location: Pacific

location: Pacific

Social media activity version | Lean version

First-of-its-kind crew welfare measure adopted at Pacific fisheries summit
- The organization that sets fishing rules for a swath of the Pacific Ocean covering nearly 20% of Earth’s surface and supplying half the world’s tuna catch held its annual meeting in Fiji from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3.
- Parties to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopted a landmark crew welfare measure — the first binding labor rights measure adopted by any of the world’s 17 regional fisheries management organizations.
- The parties, 25 countries plus the European Union, also adopted a voluntary measure to implement electronic monitoring of catches.
- However, they didn’t adopt a proposal to curb potentially dodgy ship-to-ship transfers known as transshipments, or substantive new protections for sharks and seabirds, as NGO observers had hoped.

In a Noah’s Ark move, PNG migrants bring thousands of trees to safer ground
- Facing sea level rise and food insecurity, 17 families from the Carteret Islands have relocated to nearby Bougainville, bringing hundreds of specimens of trees and plants, representing dozens of species, across a small stretch of ocean.
- They’ve planted more than 175,000 plants, breathing life into a forest on new lands donated by the Catholic Church.
- This “green migration” is helping them preserve their lifestyle and identity, sources say, echoing the journey of early Polynesian settlers who carried “canoe plants” as they sailed and settled across the Pacific.
- Scientists say green migrations could become part of climate relocation planning, but there also needs to be careful consideration of whether species can be moved and become unsustainably invasive.

Coral biodiversity hotspot at risk from fossil fuel expansion, report warns
- A new report warns that the expansion of oil, gas and liquefied natural gas projects in the Coral Triangle region in the Western Pacific risks unleashing more oil spills, direct damage to coral reefs, noise pollution and ship traffic, not to mention greenhouse gas emissions.
- More than 100 offshore oil and gas blocks are currently in production, and more than 450 additional blocks are earmarked for future exploration, according to the report. If these projects are approved, the production and exploration blocks would cover 16% of the Coral Triangle, an area the size of Indonesia, the report states.
- The report notes there is already overlap between oil and gas operations and critical conservation zones, including 16% of the Coral Triangle’s marine protected areas.
- The Coral Triangle is one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions, stretching across the waters of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. It’s home to 76% of all known coral species, as well as numerous endangered marine species.

Not merely ‘exploration’: PNG deep-sea mining riles critics & surprises officials
- Deep Sea Mining Finance (DSMF), an obscure company registered in the British Virgin Islands, recently conducted an exploratory mining operation off the coast of New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea (PNG), according to civil society members and a government official’s statements to the media.
- Satellite-based vessel-tracking data show that much of this mining activity took place in and around a controversial project site known as Solwara 1, where mineral-rich hydrothermal vents are located.
- Critics say the operation was illegal and that DSMF’s activities flout two ongoing moratoria that should prevent deep-sea mining in PNG’s territorial waters. On the other hand, a national official has said the company operated within its rights to explore the deep sea for minerals.
- The operation appears to have caught many by surprise, including government authorities meant to oversee such activities.

French Polynesians revive traditional rāhui to protect fish — and livelihoods
- In French Polynesia, fishing is of paramount importance. Many residents depend on fishing to feed their families and make a living.
- Confronted with a decline in fish stocks, communities across the country are reviving a traditional method of managing natural resources called rāhui.
- This bottom-up solution, managed by local communities with help from scientists and the government, although imperfect, appears to demonstrate some degree of effectiveness.
- The island of Tahiti currently counts 13 rāhuis, and more communities are establishing them as a way to fight poverty, sustain fishers’ incomes and regain their culture.

18 years on, how are sharks faring in French Polynesia’s shark sanctuary?
- While sharks are feared and threatened in many parts of the world, French Polynesia decided to protect them two decades ago by declaring its entire exclusive economic zone a massive sanctuary for sharks and rays.
- The move aligns with traditional beliefs that hold sharks as sacred animals that represent gods and the link between past and present.
- New citizen-science data offer some evidence the sanctuary is working to protect sharks, but more research is needed to confirm it.
- Sharks still face threats there from accidental bycatch and illegal fishing, and some conflicts with local fishers have emerged.

