UK to ban import & export of shark fin products 🦈
Plus sexually frustrated sea snakes and a new shark nursery discovered
Hello again,
Another week has flown by and, as always, it’s been full of ocean news. Read on for the highlights… Enjoy!
🐳🦈 Whales, dolphins & sharks
1, 2, 3: Cool video of a syncro spy hop by three humpbacks (FTW)
Sudden death: orca Amaya has died at SeaWorld San Diego (Sky News)
Shark fin ban: The UK to ban the import and export of shark fin products (The Shark Trust)
Going deep: rare encounter of a whale shark at depth by the remotely operated vehicle SUBastian been added to the Wildbook ID database (Dr. Alistair Dove)
Hiding in plain sight: an area believed to be an underwater desert turned out to be an important nursery for deep-sea sharks (Forbes)
One of the best ways to support Baleen is to tell your friends and family about it
🐙 Marine animals
Ssssssexy: and could olive sea snakes interact with scuba divers when they’re sexually frustrated? (Live science)
Complex comb jellies: fossil shows modern comb jellies have a less complex nervous system than ancient species (New Scientist)
Mysssstery: why are sea snakes washing up in New Zealand? (Guardian)
Do you remember the time when…? A cuttlefish can remember specific events into old age (Phys.org)
Otterly cool: how could sea otters help save the Californian coastline? (Phys.org)
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🚯🎣 Threats
Irish plastic pollution: Microplastics have been found in more than 90% of Ireland’s marine protected areas (Irish Times)
Ageing fishing fleet: new report highlights the environmental impact of British fishing vessels (Guardian)
Major environmental risk: ExxonMobil’s oil drilling project in marine ecosystems off Guyana could be disastrous (Guardian)
Climate smart: charities call for UK government to futureproof fisheries (MCS)
Small-scale fisheries: human rights threatened by illegal fishing in Ghana (EJF)
💰 Opportunities
Ocean Award 2022: Do you know someone making waves in ocean conservation? Nominate them here
Conservationist of the month: those interested in being featured in my blog series can submit info here
Sea-Changers Marine Conservation Social Fund: is accepting applications until 31 Oct 2021
RSPB: North Sea project manager needed. Deadline 7 September
The Great British Beach Clean: is coming up in September. Will you be taking part? (Marine Conservation Society)
Ocean Survey Videographer: video producer wanted for a 57-day voyage to St Helena and Ascension Island. Deadline 25 Aug (Gov.uk)
Know someone who will love these opps?
🐚🐠 Ecosystems
Probiotic relief: how could bacteria protect corals from heat stress? (New Scientist)
Getting to the root of the problem: noise pollution is making seagrass beds uproot themselves (EcoWatch)
400 years old: an enormous coral has been discovered in the Great Barrier Reef (Guardian)
Selective breeding: how corals from hot seas can endow offspring with heat tolerance (The Conversation)
Stop stealing sand, stupid: six tonnes have been taken from Sardinian beaches (Independent)
❄️ Ice, ice, baby
Kebnekaise: Sweden’s last remaining mountaintop glacier has lost another two metres in a year (Guardian)
First rainfall: for the first time in recorded history, rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s ice sheet (Live Science)
Robo-scientist: robots are being sent to take samples from a melting glacier (BBC)
📣 In case you missed it
Knights in spiny armour: how Florida’s threatened coral reefs could be saved by lobster (EcoWatch)
Ticked off: Is the MSC’s blue tick succeeding in driving a more sustainable ocean? (Guardian)
Science Basecamp: This new polar programme explores topics including geology, marine biology & glaciology (Oceanwide)
Surprise! whale watchers missing an incredible spectacle right behind them (Mirror)
Thanks, as always, for reading. If you find this newsletter useful, please give a virtual tip to help keep it running
Melissa