- Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation.
- The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across Mongabay’s newsroom, marks a strategic shift to deepen our coverage of marine ecosystems.
- Mongabay’s ocean reporting has already led to real-world impacts, including exposing corruption in Chilean marine protected area management and informing international sanctions on a Chinese fishing company related to illegal shark finning and abusive labor practices.
- The Oceans Desk marks a milestone in Mongabay’s growth over more than two decades and strengthens the organization’s ability to inform, inspire and sustain effective action on marine conservation worldwide.
With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation.
The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across Mongabay’s newsroom, marks a strategic shift to deepen coverage of marine ecosystems as part of the organization’s expanding environmental reporting. “One of our goals at Mongabay is to provide a planetary view of the environment, and understanding the ocean is crucial for grasping the state of life on Earth,” said Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s VP of programs and executive editor. “Our Oceans Desk delivers original and insightful journalism on often underreported topics that highlight humanity’s cultural, economic and political connections to the sea while also emphasizing the intrinsic value of a living and biodiverse ocean.”
Driven by high reader interest, Mongabay’s oceans coverage has steadily expanded to become a top priority for the organization, with thousands of articles, videos and podcasts already published. “The ocean is vast and powerful, but threats from overfishing, climate change, pollution, and crime are pushing it to the brink,” Shubert said. “The voices of communities dependent on a healthy ocean, from fishers and marine biologists to policymakers and consumers, must be part of the story to address these problems. By building a dedicated desk that reports daily from across the world, we aim to inspire people to care for marine biodiversity and protect our oceans from overexploitation.”
For Rebecca Kessler, senior editor of the Oceans Desk, the creation represents a natural next step in Mongabay’s evolution. “When I started at Mongabay a decade ago, our core reporting area was tropical forests. As our mission and team have grown and matured, so has our coverage of other ecosystems and latitudes, including the global ocean,” she said. “We’ve been covering the sea diligently and deeply, and now the launch of the Ocean Desk represents a wonderful expansion of our capacity and commitment to reporting on Earth’s biggest and least-known ecosystem.”
Kessler added that ocean journalism fulfills an essential function for the future of biodiversity and humanity: “The ocean is a vital engine for our planetary systems, source of livelihoods and food for tens of millions of people, and mysterious living entity that supports, accompanies and enthralls us no matter where we live on Earth. Informing the global public about the human activities that threaten it and those that seek to protect it has never been more important.”
Impact
Throughout the years, Mongabay’s oceans coverage has already had real-world impacts around the globe, a foundation on which the Oceans Desk will continue to build.
Investigations drive national debate about the sustainability and safety of Brazil’s shark meat trade
In July and August 2025, Mongabay published the results of two investigations uncovering the scale and opacity of shark meat purchases by Brazilian government institutions. They revealed that sharks, including endangered angelsharks, were being served in schools, hospitals, shelters and other public institutions. These reports triggered a chain of political and institutional responses, driving national debate and scrutiny of Brazil’s shark meat trade.
Actions included a call for a parliamentary hearing, procurement reviews, and the environment ministry considering a review of “new related guidelines.” Brazil’s National Fund for Education Development, which oversees the National School Feeding Program, also told Mongabay that it would look into concerns over heavy metals in shark meat. In sum, the investigations catalyzed national debate over shark trade policies and Brazil’s commitments to marine biodiversity protection.
Exposing labor abuses and industrial-scale shark finning on the high seas
In 2021, Mongabay, in collaboration with Japanese investigative outlet Tansa and the Environmental Reporting Collective, published an in-depth investigation of labor abuses aboard vessels operated by a major Chinese tuna fishing company. Drawing on extensive interviews with Indonesian deckhands and experts, the reporting uncovered allegations of forced labor, inhumane working conditions, and a pattern of unexplained deaths of migrant workers on the high seas.
A 2022 follow-up investigation revealed that the same company was engaged in illegal shark finning on an industrial scale so extensive that all of China’s national shark catch may have been undercounted for years. This is likely the first ever exposé, journalistic or otherwise, of an industrial-scale shark-finning operation taking place across an entire fleet.
As a result, these reports had a significant real-world impact. In December 2022, the U.S. government announced sanctions against the Chinese company at the center of the reporting, including its founder and largest shareholder, citing Mongabay’s findings. The sanctions were part of a broader effort targeting individuals and companies involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and human rights abuses at sea.
That same year, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) also banned two types of fishing devices, known as wire leaders and shark lines, that have proved devastatingly effective at catching huge numbers of sharks. A U.S. official later informed Mongabay that data from the investigation was used to make the case for the ban during the lead-up to that summit.
Impactful reporting throughout Latin America
Mongabay Latam, Mongabay’s Spanish-language bureau, has long been at the forefront of ocean reporting, a typically underreported topic in Latin America. Its work has significantly impacted several areas, including uncovering large-scale shark bycatch, exposing corruption in Rapa Nui National Park, and promoting accountability in Peru’s response to its largest ever oil spill.
In February 2019, Mongabay Latam exposed corruption within Rapa Nui National Park’s management, revealing that about 360 million pesos had been diverted to companies and the family of the chair of the park’s board of directors. The scandal divided residents of Rapa Nui, resulting in a mob beating and a courtroom set on fire, and sparked investigations by Chile’s public prosecutor’s office. Mongabay Latam was the first media outlet that investigated the case. Following further media exposure, the board chair was removed from office, Mongabay Latam’s reporting was included as evidence in the complaint Rapa Nui community members sent to the prosecutor’s office, and the district attorney informed the team that charges had been filed against the chair’s administration.
A 2020 Mongabay Latam series analyzed five years of official data on shark bycatch in Ecuador, Peru and Chile. The results revealed skyrocketing bycatch volumes, with three threatened species of sharks most affected. The series raised regional awareness and influenced policy discussions. Oceans editor Michelle Carrere was invited to present the findings to the Chilean Congress’s fisheries commission, which decided to review the problem to evaluate potential regulations for shark fisheries, such as a minimum catch size. In addition, Chile’s fisheries department also ordered the mandatory return to the sea of rays and sharks accidentally caught during fishing operations.
In January 2022, Peru’s coast was affected by the largest oil spill in the country when more than 10,000 barrels of oil from La Pampilla Refinery, owned by Spanish energy firm Repsol, affected hundreds of kilometers of coastline and marine ecosystems. Mongabay Latam rapidly covered the crisis through a series on the disaster that drew widespread media attention. Peru’s former environment minister and energy leader for WWF, Manuel Pulgar Vidal, cited Mongabay’s reporting in national interviews. “The Mongabay Latam news agency, in fact, the most recognized, prestigious and objective agency on environmental issues, documented that in the last ten years there had been spills totaling 9,743 barrels out of a total of 9,439 events, 88% on the northern coast of Peru,” he said.
A step toward further impactful coverage of the world’s oceans
The creation of the Oceans Desk marks a milestone in Mongabay’s steady growth over more than two decades. Anchored in the belief that credible, independent journalism is fundamental to addressing the planetary emergency, this expansion strengthens the organization’s ability to inform, inspire and sustain effective action on marine ecosystems worldwide. By scaling the number, but more importantly, the quality of our publications, Mongabay will continue to elevate the voices and knowledge of people directly impacted by environmental change.
Banner image: Humpback whale tail, Reunion Island. Image courtesy of François Baelen/Ocean Image Bank.
Credits
