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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oceans/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:31:28 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Oceans</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/oceans/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Offshore wind may be good for the climate but can it be good for the ocean, too?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/offshore-wind-may-be-good-for-the-climate-but-can-it-be-good-for-the-ocean-too/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/offshore-wind-may-be-good-for-the-climate-but-can-it-be-good-for-the-ocean-too/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 16:38:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/08151406/1-Greater-Gabbard-offshore-wind-farm-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Energy, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Natural Resources, Oceans, Offshore Wind, Renewable Energy, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part Three in a Mongabay series about trends in the offshore wind industry. Part One describes the sector’s untapped potential and gaps between installed energy generation capacity and climate goals. Part Two describes challenges the sector faces in scaling up to meet climate goals. Offshore wind farms are growing in number, with many [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part Three in a Mongabay series about trends in the offshore wind industry. Part One describes the sector’s untapped potential and gaps between installed energy generation capacity and climate goals. Part Two describes challenges the sector faces in scaling up to meet climate goals. Offshore wind farms are growing in number, with many experts saying this renewable source of energy is vital to tackling climate change. But many of the same experts caution that responsible construction is required to avoid potentially large impacts on marine ecosystems as farms proliferate in the coming years. On one hand, offshore wind farms can provide an ecological boon by acting as de facto marine reserves that limit fishing, including harmful practices like bottom trawling. They can also be refugia for fish like sharks and rays, crustaceans and other species, as their structures act as artificial reefs. But offshore wind farms also have a host of negative impacts across their life cycle, from construction to decommissioning. Birds and bats risk collision with offshore wind turbines and loss of habitat to farms, while some marine mammals avoid wind farms or change behavior due to their presence. Bass Rock, Scotland, is home to the world’s largest colony of northern gannets (Morus bassanus). The offshore Berwick Bank Wind Farm is expected to have a significant impact on populations of seabirds like the gannets, as well as guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and puffins. Image by Stephen Magee/RSPB. Over the past two decades, offshore wind farm numbers have increased, particularly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/offshore-wind-may-be-good-for-the-climate-but-can-it-be-good-for-the-ocean-too/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/offshore-wind-may-be-good-for-the-climate-but-can-it-be-good-for-the-ocean-too/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Forgotten fauna’: Little known river sharks and rays face increased extinction risk</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/forgotten-fauna-little-known-river-sharks-and-rays-face-increased-extinction-risk/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/forgotten-fauna-little-known-river-sharks-and-rays-face-increased-extinction-risk/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 15:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/10135017/BANNER-e-Xingu-River-Stingray-031-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329379</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Marine Animals, Research, Science, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Vashishti River, originating in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats and flowing into the Arabian Sea along India’s western coast, has long supported traditional fishing communities. But in 2023, local fishers encountered something entirely unexpected. As they hauled a gill net into a boat, a gray body, still making faint movements, emerged tangled in the mesh, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Vashishti River, originating in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats and flowing into the Arabian Sea along India’s western coast, has long supported traditional fishing communities. But in 2023, local fishers encountered something entirely unexpected. As they hauled a gill net into a boat, a gray body, still making faint movements, emerged tangled in the mesh, and then another surfaced beside it. By the time the net was lifted aboard, three bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) were tangled inside. The video of the incident quickly spread across social media, drawing renewed scientific attention to the presence of sharks in inland and estuarine waters. “This is the first documented report of sharks from the Vashishti River, although historically sharks and rays have been recorded from several major Indian river systems,” Priyankar Chakraborty, an independent marine and wildlife researcher in India, told Mongabay. Across India, dozens of species of sharks and rays (collectively known as elasmobranchs) have been reported as inhabiting estuaries and rivers, but while species such as the bull shark are relatively well documented, many others are known from only a handful of records, leaving major gaps in understanding, Chakraborty said. Globally, around 60 species of sharks and rays spend at least part of their lives in inland waters. Yet compared with their marine counterparts, these species have received remarkably little scientific attention, even though many are among the most threatened vertebrates on Earth, Michael Grant, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Australia and member of the IUCN Species Survival&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/forgotten-fauna-little-known-river-sharks-and-rays-face-increased-extinction-risk/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/forgotten-fauna-little-known-river-sharks-and-rays-face-increased-extinction-risk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329379</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As saltwater advances, Gambian farmers rethink how to protect rice fields</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Sep 2026 15:42:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yero S. Bah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/10141500/TombongBarrow_KiangJifarongGambia_YeroBah-WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-06-at-12.20.50-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329393</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Gambia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Coastal Ecosystems, Environment, Flooding, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Oceans, Sea Levels, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken for 5 kilometers, about 3 miles, along the Bintang Bolong estuary here in western Gambia. For generations, families cultivated rice on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken for 5 kilometers, about 3 miles, along the Bintang Bolong estuary here in western Gambia. For generations, families cultivated rice on these fertile lowlands, relying on seasonal floods and freshwater to sustain one of the country&#8217;s oldest farming traditions. There are now worrying gaps in this productive landscape. For 10 years now, many of the villagers have retreated inland, away from the coastline, as saltwater transforms once-productive rice fields into barren land. Farmers say saltwater stress is easy to recognize: rice leaves turn yellow, while harvested grains become light and hollow because the plants fail to develop properly. &#8220;The grains become almost empty,&#8221; says Tombong Barrow from the Kiang Jifarong village development committee, a statutory body responsible for identifying local development needs at the village level and coordinating responses to them. &#8220;The salt makes them useless.