Hello again!

Hope you’re all doing well this week? First of all, I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have messaged me over the last couple of weeks saying how much you’re enjoying Baleen - it’s so lovely to hear. Remember, if you’re loving your weekly fix of marine conservation news, a great way to show your support is to like our posts and share Baleen with your network to encourage them to join the pod. 💙

Thanks to everyone helping us reach new pod members by sharing Baleen!

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With that out of the way, let’s find out what’s been making a splash in this week’s ocean news…

👀 Wildlife sightings 👀

It might be that spring is on the way or just that, feeling more landlocked than ever, I’ve noticed a heap of stories about marine life encounters this week, including:

• A rare sei whale: filmed swimming in the Firth of Forth (The Scotsman)

• Baskings shark: spotted near Falmouth (Cornwall Live) and another casually hanging out with paddleboarders in Torquay (ITV)

• A porbeagle shark: in Plymouth Marina & Sutton Harbour (Plymouth Herald)

• A whale: knocking a man overboard in South Africa’s Algoa Bay (Mirror)…experts, the article says it’s a Bryde’s whale - what do you think?

• & a humpback whale: got rather too close to snorkellers in Okinawa (NDTV)

  

Have you had any amazing wildlife sightings recently? Help me live vicariously through you by letting me know in the comments!

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🐳 Whales 🐳

• Three-hour attack: Orcas hunted and killed a blue whale in WA (Smithsonian)

• Mysterious deaths: Why are grey whale populations plummitting? (Nat Geo)

• Whaley cool culture: Lovely article about the cultural differences between whales (Nat Geo)

• How do whales sing? Check out this cool interactive piece (Nat Geo)

• Feeding time: Did you see this incredible footage of a sperm whale calf feeding from its mother? (Nat Geo) 👇

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🐬 Other marine life 🐙

• Seychelles giant trevally: might have a wider range than previously thought according to Save our Seas Foundation (Divernet)

• Guilty: A man who shot and killed an elephant seal in California has been sentenced to three months in prison (CBS)

• Ocean aphrodisiac: How is overfishing impacting sea cucumbers and local Sri Lankan fishermen who rely on them for their livelihoods? (Guardian)

• Lake Malawi cichlid: Researchers have discovered a single nocturnal species among the 500 known Malawian cichlid species (Phys.org)

• 500+: A record number of grey seals has been counted by drones at South Walney Nature Reserve (Cumbria Wildlife Trust)

💰 Funding & grants 💰

• Apply now: Save Our Seas Foundation small grants applications - for research, conservation and education projects worldwide, particularly those focused on sharks, rays and skates - are open

• Tackling Ocean Plastics: A new Sea-Changers fund will support UK organisations with conservation projects tackling plastics. Details coming soon.

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🐚 Ecosystems 🐠

• Google Timelapse: A new Google Earth feature lets you watch how the planet has changed over 40 years (ESA)

• Coastal protection? That’ll be $1.8 billion: A new study has put a value on the flood protection provided by the USA’s coral reefs (MSN)

• App-solutely amazing: Nasa is using a gaming app to classify corals (Guardian)

• Excess carbon: Researchers have found that deep sea bacteria dissolve rocks and release excess carbon into the ocean (Phys.org)

• Carbon uptake and scarce nutrients: a new diagnostic metric could be used to monitor nutritional stress in the ocean (Science)

• Stressed out: Researcher Christopher Cornwall has received recognition for his team’s work into coral’s response to stress (Stuff NZ)

• Secretly diverse: Pachyseris speciosa is not one coral species but four! (Science News)

🎣 Fisheries & other ocean news 🌊

• Indian Ocean threats: Fishing pressure is threatening ocean health, coastal livelihoods and iconic species (Greenpeace)

• Seaspiracy: I know we’ve already covered responses to the documentary but you might be interested in these insightful new articles in Vox and New Statesment

• Data downsides: How can ocean data help us monitor and protect the ocean without the associated high environmental cost? (World Economic Forum)

• Don’t mess it up: Rumours are still swirling about whether COP26 might be delayed or virtual (BBC)

The deep dive 🤿

Blue Marine Foundation has launched a report revealing findings from its SAFEGEAR project, which analysed the scale and severity of the ghost gear problem and developed an AIS beacon to tackle it.  Check it out here.

You might have noticed that there’s no hot take this week. The section didn’t seem to be popular with pod members so it’s on pause for now. If I’m wrong and you secretly loved it and want it back, let me know!

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Thanks for reading this week’s edition. I’m (finally) off to the seaside after being landlocked and in lockdown for too long - hope you have a fabulous week! 🌊

Melissa

Baleen is provided completely free each week to help you keep on top of the latest marine conservation news - if you find it useful, shout me a coffee (thanks!)

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📢 If you’d like to chat about working together, feel free to get in touch 🤓