover new marine mammal genus, represented by single endangered species

This is the story of three seals: the Caribbean, the Hawaiian, and the Mediterranean monk seals. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the Caribbean monk seal was a hugely abundant marine mammal found across the Caribbean, and even recorded by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage, whose men killed several for food. Less than […]
Poisonous jellyfish on the rise in the Mediterranean

Scientists across the Mediterranean say a surge in the number of jellyfish this year threatens not just the biodiversity of one of the world’s most overfished seas but also the health of tens of thousands of summer tourists. “I flew along a 300km stretch of coastline on 21 April and saw millions of jellyfish,” said […]
Munching on marine plastic kills sperm whale

Inside Moby-Dick’s stomach, there’s a lot more than Ahab’s leg. What do children’s toys, balloons, mattresses and plastic bags have in common? They can, along with more non-biodegradable pollutants, be found in the belly of a sperm whale, the topic of a new study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. The same whale that swallowed Jonah […]

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