&#8221; Aerial view of the Bintang Bolong estuary at Kiang Sankandi, the Gambia. Image courtesy of Ansumana Darboe. Jonni Kinteh and Mama Njie, both veteran rice farmers, say they abandoned their fields eight years ago after repeated crop failures linked to salinity. &#8220;We have farmed these fields since childhood alongside our mothers,&#8221; Kinteh says. &#8220;Now we can no longer use them.&#8221; &#8220;Our parents farmed much closer to the river,&#8221; Barrow says. &#8220;Now those fields have been completely taken over by salt.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/as-saltwater-advances-gambian-farmers-rethink-how-to-protect-rice-fields/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Zealand put fishing boats under camera surveillance. Will it stay the course?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-zealand-put-fishing-boats-under-camera-surveillance-will-it-stay-the-course/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-zealand-put-fishing-boats-under-camera-surveillance-will-it-stay-the-course/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 14:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/09073936/6-Fishing-vessels-in-Dunedin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=329241</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Polynesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[cameras, Conservation, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Marine, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Oceans, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAPIER/DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — In 2016, a scandal engulfed Aotearoa New Zealand’s fisheries regulator. Leaked documents showed that the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) had found, during investigative operations conducted in prior years, systematic illegal discarding of low-value fish as well as other violations, such as failing to report the catch of an endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAPIER/DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — In 2016, a scandal engulfed Aotearoa New Zealand’s fisheries regulator. Leaked documents showed that the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) had found, during investigative operations conducted in prior years, systematic illegal discarding of low-value fish as well as other violations, such as failing to report the catch of an endangered Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori), on commercial vessels off the South Island — and elected not to prosecute or inform the public of the findings. The controversy raised a question that conservationists the world over have long asked about commercial fishing: what’s happening on vessels when no one is watching? In the years since, the MPI has mandated onboard cameras across most of the country’s inshore fleet, which operates close to the coast, alongside other forms of electronic monitoring. The rollout, aimed at monitoring catch, discards, protected species interactions, and the use of mitigation devices, has put New Zealand near the leading edge internationally in the use of onboard cameras. This comes as fisheries managers across the world are discussing the use of electronic monitoring as a complement to, or even an imperfect substitute for, the onboard work of fisheries observers, who collect scientific data and report on compliance with rules. Yet electronic monitoring has its detractors, including even Shane Jones, the politician who oversees Fisheries New Zealand (FNZ), a branch of the MPI. He took office following a 2023 general election, after the camera system rollout was already underway, as a member of the conservative&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-zealand-put-fishing-boats-under-camera-surveillance-will-it-stay-the-course/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/new-zealand-put-fishing-boats-under-camera-surveillance-will-it-stay-the-course/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-329241</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous knowledge helps reveal the ties between reefs and mangroves</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2026 07:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anthony Ham]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/04165859/l.-Phillip-Bibido-McCarthy-%C2%A9ABC-Kimberley-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328795</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Culture, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Mangroves, Marine, Protected Areas, Research, Science, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a recent scientific article in the journal Ocean &#38; Coastal Management, alongside the list of scientist-authors were the Bardi Jawi and Oorany Rangers and the Bardi Jawi Traditional Owners. For the past decade, Bardi Jawi rangers and traditional owners have been working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to study and protect [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a recent scientific article in the journal Ocean &amp; Coastal Management, alongside the list of scientist-authors were the Bardi Jawi and Oorany Rangers and the Bardi Jawi Traditional Owners. For the past decade, Bardi Jawi rangers and traditional owners have been working with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to study and protect their mangrove and reef ecosystems, as well as their traditional Indigenous fishing grounds. The Bardi Jawi, according to Phillip “Bibido” McCarthy, are a “Saltwater People” whose traditional diet revolves around healthy oceans. Their land, located in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, is of “red earth, blue ocean, and green mangroves,” Bibido, the 59-year-old coordinator of the Bardi Jawi men’s ranger program, tells Mongabay. Bardi Jawi Country forms part of the 95,000-hectare (235,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Indigenous Protected Area (declared in 2013 and administered by the Bardi Jawi) and the 204,000-hectare (504,000-acre) Bardi Jawi Gaarra Marine Park (established in 2022, with a zoning scheme that came into force in July 2026). Among the most important findings in the study was the interconnectedness between reef and mangrove ecosystems for sustaining fisheries — an aspect long recognized in Bardi Jawi traditional ecological knowledge. The overall project and its findings also guided the design of both the IPA and marine park. Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsula in Western Australia. Image by Marty Southwell via Unsplash. Goldlined rabbitfish (Siganus lineatus). Image by © Kristin Anderson via iNaturalist. CC BY-NC 4.0. Much scientific work in recent years has focused on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/indigenous-knowledge-helps-reveal-the-ties-between-reefs-and-mangroves/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328795</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Marine conservation collides with mining in Indonesia’s biodiversity-rich Moramo Bay</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 16:48:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[La Ode Risman Hermawan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/04163930/2.