PNG communities resist seabed mining: Interview with activist Jonathan Mesulam
- The government of Papua New Guinea appears poised to approve Solwara 1, a long-in-development deep-sea mining project in the country’s waters.
- However, PNG has signed onto several seabed mining moratoria, and scientists have urged caution until more research can determine what the effects of this practice will be.
- Proponents say the seafloor holds a wealth of minerals needed for batteries, especially for electric vehicles, and thus are vital for the transition away from fossil fuels.
- But coastal communities in PNG’s New Ireland province have mounted a fierce resistance to Solwara 1, arguing that it could damage or destroy the ecosystems that provide them with food and are the foundation of their cultures.

Collaboration key to rediscovery of egg-laying mammal in Papua’s Cyclops Mountains
- Collaboration between international and local researchers, conservation authorities, NGOs and Indigenous groups was key to the success of an expedition in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains that uncovered new sightings of a rare egg-laying mammal and multiple unidentified species.
- “I think the trust between the expedition team and the community was important in the success of the expedition, and a lack of trust may have contributed to former searches being less successful,” said University of Oxford researcher James Kempton who proposed the expedition in 2019.
- The highlight of the expedition was camera-trap images of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, distantly related to the platypus, which scientists hadn’t seen since 1961 and which they’d long feared was extinct.
- The expedition also found the Mayr’s honeyeater, a bird scientists haven’t seen since 2008; an entirely new genus of tree-dwelling shrimp; countless new species of insects; and a previously unknown cave system.

Pacific alliance adopts moratorium on deep-sea mining, halting resurgent PNG project
- The Melanesian Spearhead Group put in place a moratorium on deep-sea mining within its member countries’ territorial water in a declaration signed Aug. 24.
- Leaders from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and an alliance of pro-independence political parties known as FLNKS from the French territory of New Caledonia said more research is needed to establish whether mining the seabed below 200 meters (660 feet) is possible without damaging ecosystems and fisheries.
- The moratorium ostensibly thwarts the return of Nautilus Minerals, a Canadian company, to Papua New Guinea and its Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea, where it had hoped to mine gold and copper from sulfide deposits on the seafloor.
- Proponents of deep-sea mining say that minerals found deep beneath the ocean are necessary for the production of batteries used in electric vehicles and thus are critical in the global transition away from fossil fuels.

Hope, but no free pass, as Pacific corals show tolerance to warming oceans
- New research suggests that coral reefs in the Pacific islands of Palau are becoming increasingly tolerant to thermal stress brought on by climate change.
- The study found that Palau’s coral reefs appeared to suffer less bleaching over three successive marine heat waves in 1998, 2010 and 2017.
- While the findings provide some hope for coral reefs, one expert says the study has some limitations in providing a clear picture of how corals respond to different heat events.
- Scientists also say that reducing carbon emissions is essential to safeguard coral reefs — and to secure the planet’s future.

Deep-sea mining project in PNG resurfaces despite community opposition
- An embattled deep-sea mining project appears to be moving ahead in Papua New Guinea, according to officials in the Pacific Island nation, despite more than a decade of opposition from local communities on the grounds that it could harm the fisheries on which they rely as well as the broader ecosystem.
- Backers of deep-sea mining say it could help provide the gold, copper and other minerals necessary for the transition to electric vehicles and away from fossil fuels.
- But deep-sea mining has not yet happened anywhere in the world, and scientists, human rights groups and Indigenous communities highlight the lack of evidence demonstrating its safety.
- The Alliance of Solwara Warriors is a group of Indigenous communities and church organizations that have been fighting the Solwara 1 project in Papua New Guinea, which received the world’s first deep-sea mining license from PNG in 2011.

Study finds locally managed marine areas in Fiji yield mixed results
- A study found that Fijian communities engaged in the country’s locally managed marine areas network, known as FLMMA, exhibited strengths in the mechanisms believed to advance conservation efforts, such as community participation in decision-making and financial support.
- However, it also found that FLMMA villages didn’t necessarily experience improved economic well-being, wealth, food security or even better ecological outcomes for marine resources.
- The authors say they hope the results will encourage practitioners to reassess community-based marine management projects to understand how they can be modified for success.
- Fiji has one of the most extensive LMMA networks in the world, collectively covering more than 10,000 square kilometers across the country’s territory.

Expedition to Pacific ecosystems hopes to learn from their resilience
- An expedition led by National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project will voyage across the Pacific over five years to gather information about marine ecosystems needing protection.
- The Pristine Seas team will collaborate with Pacific island nation governments, communities, Indigenous and local peoples, and local scientists, to gather data and produce films.
- The first stop of the expedition will be the southern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, to understand how its reefs recovered after an El Niño triggered a large-scale bleaching event in 2015 and 2016.