-Aktivitas-tambang-batu-gamping-berbatasan-langsung-dengan-KKD-Teluk-Moramo-2400x890-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Southeast Sulawesi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Governance, Illegal Mining, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Pollution, Protected Areas, Saltwater Fish, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia — A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. A 2024 government survey, published the following year, found [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia — A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. A 2024 government survey, published the following year, found just 22 humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) across 10 sampling stations — an average density of 1.17 fish per hectare — in the Moramo Bay local marine protected area (LMPA) in Southeast Sulawesi’s South Konawe district. It recorded no fish at three sites where the species was still observed in 2018. Officials and researchers say the bay’s coral reefs face mounting pressure from sedimentation, pollution, vessel activity and other threats, but no study has established a direct link between mining and the wrasse’s decline. “In a polluted area … this fish will definitely disappear,” Sasanti Retno Suharti, a coral reef fish ecology researcher who has been researching humphead wrasse since 2006, told Mongabay Indonesia in August. “It will move far away into deeper waters.” “If it is no longer there, eventually the crown-of-thorns starfish will take over and feed on the corals,” she added. “The ecosystem will be damaged.” The presence of humphead wrasse was one reason Southeast Sulawesi first proposed Moramo Bay as a LMPA in 2011. The proposed area expanded to 21,786 hectares (53,834 acres) in 2016 from 10,371 hectares (25,627 acres) in 2014. In 2021, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries designated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/marine-conservation-collides-with-mining-in-indonesias-biodiversity-rich-moramo-bay/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Korea’s ‘sea women’ seek justice after marine habitat devastated by harbor work</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-koreas-sea-women-seek-justice-after-marine-habitat-devastated-by-harbor-work/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-koreas-sea-women-seek-justice-after-marine-habitat-devastated-by-harbor-work/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Sep 2026 10:30:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrew Jeong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Yenni Kwok]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/05031044/KimChoon-hee-scaled-cropped-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328703</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, Global, and South Korea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Development, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[GUMAN-RI, South Korea — This fishing village, on the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, is filled with scars. Every summer, typhoons rumble in from the Pacific Ocean to snap trees and flip fishing boats. Huge ships, including a 4,000-ton cargo vessel in 2005, have sunk or run aground on the rocky coast, sullying marine [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[GUMAN-RI, South Korea — This fishing village, on the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, is filled with scars. Every summer, typhoons rumble in from the Pacific Ocean to snap trees and flip fishing boats. Huge ships, including a 4,000-ton cargo vessel in 2005, have sunk or run aground on the rocky coast, sullying marine food sources. In the 1950-1953 Korean War, dozens of villagers were massacred. Time and time again, however, the resilient residents of Guman-ri have figured out a way to soldier on. But their latest setback has stupefied them. In 2021, South Korean construction giant Ssangyong Engineering &amp; Construction Co. began work to expand and repair the breakwaters at the local harbor. Since then, the surrounding marine habitat has slowly withered away. By early 2025, the lush seabed had become a graveyard for dead marine plants and animals. Guman-ri, a fishing village on the eastern coast of South Korea, on Aug. 16, 2026. Image by Andrew Jeong for Mongabay. Gone are the glimmering abalones, chunky sea snails, and translucent green seaweed that once populated the waters around the cape, despite its designation as a protected marine area. In their place is white, dusty cement debris, which the villagers have blamed on the construction of the breakwaters. The habitat’s demise is itself an environmental tragedy. But it has brought an emotional and financial death knell to the village’s nearly two dozen haenyeo, the “sea women,” who dive to harvest a variety of shellfish and marine plants without oxygen&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-koreas-sea-women-seek-justice-after-marine-habitat-devastated-by-harbor-work/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/south-koreas-sea-women-seek-justice-after-marine-habitat-devastated-by-harbor-work/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328703</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Damselfish-assisted repair of wounded corals surprises scientists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/damselfish-assisted-repair-of-wounded-corals-surprises-scientists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/damselfish-assisted-repair-of-wounded-corals-surprises-scientists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2026 12:36:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shradha Triveni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/02091808/Damselfish-closeup-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328280</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Biodiversity, Biology, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Saltwater Fish, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Corals share a close bond with the fish dwelling among them and the algae living within them. According to a new study, that relationship could be even stronger than previously known, with fish aiding coral tissue repair and damage recovery, particularly in higher-stress environments. The study, published on July 8 in Biology Letters, concluded that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Corals share a close bond with the fish dwelling among them and the algae living within them. According to a new study, that relationship could be even stronger than previously known, with fish aiding coral tissue repair and damage recovery, particularly in higher-stress environments. The study, published on July 8 in Biology Letters, concluded that the yellowtail dascyllus (Dascyllus flavicaudus), a type of damselfish, helps heal injuries on Pocillopora spp., a genus of stony coral largely found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. “Surprisingly, we found that the bigger the wound, the faster the recovery,” said Hayden Vega, lead author of the study and a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, in the U.S. Previous research has shown that coral-dwelling fish aid in the cleaning of coral wounds and help corals tolerate warming oceans. But the new evidence of wound healing via tissue repair suggests that interactions between these organisms could be more beneficial than previously thought, especially under stressful conditions. Yellowtail dascyllus (Dascyllus flavicaudus) damselfish swim around coral in French Polynesia. Image © mndiminuco via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). “These positive interactions between species under stress end up creating a network of resilience in ecosystems,” Vega told Mongabay during a Zoom call. Vega thinks this sort of supportive relationship could extend beyond yellowtail dascyllus and coral. He hopes the findings will prompt researchers to look more deeply at mutualistic benefits shared between other marine species, particularly in warming oceans, with research results then applied to conservation management plans. This is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/damselfish-assisted-repair-of-wounded-corals-surprises-scientists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/damselfish-assisted-repair-of-wounded-corals-surprises-scientists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328280</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Namibia greenlights controversial project to dredge phosphate from seabed</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/namibia-greenlights-controversial-project-to-dredge-phosphate-from-seabed/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/namibia-greenlights-controversial-project-to-dredge-phosphate-from-seabed/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2026 11:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jemima Beukes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/09/01094118/19393956375_9d683b0734_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328136</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean Acidification, Ocean Warming, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Namibia has granted an environmental clearance to a controversial marine phosphate extraction project. The clearance allows the Sandpiper Project, operated by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), to dredge the seabed off the coast of Walvis Bay for phosphate. Environmentalists are concerned about the impact on the country’s fisheries sector and the potential health impacts from consuming [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Namibia has granted an environmental clearance to a controversial marine phosphate extraction project. The clearance allows the Sandpiper Project, operated by Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP), to dredge the seabed off the coast of Walvis Bay for phosphate. Environmentalists are concerned about the impact on the country’s fisheries sector and the potential health impacts from consuming fish that breed in the areas earmarked for dredging. The Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) granted to NMP by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) on Aug. 5 allows industrial mining within concession 170 (ML 170) off the west coast of Namibia in country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The concession area covers roughly 2,234 square kilometers (863 square miles) of the Atlantic seabed, according to the company’s website. NMP plans to dredge phosphate-rich sediments present in the seafloor at depths of 180-250 meters. Dredging is the removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of lakes, rivers, harbors and other water bodies. Nonprofit Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN) has strongly criticized the decision to issue the ECC, saying “that the large-scale development could have significant impacts on the Benguela marine ecosystem, Namibia’s fishing industry, and marine conservation.” Saltpans in Walvis Bay, Namibia. Image courtesy by David Stanley via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The Benguela Marine ecosystem along the coast of southwestern Africa is one of the world’s most productive coastal upwelling zones, areas where deep, cold water rises to the surface, bringing nutrients to the surface. An area off the shores of southern Namibia is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/namibia-greenlights-controversial-project-to-dredge-phosphate-from-seabed/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/namibia-greenlights-controversial-project-to-dredge-phosphate-from-seabed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328136</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The world’s reefs are disappearing. Coral trafficking is booming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-worlds-reefs-are-disappearing-coral-trafficking-is-booming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-worlds-reefs-are-disappearing-coral-trafficking-is-booming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 22:56:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cherry Salazar]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/31165539/aa.-%C2%A9Georgia-Aquarium-Euphyllia-sp.-SS16-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coral Reefs, Crime, Ecosystems, Governance, Marine, Oceans, trafficking, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ArtReef Rocks was an up-and-coming online shop offering aquarium accessories that made waves during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering hobbyists custom reefs and sculpted landscapes for their fish tanks. Aquarists raved about excellent packaging (“Not a single broken piece!”), quick turnarounds (“Arrived in only 4 days.”), and client support (“Customer service is amazing.”) — compliments that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ArtReef Rocks was an up-and-coming online shop offering aquarium accessories that made waves during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering hobbyists custom reefs and sculpted landscapes for their fish tanks. Aquarists raved about excellent packaging (“Not a single broken piece!”), quick turnarounds (“Arrived in only 4 days.”), and client support (“Customer service is amazing.”) — compliments that mean a lot for an online store that operates in the Philippines, more than 10,000 miles from its U.S. clients. The company gained a solid following about six years ago within a few years and exhibited in 2023 at some of the world’s biggest saltwater aquarium trade shows: the Reefapalooza in New York and Orlando, both in the U.S. Officially registered with the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry as Pandorocks Artreef Artificial Reef&#8217;s Rocks Aquarium and Accessories Trading, ArtReef had distributors in the U.S., parts of Europe, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and other countries. Back home, its late founder and owner, Glenn Albert Binoya, is credited by the local reefing community as the “inventor” of unique aquarium landscaping described as “artificial live rocks” — substrates made of the mineral aragonite and crushed reef rocks. But court records in the U.S. show another side to Binoya’s business. In 2022, 10 U.S. nationals were indicted by authorities in the state of Alaska for trafficking corals in violation of the Lacey Act that regulates wildlife trade. They were accused of illegally selling coral and unlawfully conspiring to smuggle wildlife. Each of the accused men operated&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-worlds-reefs-are-disappearing-coral-trafficking-is-booming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/the-worlds-reefs-are-disappearing-coral-trafficking-is-booming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gulf of Mexico’s unique Orca Basin shouldn&#8217;t become a carbon dump (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gulf-of-mexicos-unique-orca-basin-shouldnt-become-a-carbon-dump-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gulf-of-mexicos-unique-orca-basin-shouldnt-become-a-carbon-dump-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 20:56:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Craig R. McClain]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/31185024/Screenshot-2026-08-31-at-2.48.36-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328050</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Commentary, Conservation, Critical Minerals, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, Marine Conservation, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Renewable Energy, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s 3 a.m. and I am standing on the deck of a research vessel, staring into water so dark it looks solid. I feel what I felt standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, watching the sun set: there are places in this world deserving of our reverence, our protection, and our humility. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s 3 a.m. and I am standing on the deck of a research vessel, staring into water so dark it looks solid. I feel what I felt standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, watching the sun set: there are places in this world deserving of our reverence, our protection, and our humility. The Orca Basin is one of those places. I have spent years working in the deep Gulf of Mexico, lowering instruments into the dark, pulling up sediment cores that smell of sulfur, watching remotely operated vehicle (ROV) footage of a seafloor that most people will never see, and few even know exists. Lying roughly 168 miles (270 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast, beneath more than a mile (2.2 km) of water, the Orca Basin is one of the most extraordinary environments on the planet. It is a lake on the seafloor, where the water is so salty and so dense that it resists mixing with the overlying seawater, and has occupied a vast depression on the gulf floor for thousands of years. Spanning roughly 154 square miles (nearly 400 km2), its salinity runs nearly 10 times that of normal seawater. With no oxygen, no multicellular animals venture below its ghostly boundary, where normal ocean gives way to something ancient and strange. When descending ROV cameras near the surface of the Orca Basin’s salty water, the interface shimmers like heat rising from sunbaked asphalt — a mirage a mile underwater. Map of the Orca Basin in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/gulf-of-mexicos-unique-orca-basin-shouldnt-become-a-carbon-dump-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328050</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous rangers pull killer ‘ghost nets’ from Australia’s northern coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-rangers-pull-killer-ghost-nets-from-northern-australias-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-rangers-pull-killer-ghost-nets-from-northern-australias-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 20:02:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/31195439/aad44e0a-4b0b-4d7d-8261-c4daa88bad1d-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=328070</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Green, Oceans, Sea Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a remote beach on Groote Eylandt, a large island in Australia&#8217;s Gulf of Carpentaria, Kirsten Eden and her colleagues found a fishing net that someone had tried to make disappear. It had been burned and melted into a lump while at sea, and thrown overboard. It didn&#8217;t sink, but floated to shore as a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a remote beach on Groote Eylandt, a large island in Australia&#8217;s Gulf of Carpentaria, Kirsten Eden and her colleagues found a fishing net that someone had tried to make disappear. It had been burned and melted into a lump while at sea, and thrown overboard. It didn&#8217;t sink, but floated to shore as a wheel of hard plastic — once a net perhaps 60 meters (about 197 feet) long, now breaking into the microplastics that will outlast us all. “So, the entire Groote Eylandt is Aboriginal freehold land,” Eden, who manages the Anindilyakwa Land and Sea rangers, told Mongabay. “It&#8217;s spoken for by Indigenous Australians. So, they&#8217;re not beaches that anyone can just go to. There&#8217;s so much cultural value to these beaches. There&#8217;s so much significance. There are songlines, there are art sites … And I guess that&#8217;s the drive to try and protect it and move this debris. And it&#8217;s such an eyesore.” Aside from general cleanup, the team has its eyes on ghost nets: Discarded fishing nets that end up floating adrift, entangling sea life and gathering trash along their paths. Across northern Australia, Indigenous rangers are the working to retrieve the lost and abandoned fishing gear that keeps killing long after it is retired. Removing a ghost net on Australian beach. Photo courtesy of Timothy Hillier/Agency Project. Getting a net off a beach is slow, physical work. Some have sat for years, buried deep or wound around driftwood and rock. One net can take hours,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-rangers-pull-killer-ghost-nets-from-northern-australias-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-rangers-pull-killer-ghost-nets-from-northern-australias-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-328070</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;You can’t protect what you don’t know:&#8217; Interview with marine scientist Loyiso Dunga</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/you-cant-protect-what-you-dont-know-interview-with-marine-scientist-loyiso-dunga/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/you-cant-protect-what-you-dont-know-interview-with-marine-scientist-loyiso-dunga/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 08:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alexandra Talty]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28125637/3_Mapping_Loyiso-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327719</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Governance, Marine Conservation, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Research, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — When scientist Loyiso Dunga began mapping the Great African Seaforest in 2016, he decided to go snorkeling. The South African section of the kelp forest stretches around 800 miles or 1,300 kilometers, straddling two coasts and two oceans. Dunga grew up in a coastal community, Nqabara, in South Africa’s Wild Coast. As [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — When scientist Loyiso Dunga began mapping the Great African Seaforest in 2016, he decided to go snorkeling. The South African section of the kelp forest stretches around 800 miles or 1,300 kilometers, straddling two coasts and two oceans. Dunga grew up in a coastal community, Nqabara, in South Africa’s Wild Coast. As a member of the Xhosa nation, the ocean was kin or family to Dunga, and a sacred place. But that snorkeling trip was the first time he went into the ocean for fun. “That moment enchanted me,” said Dunga, who lives in Cape Town. Dunga’s research is now focused on evaluating kelp ecosystems. He works in South Africa as the executive director for the Seas of Good Hope program and globally with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Kelp Forest Alliance, a group that is dedicated to protecting over 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) of kelp forests by 2040. But, for this conservation work to succeed, Dunga says that Indigenous wisdom, science and policy must be better connected. Dunga founded Asili Blue Renaissance, a nonprofit, to provide diverse, legitimate ocean conservation measures, including working with Indigenous communities. Dunga is now working on an initiative with the Kelp Forest Alliance to rename global kelp forests by their Indigenous names. Mongabay spoke with Dunga on the phone about his work. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Loyiso Dunga. Image courtesy of Loyiso Dunga. Mongabay: How did you first become&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/you-cant-protect-what-you-dont-know-interview-with-marine-scientist-loyiso-dunga/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/you-cant-protect-what-you-dont-know-interview-with-marine-scientist-loyiso-dunga/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327719</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A sea cucumber venture in Zanzibar seeks to balance business and conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Aug 2026 14:45:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/28133301/005-Mpogo1-2-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327729</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Marine, Natural Resources, Oceans, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Like many coastal communities across East Africa, the residents of Shamiani have grown accustomed to watching the sea yield less and less. Warming waters, degraded marine habitats and decades of fishing pressure have all taken a toll on the resources that once sustained local livelihoods, according to community members. On Tanzania&#8217;s Pemba [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Like many coastal communities across East Africa, the residents of Shamiani have grown accustomed to watching the sea yield less and less. Warming waters, degraded marine habitats and decades of fishing pressure have all taken a toll on the resources that once sustained local livelihoods, according to community members. On Tanzania&#8217;s Pemba Island, a part of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, Shamiani is no exception. Here, however, residents are trying something different. Ropes now mark out protected sections of shallow seagrass meadows, the result of months of community meetings and negotiations over how the area should be managed. For generations, the island&#8217;s coastal waters have supported fishing families. But in recent years, many residents say nearshore resources have steadily declined. Sea cucumbers, once abundant enough to be harvested and processed locally, have become increasingly scarce. Fishers and gleaners now work harder for smaller returns, trying to make a living from coastal waters that many say are less productive than they once were. A view of the no-take zone operated by Asili in Shamiani, on Pemba Island, where protected sections of shallow seagrass meadows are used to grow sea cucumbers. The area was established following months of community meetings and negotiations over its management. Image by David Akana/Mongabay. That decline is what led Asili, a Tanzania-based aquaculture company working with communities in Pemba since 2022 to ranch sea cucumbers inside locally protected marine areas. The model aims to restore depleted coastal ecosystems, generate income from a high-value export&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-sea-cucumber-venture-in-zanzibar-seeks-to-balance-business-and-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327729</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More than 380 coastal World Heritage Sites may face climate risks, new data shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2026 18:20:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[María Paula Rubiano A.]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/27161847/Flamants_roses_parc_des_oiseaux_du_Djoudj-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327615</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biocultural Diversity, Climate, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Oceans, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whenever coastal engineer Robert Nicholls looks outside one of his home’s windows, he can see the Hurst Castle Spit on the south coast of England slowly eroding across the sea. “In a way, Hurst Castle is a part of me, because I did all my Ph.D. work on the spit.” ​Although this particular castle doesn’t [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whenever coastal engineer Robert Nicholls looks outside one of his home’s windows, he can see the Hurst Castle Spit on the south coast of England slowly eroding across the sea. “In a way, Hurst Castle is a part of me, because I did all my Ph.D. work on the spit.” ​Although this particular castle doesn’t have an international heritage status, it inspired Nicholls to study how climate change and weather events threaten the survival of such sites across the globe. Now, Nicholls has co-created the first global high-resolution digital dataset of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located along coastlines. Together, the included sites cover more than 235 million hectares (~581 million acres).​ ​Nicholls and his colleagues say the database can be used as a tool to help assess vulnerabilities of  coastal sites that possess great natural and cultural significance, and local authorities can make them more resilient in the face of climate change and other threats posed by weather extremes. “The surprising thing, I suppose, was the number of sites in the coastal zone,” Nicholls, a professor of climate adaptation at the University of East Anglia, told Mongabay over a video call. The database, published in the journal Scientific Data in July, includes 386 locations and maps cultural landmarks; biocultural sites deemed to have both ecological and cultural value; and unique ecosystems, biodiversity fortresses and geological marvels. All are threatened by climate change and other environmental factors that might not be directly tied to it, such as erosion, according to co-author&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/more-than-380-coastal-world-heritage-sites-may-face-climate-risks-new-data-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327615</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Blast fishing destroys reefs. Underwater microphones can help detect it</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 14:22:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Syris Valentine]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26122700/Ben-deploys-a-hydrophone-credit-Tim-Lamont-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327367</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, and Technology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When he went for a dive between the tiny islands off the coast of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, marine biologist and AI researcher Ben Williams could often hear as many as three fish bombs detonate. “But the thing is, because sounds travel so far underwater, the bombing is often happening quite far away,” he said. “So you could hear one that feels like a kick in the chest, then you look up [above the water], and you can’t even see a boat on the horizon.” Those islands, the Spermonde Archipelago, were once home to a pristine and vibrant network of coral reefs. But from 1990 to 2022, some three-quarters of this coral was killed, primarily by the illegal practice of blast fishing. In it, fishers toss improvised explosives into the sea to kill and stun fish en masse and scoop up the mostly intact ones, leaving underwater wreckage behind. “If you look at the rubble