Hawaiian communities restore Indigenous conservation, from mountains to sea
- In Hawai’i, an Indigenous stewardship and conservation system known as ahupua’a is slowly being revived on a mountain-to-sea scale in partnership with U.S. government agencies.
- Three Indigenous communities that have successfully reintroduced the ahupua’a system are seeing some conservation successes, such as a 310% increase in the biomass of surgeonfish and an increase in the Bluespine unicornfish (Naso unicornis) population.
- The inclusion of Indigenous Hawaiian conservation, social and spiritual values, like Aloha kekahi i kekahi, have been key to building these conservation areas and forming better working relations with the government.

Will new bottom trawling rules do enough to protect South Pacific seamounts?
- The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) is an intergovernmental body that regulates fishing across the vast international waters of the South Pacific Ocean.
- At a meeting in Manta, Ecuador, in February, the SPRFMO changed its rules around bottom trawling, a controversial fishing practice that involves dragging fishing gear along the seabed, running roughshod over any organisms or structures in its path.
- The new rules mandate the protection of at least 70% of species that indicate the presence of so-called vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as sponge fields and cold-water coral communities.
- However, conservationists have decried the new rules, calling them less protective than the current policy, let alone the ban on trawling seamounts they’ve been asking for.

Machine learning makes long-term, expansive reef monitoring possible
- Conservationists can now monitor climate impacts to expansive marine ecosystems over extended periods of time, a task that used to be impossible, using a tool developed by scientists in the U.S.
- The machine learning tool, called Delta Maps, provides a new way to assess which reefs might be best suited for survival, and which play a key role in delivering larvae to others, and therefore should be targeted for preservation efforts, according to the scientists.
- The scientists used the tool to examine the impacts of climate change on connectivity and biodiversity in the Pacific Ocean’s Coral Triangle, the planet’s most diverse and biologically complex marine ecosystem.
- The authors also noted that the Coral Triangle had more opportunities for rebuilding biodiversity, thanks to the region’s dynamic climate component, than anywhere else on the planet.

‘They’re everywhere out there’: Three new nautilus species described
- Researchers have described three new species of nautilus found in the Coral Sea and the South Pacific.
- The three species can be differentiated due to genetic structure, shell size and coloration, and geographic location.
- Scientists generally know very little about nautiluses but are working to fill in the data gaps to understand how to protect them.
- Nautiluses are highly threatened by the shell trade, as well as pollution and the impacts of climate change.

Rat killers in paradise: An eradication program remakes a tropical atoll
- Like many islands around the world, Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia has been overrun by rats and other invasive species that profoundly affect its terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
- In July, the paradisiacal 12-island atoll was declared rat-free after years of concerted efforts to wipe out the predators.
- Scientists have been studying the atoll’s plants, seabirds, insects, lizards, crabs, coral and algae, establishing a uniquely comprehensive ecological baseline to better understand how the rat eradication will affect the atoll — and others like it.

Small island, big ocean: Niue makes its entire EEZ a marine park
- In April, Niue, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, designated its entire exclusive economic zone — an area about the size of Vietnam — as a multiple-use marine park called Niue Nukutuluea.
- Forty percent of the park is a no-take marine protected area; a smaller slice is managed by local villages. And about 56% of the park is a general-use zone where commercial fishing and other activities, including possibly deep-sea mining, could take place.
- The country has developed an unusual mechanism to fund the park, and is gathering support to confront the perennial challenge of monitoring and compliance in technologically advanced ways.

New Zealand convicts company of illegal trawling in high seas restricted area
- In late August, a court in Aotearoa New Zealand convicted a subsidiary of one of the country’s major seafood companies of illegal trawling in a closed area in the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.
- The judge fined the company NZ$59,000 (about $33,000) and the skipper NZ$12,000 (about $7,000), and seized the vessel.
- It’s the fourth case in the past five years where courts convicted New Zealand-flagged vessels of illegal trawling.
- The recent conviction comes amid an ongoing debate about trawling in New Zealand, with campaigners calling for a ban on bottom trawling on submarine mountains, and the industry disputing their arguments and resisting aspects of the proposed change.

A ‘super reef’ recovery raises hopes — but also questions about its resilience
- Experts documented the substantial recovery of coral reefs around the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific after the area was hit by a large-scale coral bleaching event in 2015 and 2016.
- Many factors may have contributed to the reef’s recovery, including the fact that the reef is seemingly untouched by human activity, which helped maintain a healthy and resilient ecosystem.
- But other experts question whether this reef would be able to recover after more frequent bleaching events, which are predicted to increase as global temperatures continue to rise.