after a city&#8217;s been blown up in a war zone,” Williams told Mongabay in a video call, “it&#8217;s not too dissimilar.” Since 2013, local communities, conservation organizations and scientists have collaborated on the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Project, an effort to restore those damaged reefs. Williams joined researchers studying the effectiveness of those efforts in 2019. His particular contribution focused on using recent advances in data science to investigate Spermonde’s marine soundscape: Where a healthy reef sings like an alien jungle come to life at night, a dead one crackles like a forest smoldering after a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/blast-fishing-destroys-reefs-underwater-microphones-can-help-detect-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26123332/Hydrophone-on-reef-2-credit-M.mp4" length="0" type="video/mp4" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327367</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover 149 new deep-sea species at remote Indian Ocean seamounts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2026 11:53:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Emma Smith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/26081523/BANNER-IN2022-V08_170_Sponge-crab_Sphaerodromia-brizops_Museums-Victoria-Benjamin-Healley-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327357</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Christmas Island, Global, Indian Ocean, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deep Sea, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Health, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Mining, Natural Resources, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Overfishing, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, Science, Sharks, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Indian Ocean accounts for about a fifth of global ocean area, with 90% of it reaching deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Yet compared to the Pacific and Atlantic, its deep-sea biodiversity is relatively understudied — particularly the seamounts of the ocean’s central eastern region. An expedition that surveyed dozens of these volcanic underwater [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Indian Ocean accounts for about a fifth of global ocean area, with 90% of it reaching deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Yet compared to the Pacific and Atlantic, its deep-sea biodiversity is relatively understudied — particularly the seamounts of the ocean’s central eastern region. An expedition that surveyed dozens of these volcanic underwater mountains around the Christmas and Cocos islands, located southwest of the Indonesian island of Jakarta between Australia and Sri Lanka, has revealed remarkable marine animal biodiversity along the Indian Ocean seafloor. Published in Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography in June, the resulting study details 149 new species, including a sea cucumber from the genus Oneirophanta, a new fish from the greeneye family (Chlorophthalmus), and a parasitic barnacle from the genus Rhizolepas. Researchers surveyed at depths ranging from 94 to 5,431 m (308 to 17,818 ft), mapping a dark abyssal seafloor punctuated by 40 to 120-million-year-old volcanic seamounts that can be up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) across. They had never been studied before, study lead author Tim O’Hara, a marine scientist at Museums Victoria in Melbourne, told Mongabay. “People had been around the islands in shallow water before, but no one had looked at life in the deep. It was a massive hole in the data,” O’Hara said. Mapping remote underwater mountains Getting to these sites required time. The islands are so remote that, leaving from Darwin on the northern coast of Australia, it took nearly seven days to arrive at Christmas&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/scientists-discover-149-new-deep-sea-species-at-remote-indian-ocean-seamounts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327357</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Raja Ampat, children learn that their knowledge can help protect their islands</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 23:31:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24232329/IMG_20260825_0810072-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327187</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, Southeast Asia, and West Papua]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Energy Transition, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Animals, Mining, Natural Resources, Oceans, Protected Areas, Rays, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.” That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange. The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play in the sea, during a reading of a children’s book about Raja Ampat and the threat of nickel mining. A coral reef and marine life in the waters off Raja Ampat in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Econusa. Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment. A 2014 study of children in 22 villages in Indonesian Borneo, for example, found that they recognized relationships among forests, rivers, wildlife and other environmental changes. So Sekar Bestari, the book’s illustrator, wasn’t surprised by the children’s answers. “Most of the time when we read the books to children, they understand them, so don’t underestimate children’s knowledge,” she said after the reading in Arborek. “We’re not surprised anymore today.” The reading was part of a three-day gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad. The gathering, organized by Greenpeace Indonesia and local NGO Institut USBA, was intended to strengthen solidarity among Indigenous communities in protecting their lands, waters and biodiversity. The children’s knowledge of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/in-raja-ampat-children-learn-that-their-knowledge-can-help-protect-their-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327187</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Local knowledge guides rediscovery of spinach pipefish, not seen in four decades</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 17:19:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24155007/Spinach_Pipefish_iv_%C2%A9_New_Guinea_Binatang_Research_Center_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327148</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Melanesia, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Culture, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Indigenous Peoples, Rediscovered Species, Species, Surveying, Traditional Knowledge, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[By mid-June, Jerrica Agebigo was staring at disappointment. Her nearly two-week-long, exhausting search for a mysterious fish that hasn’t been seen by scientists for nearly four decades was drawing to a close. Her team of researchers had braved Papua New Guinea’s hot, humid summer days, meandering along the Sepik River’s course by boat and canoe — but the spinach pipefish still eluded them. “We had spent days travelling through the Lower Sepik, talking with communities and looking for information about the pipefish,” Agebigo, a researcher at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, wrote in an email. “We had almost given up hope.” The spinach pipefish (Microphis spinachioides) is a small, slender pipefish with an elongated snout it uses to capture small prey, reaching maybe 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length. This greenish-brown freshwater creature, a