Turtle DNA database traces illegal shell trade to poaching hotspots
- Critically endangered hawksbill turtles have been hunted for their patterned shells for centuries to make tortoiseshell jewelry and decorative curios.
- The exploitation and trade pushed the species to the brink of extinction; despite international bans on killing and trading the turtles and their parts, persistent demand continues to stoke illegal trade.
- Experts say they hope the launch of a new global turtle DNA database coupled with DNA-based wildlife forensics techniques can turn the tables on poachers and illegal traders.
- The new resource, called ShellBank, will enable law enforcement authorities to trace confiscated tortoiseshell products to known turtle breeding locations to help them crack down on poaching and the illegal trade.

Study: Climate impacts to disproportionately hurt tropical fishers, farmers
- The majority of 72 coastal communities studied in five countries in the Indo-Pacific region may face significant losses of agricultural and fisheries products — two key food sources — simultaneously under the worst-case climate change projections, a new study shows.
- These potential losses may be coupled with other drivers of change, such as overfishing or soil erosion, which have already caused declining productivity, the study adds.
- But if carbon emissions can be effectively managed to a minimum, the study’s authors say, fewer communities would experience losses in both the agriculture and fisheries sectors, indicating the importance of climate mitigation measures.
- The current global average temperature is 1.1°C (2°F) above pre-industrial times, and climate experts have warned that it could climb to about 3°C (5.4°F) higher by the end of this century if nothing changes.

Young Māori divers hunt invasive crown-of-thorns starfish to save coral reefs
- The island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands is experiencing an outbreak of crown-of-thorns-starfish (taramea, Acanthaster planci), which could jeopardize the survival of its surrounding coral reef.
- Local environmental organization Kōrero O Te `Ōrau has been tackling the outbreak since 2020 by training young Māori people in scuba diving and running regular expeditions to remove taramea from the reef and bury them inland.
- The work has contained the outbreak on two sides of the island by collecting over 3,700 crown-of-thorns starfish, ultimately mitigating its impact on reef health. However, ongoing efforts are required.
- The project is also upskilling young Cook Islanders in marine management theory and practice.

Scientists strive to restore world’s embattled kelp forests
- Kelp forests grow along more than one-quarter of the world’s coastlines, and are among the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems. But these critical habitats are disappearing due to warming oceans and other human impacts.
- Sudden recent wipeouts of vast kelp forests along the coastlines of Tasmania and California highlighted how little was known about protecting or restoring these vital marine ecosystems.
- Scientists are finding new ways to help restore kelp, but promising small-scale successes need to be ramped up significantly to replace massive kelp losses in some regions.
- Global interest in studying seaweed for food, carbon storage and other uses, may help improve wild kelp restoration methods.

A year before deep-sea mining could begin, calls for a moratorium build
- At the U.N. Ocean Conference taking place this week in Lisbon, momentum has been building in support of a moratorium on deep-sea mining, an activity projected to have far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and global fisheries.
- The Pacific island nation of Palau launched an alliance of countries that support a moratorium, which Fiji and Samoa subsequently joined.
- A global network of parliamentarians has also banded together to support a moratorium and to look for a legal way to enforce it.
- As things stand, deep-sea mining could begin a year from now, with the International Seabed Authority, the body tasked with regulating the activity, drawing up the rules that would allow mining to commence.

Nickel, Tesla and two decades of environmental activism: Q&A with leader Raphaël Mapou
- Nickel mining in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the south Pacific, is receiving international attention after the electrical vehicle giant Tesla recently invested in its largest mine, Goro.
- The mine has been plagued by environmental and social issues for the last decade. It is related to five chemical spills and Indigenous Kanak struggles for sovereignty over its resources.
- Raphaël Mapou is a Kanak leader who established the environmental organization Rhéébù Nùù in 2002 as a means to address concerns about the effects of mining at Goro.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Mapou talks about the legacy of Rhéébù Nùù and if a change of ownership at Goro, combined with Tesla’s investment, can deliver positive outcomes for surrounding communities.

All eyes on Tesla as it invests in a troubled nickel mine
- American manufacturing giant Tesla invested in New Caledonia’s Goro mine in 2021, raising local expectations that international scrutiny and the mine’s new owners could help the plant overcome past environmental mismanagement issues and social woes.
- Since 2010, there have been five recorded acid leaks at the Goro mine into nearby bays and reefs. The mine is also related to Indigenous Kanak struggles for sovereignty over its resources and violent protests in 2020.
- The mine was bought by Prony Resources, whose shares are largely owned by New Caledonian stakeholders, including local communities. Kanaks now see themselves as stakeholders and watchdogs in the mine’s production.
- Local organizations and researchers plan to keep a close eye on the environmental impacts of mining in New Caledonia, especially as Prony Resources proposes a new waste management process and China lays out its interests in the region.

Wage-related abuses in fishing industry exacerbated by pandemic response
- The COVID-19 pandemic left migrant fishers in Asia, already a highly vulnerable section of the workforce, with less income and at higher risk of labor abuses, a new report says.
- The brief, commissioned by the International Labour Organization and authored by Cornell University researchers, looked at workers’ experiences in the fishing and seafood-processing industries of Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan from March 2020 to March 2021.
- Common issues they uncovered included employers paying wages below the legal minimum, making illegal wage deductions, deferring wage payments, and not paying wages upon termination of employment.
- Labor shortages caused by border closures due to the pandemic should have given workers more leverage in wage negotiations, but this wasn’t the case, the researchers found.

‘A huge mistake’: Concerns rise as deep-sea mining negotiations progress
- The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-affiliated organization tasked with managing deep-sea mining activities, recently held a series of meetings to continue negotiating the development of mining regulations.
- Deep-sea mining may start as early as 2023 after Nauru triggered a two-year rule embedded in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that could essentially allow its sponsored company to start mining with whatever regulations are currently in place.
- Many states are eager to finalize a set of regulations over the next 15 months that would determine how mining can proceed in the deep sea.
- But other states and delegates have noted the lack of scientific knowledge around deep-sea mining, the absence of a financial compensation plan in the event of environmental damage, and ongoing transparency issues in the ISA — and the unlikelihood of finalizing regulatory measures in a short period of time.

If marine noise pollution is bad, deep-sea mining could add to the cacophony
- A new report suggests that the noise pollution produced by deep-sea mining activities could have far-reaching effects on the marine environment, from surface to seafloor.
- While there are many studies that measure the impacts of noise pollution on marine life, more research is needed to fully understand how sound from deep-sea mining could affect the ocean.
- Due to the paucity of information, experts say a precautionary approach to deep-sea mining noise is required and that clear regulations must be put into place by the International Seabed Authority.
- While deep-sea mining has yet to begin, a subsidiary of Canada-based The Metals Company plans to start mining in less than two years.

Deep seabed mining is risky. If something goes wrong, who will pay for it?
- Citizens of countries that sponsor deep-sea mining firms have written to several governments and the International Seabed Authority expressing concern that their nations will struggle to control the companies and may be liable for damages to the ocean as a result.
- Liability is a central issue in the embryonic and risky deep-sea mining industry, because the company that will likely be the first to mine the ocean floor — DeepGreen/The Metals Company — depends on sponsorships from small Pacific island states whose collective GDP is a third its valuation.
- Mining will likely cause widespread damage, scientists say, but the legal definition of environmental damage when it comes to deep-sea mining has yet to be determined.

‘Antithetical to science’: When deep-sea research meets mining interests
- The high cost of studying deep-sea ecosystems means that many scientists have to rely on funding and access provided by companies seeking to exploit resources on the ocean floor.
- More than half of the scientists in the small, highly specialized deep-sea biology community have worked with governments and mining companies to do baseline research, according to one biologist.
- But as with the case of industries like tobacco and pharmaceuticals underwriting scientific research into their own products, the funding of deep-sea research by mining companies poses an ethical hazard.
- Critics say the nascent industry is already far from transparent, with much of the data from baseline research available only to the scientists involved, the companies, and U.N.-affiliated body that approves deep-sea mining applications.

Not just sea life: Migratory fish, birds and mammals also fall foul of plastic
- A new report from the U.N. Environment Programme and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals confirms that plastic pollution poses a major threat to land and freshwater migratory species.
- Mammals, birds and fish are affected through various means, including entanglement, ingestion of plastics, accumulation of microplastics in the food chain, and using plastics in nesting material.
- The report highlights that global capacity to manage plastic pollution is not keeping pace with projected growth in the plastics market.
- The authors call for measures that will ultimately drive change upstream to reduce the volume of plastics entering the marketplace.

Protecting Colombia’s shark paradise: Q&A with Sandra Bessudo
- 500 kilometers off the Pacific coast of Colombia lies Malpelo Island, a barren rock that marks the center of the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary World Heritage Site and is renowned for its biodiversity, especially its shark population.
- It was Malpelo’s world-class diving that first brought French-Colombian marine naturalist Sandra Bessudo to the island. Moved by its biodiversity as well as the threats from overfishing and damaging tourism practices, Bessudo went on to become Malpelo’s best-known advocate, founding the Malpelo Foundation and successfully pushing for the island’s listing as a World Heritage Site in 2006.
- Bessudo has also produced dozens of publications and documentaries, served as Colombia’s environment minister and a presidential advisor, and influenced conservation policy through her marine research.
- Bessudo spoke about her marine conservation efforts, the challenges facing oceans, and other topics during a recent interview with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

Better logging regulations ‘last best hope’ for Solomon Islands, study says
- Kolombangara is one of more than 900 islands that make up the Solomon Islands, where timber is a major export and logging continues at 19 times the sustainable rate.
- The island’s lowland forests have been intensively harvested since the mid-1960s; only the steep forests above 400 meters (1,300 feet) remain largely intact.
- If forests do not have enough time to recover between bouts of logging, scientists say, there will be cascading consequences for timber resources, biodiversity and ecosystem services on which local communities depend.
- They’re calling for improved national forest management policies that regulate reentry logging and incorporate land-use planning; conservation partners are also seeking formal protection of the island’s customary upland natural forests and investigating forest restoration techniques.

Nauru’s intention to mine the seabed prompts alarm among conservationists
- Nauru has notified the International Seabed Authority (ISA) that its sponsored entity, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), plans to commence deep-sea mining in two years’ time, triggering a two-year rule embedded in the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- The ISA has yet to generate a mining code that would set out rules and regulations for deep-sea mining activities.
- Experts are concerned that the ISA will prematurely approve Nauru’s application and that deep-sea mining will commence before we fully understand the damage it could cause to biodiversity and ecosystems.

Study confirms sightings of endangered blue whale in Philippine waters
- For years, a group of scientists have been tracking a mysterious whale that they initially labeled as belonging to another blue whale subspecies.
- Their decade-long efforts resulted in a new study that confirms the species as an endangered pygmy blue whale — an animal last recorded in Philippine waters in the 19th century.
- Researchers call the pygmy blue whale “Bughaw,” a Filipino word for the color blue.
- They say Bughaw’s presence could help establish Philippine waters as part of the extended migration path of the Indo-Australian population of pygmy blue whales.

Time is running out for embattled Pacific leatherback sea turtles
- Marine biologists warn that the western Pacific leatherback could go extinct without immediate conservation measures and transnational cooperation.
- This subpopulation has decreased at a rate of 5.6% each year for an overall 80% decline over a 28-year period, according to a recent study.
- While the IUCN lists the species as a whole as vulnerable, the Pacific populations are critically endangered partly because of their long migratory routes through the high seas, where they face threats like drift gillnet fishing, ship strikes and pollution.
- The eastern Pacific subpopulation, which nests in Mexico and Central and South America, faces similar threats. Both populations are at high risk of extinction.

On the sea’s surface, a wealth of ocean life gets its start, study finds
- A new study found that surface slicks — moving patches of smooth water that form on the sea’s surface — host an array of species in larval form off the west coast of Hawaiʻi Island.
- The researchers identified more than 100 fish species from 54 families inside these slicks, representing 10% of all fish species ever recorded in Hawaiian waters.
- Surface slicks play a pivotal role in the marine ecosystem by providing food and shelter for larvae, and transporting them into different parts of the ocean.
- In addition to larvae, surface slicks accumulate large quantities of plastic, which has been found to be infiltrating the food chain.

Scientists discover three glow-in-the-dark sharks
- Researchers have discovered that three deep-sea shark species — the kitefin shark (Dalatias licha), the blackbelly lanternshark (Etmopterus lucifer), and the southern lanternshark (Etmopterus granulosus) — all have bioluminescent properties.
- The kitefin shark, which glows blue, is the largest known vertebrate to emit bioluminescence.
- Further research is needed to fully understand how and why these sharks emit light.

When Chinook salmon is off the menu, other prey will do for endangered orcas
- A new study has found that endangered southern resident killer whales mainly consume endangered Chinook salmon, but will broaden their diet when this species isn’t available.
- The researchers obtained data through prey and fecal waste collected from resident killer whales over a 13-year period.
- Efforts to reinstate Chinook salmon populations through hatchery efforts can play an important role in supporting resident killer whale populations, although these programs need to be carefully managed to ensure that stocks are diverse, the study suggests.

Activists make the case that bigger is better to protect Galápagos reserve
- A group of scientists, conservationists and NGOs are campaigning to expand the current Galápagos Marine Reserve to protect an additional 445,953 square kilometers (172,183 square miles) in the exclusive economic zone of the Galápagos Islands.
- According to a scientific proposal, the marine reserve expansion would help protect threatened migratory species, deter unsustainable and illegal fishing practices, and even bolster the legal Ecuadoran fishing industries.
- While the proposal has garnered both national and international support, Ecuador’s fishing sector is largely opposed to the expansion of the reserve.

New paper highlights spread of organized crime from global fisheries
- A recently published paper by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy highlights the extent of transnational organized crimes associated with the global fisheries sector.
- Besides illegal fishing, these crimes include fraud, money laundering, corruption, drug and human trafficking, and they occur globally throughout the entire fisheries value chain: onshore, at sea, in coastal regions, and online, the paper says.
- The paper calls for an intersectional, transboundary law enforcement by governments around the world to combat these “clandestine” crimes in the global fisheries industry.

As reef bleaching intensifies, lab-grown corals could help beat the heat
- The Great Barrier Reef suffered its third major coral bleaching event since 2016 this past March, with scientists saying the extent of the damage was far greater this time.
- Up to 60% of the reef was affected in the latest bleaching, which occurs when warming waters force the corals to flush out their life-giving algae.
- But scientists say they’re encouraged by the results of ongoing lab research to create “enhanced” corals, gene-edited to make them more resilient to rising water temperatures.
- Lab and field tests show the hybrid corals have up to 26 times better heat tolerance, which would make them ideal candidates for repopulating bleached reefs.

‘Our life is plasticized’: New research shows microplastics in our food, water, air
- Microplastics, plastic pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, have become increasingly prevalent in the natural world, and a suite of studies published in the last three years, including several from 2020, shows that they’ve contaminated not only the ocean and pristine wildernesses, but the air, our food, and even our bodies.
- Past research has indicated that 5.25 trillion plastic pieces are floating in the ocean, but a new study says that there are 2.5 to 10 times more microplastics in the ocean than previously thought, while another recent study found that microplastic “hotspots” could hold 1.9 million pieces per square meter.
- Other emerging research suggests that 136,000 tons of microplastics in the ocean are being ejected into the atmosphere each year, and blowing back onto land with the sea breeze, posing a risk to human health.
- Microplastics are also present in drinking water, and edible fruits and vegetables, according to new research, which means that humans are ingesting microplastics every day.

An epic Pacific survey reveals mixed fortunes for green and hawksbill turtles
- An expansive survey over 13 years of green turtles and hawksbill turtles found the population of the former rebounding in the Pacific Basin.
- Both these species are historically threatened by overexploitation, fishing bycatch and habitat loss, and are protected under CITES.
- While green turtle numbers remained stable or increased in the regions covered by the in-water survey, hawksbill turtle numbers remain low.
- Another major study released this week found that warming global temperatures impact cold-blooded marine animals, such as turtles, twice as much as terrestrial ectotherms.

Waters off Galápagos have way more alien species than previously known
- The waters off the Galápagos Islands have nearly 10 times more alien marine invertebrates than previously recorded, a new study has found.
- The study recorded a total of 53 non-native marine invertebrates (animals that lack a backbone, such as marine worms, sea squirts or moss animals) in the waters off two islands in the archipelago, up from five that were previously known.
- Researchers suspect there are many more non-native species present in the Galápagos waters that remain to be discovered.

Deadly disease and warming ocean are wiping out a key starfish species
- The mysterious sea star wasting disease has caused massive declines of the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a major predator within kelp forests in the Northeast Pacific.
- The widespread decline of the starfish, especially in deeper waters, has been particularly shocking, researchers say, because it means that the animals have not been able to take refuge in deep waters as people had expected.
- The study found that the occurrence of the largest declines in the sunflower sea star numbers coincided with abnormally high sea surface temperatures, suggesting that warming oceans due to climate change could have exacerbated the disease’s impact.
- The collapse of the sunflower sea star could have cascading effects on the ecosystem: the sea star is a major predator of sea urchins, and without the sea stars to keep a check on the urchin population, the latter would feast on the kelp forests, leaving behind a barren seascape.

17 new brilliantly colored species of sea slugs described
- Researchers have just described 17 stunning new species of sea slugs that live among coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region.
- All the species belong to the genus Hypselodoris, and come in a wide variety of colors.
- Researchers reorganized the genus Hypselodoris, adding new-to-science species to the group, and revealing secrets of the evolution of their brilliant color patterns.

Coral reef ‘oases’ that thrive amid threats give hope for conservation
- Scientists have identified 38 coral reef “oases” in the Pacific and western Atlantic that have either “escaped,” “resisted” or “rebounded” from declines in coral cover, even as neighboring reefs have not.
- While these success stories do not discount reports that many coral reefs across the world are under grave threat, they do offer examples of places where corals are doing better, or not as bad, as coral communities elsewhere, scientists say in a new study.
- The researchers are hopeful that the framework they’ve developed to identify the coral reef oases will be helpful in pinpointing oases across other ecosystems as well.

Tuna catch monitoring enters the electronic age
- A new electronic monitoring system is being tested in the western and central Pacific to improve the timeliness and accuracy of tuna catch data and the transparency of tuna supply chains through faster more effective on-board and portside catch monitoring.
- Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing results in overharvesting and an annual loss of US $600 million for the region and is perpetrated primarily by licensed vessels hauling in unreported and unregulated fish stock.
- The Onboard, Observer, and TAILS portside e-Reporting apps are still in the testing phase, but their use is expected to expand across the Pacific.

END LOOP: Coding to end wildlife trafficking
- The first ever Zoohackathon will convene this October 7-9 across six zoos in the US, Europe, Asia and Pacific.
- The hackathon aims to produce tech solutions to the increasingly rampant global challenge of wildlife trafficking.
- Visit www.zoohackathon.com to register or contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information on getting involved.

Scientists have just discovered the first endemic bird species to go extinct on the Galápagos Islands
- The researchers used molecular data from samples of museum specimens housed at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to sequence the DNA and piece together an evolutionary history of two subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher.
- The two subspecies were found to be so genetically distinct that the researchers elevated them to full species status and gave them the names Pyrocephalus nanus and Pyrocephalus dubius.
- Pyrocephalus dubius is found only on the island of San Cristóbal — or, at least, it was. The species, commonly known as the San Cristóbal Vermilion Flycatcher, hasn’t been seen since 1987.

Human impacts are ‘decoupling’ coral reef ecosystems

Researchers argue that predictability of ecosystem could be sign of health A largely pristine coral reef in the remote Pacific on an island largely unpopulated by humans. Photo by: Brian J. Zgliczynski. There is a growing consensus among scientists of all stripes that we have entered the age of the Anthropocene, or the epoch of […]
Scientists, NGOs race to save ‘Millennium Trees’

In a tiny area of an isolated archipelago in the southwest Pacific lives a unique tree species on the precipice of extinction. Recent research has shown it is declining dramatically, and mature individuals may be completely gone in 100 years. In response, environmental organizations and scientists are coming together to try and save New Caledonia’s […]
Reeling in religious messages: how faith impacts fisheries in Fiji

Marrying religion and conservation could be key to making Fiji’s fisheries sustainable Fijians appear to enter life with vocal cords prepped for singing. It’s an ideal trait, because most are deeply devoted to church where their voices are put to good use. When walking through villages on any given day, these beautiful sounds can be […]
Top scientists raise concerns over commercial logging on Woodlark Island

Little-known ‘biological-jewel’ faces commercial logging A number of the world’s top conservation scientists have raised concerns about plans for commercial logging on Woodlark Island, a hugely biodiverse rainforest island off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The scientists, with the Alliance of Leading Environmental Scientists and Thinkers (ALERT), warn that commercial logging on the island […]
Extinction island? Plans to log half an island could endanger over 40 species

Little-explored island off the coast of Papua New Guinea could soon face industrial logging Children on Woodlark Island. Photo by: Simon Piyuwes. Woodlark Island is a rare place on the planet today. Just a little bigger than New York City, this small island off the coast Papua New Guinea is still covered in rich tropical […]
California blue whales recover to historical levels

California or North Pacific Blue Whales can exceed 100 feet (30m) long and weigh 190 tons. Photo courtesy of Gilpatrick/Lynn/NOAA The population of blue whales in the Eastern Pacific has recovered to 97 percent of historic levels decades after Earth’s largest animal was nearly driven to extinction in some places due to the whaling industry, […]

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