close relative of seahorses and seadragons, is well camouflaged in its only known home here in the Sepik River — the country’s longest waterway — hiding among water lilies and other plants near riverbanks. Just like seahorses, pipefish males carry their embryos in a brood pouch for weeks until the young are born. Much about the spinach pipefish has remained an enigma, because scientists haven’t seen it since 1985. It was last assessed for the IUCN Red List in 2016, and at the time, was classified as data deficient by IUCN, the global conservation authority. The only known museum specimen, on which the taxonomy of the species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/local-knowledge-guides-rediscovery-of-spinach-pipefish-not-seen-in-four-decades/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327148</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Antarctic krill fishery closes months early amid increasing fishing pressure</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 14:37:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24133947/ShawnHeinrichs-20230209-142451-_DSC43001-gentoo-penguin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327086</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, Seabirds, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Aug. 12, for the second year in a row, the krill fishery in the Southern Ocean closed early after reaching its annual catch limit of 620,000 metric tons. This precautionary quota is intended to prevent overfishing from affecting populations of this shrimp-like crustacean, which forms the base of the region’s food chain. The fishery’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Aug. 12, for the second year in a row, the krill fishery in the Southern Ocean closed early after reaching its annual catch limit of 620,000 metric tons. This precautionary quota is intended to prevent overfishing from affecting populations of this shrimp-like crustacean, which forms the base of the region’s food chain. The fishery’s early closure was confirmed by scientists attending the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Open Science Conference, held in Oslo, Norway, from Aug. 10 to 14, 2026. “The fishery has closed early (before the end of November) because it has already caught 620,000t of krill,” Simeon Hill, marine and fisheries ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey, told Mongabay in an email. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) can grow up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long and live predominantly in schools. The species forms the basis of the diets of a large proportion of wildlife populations in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, including seals, whales, penguins, seabirds, fish and squid. In the last two decades, krill has attracted growing commercial interest owing to its use in aquaculture feed, pet food and omega-3 supplements for human consumption. The early closure of the fishery is linked to the growth of the fishing fleets targeting krill, as well as to the concentration of fishing activities in areas where krill is most abundant. These areas also coincide with the main feeding grounds of wildlife populations, raising concerns about the potential negative impact of this industry on the ecosystem. Antarctic krill (Euphausia&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/antarctic-krill-fishery-closes-months-early-amid-increasing-fishing-pressure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327086</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A deadly cross over: In South Africa, rabies moves from land animals to seals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2026 14:21:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nic Bothma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Andy Lehren]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/24125554/a.-Rabies-Seals-10-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=327100</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Diseases, Ecosystems, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Debbie Hendrikz was walking along her usual route on the shoreline when she crouched to photograph a seal. She is familiar with seals and has captured similar images along the beach. But this was different. “It just went for me,” the 49-year-old said. “I knew instinctively by the sound it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Debbie Hendrikz was walking along her usual route on the shoreline when she crouched to photograph a seal. She is familiar with seals and has captured similar images along the beach. But this was different. “It just went for me,” the 49-year-old said. “I knew instinctively by the sound it made that I was its prey. It grabbed my arm and bit hard into a metal bracelet I was wearing, which saved me. I knew I had to get away and not let it get my feet in the soft sand. I managed to shake it off my arm and just got away.” &#8220;I never imagined anything like this could happen. It took me a long while to get over it.&#8221; Seals do not normally see humans as prey, but Hendrikz’s encounter is one of a growing list of recent attacks by the marine mammals in Cape Town. According to Gregg Oelofse, the City of Cape Town&#8217;s coastal manager, the city has recorded 135 incidents of aggressive seal behavior toward humans since September 2021. More than half, 73 incidents,  resulted in bite injuries ranging from broken skin to those requiring hospitalization in an intensive care unit. Researchers in South Africa suspect the incidents stem from a disease normally associated with land animals that appears to be leaping to Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) — rabies. According to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reports of rabies in seals around the world prior to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/a-deadly-cross-over-in-south-africa-rabies-moves-from-land-animals-to-seals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-327100</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Angola’s peatlands highly underestimated, new study suggests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 17:28:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21170945/NS111981040_NGSOWP16_Zach-Vincent_0316_River-Expedition_Days-12-13-14_DJI_0023-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326922</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Oceans, Research, Subsistence Agriculture, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems across southern Africa including the Okavango Basin. The researchers estimate that overall peatlands cover between 2.28–2.94 % of the of the AHWT. They found 8,662 km² (3,344 square miles) of peatland cover with high certainty (81–100% probability) and 11,167 km² (4,311 square miles) with low certainty (51–100% probability). Peatlands are areas of land where the surface layer consists of plant material that has partially decomposed. According to the study, they cover around three per cent of the world’s land surface but are estimated to store up to a third of the world’s soil carbon. In October 2025, Angola designated an area of 53,000 km² (20,463 square miles) in the AHWT as the country’s first Ramsar Site or Wetland of International Importance. The site was selected due to its sponge effect which absorbs, retains, filters, and ultimately supplies freshwater into the rivers that carry water to wetlands far and wide. A water tower is a highland area that produces a large amount of water, relative to its spatial scope. Study author Mauro Lourenço collecting the peat material during the research for this study. Image courtesy of Jennifer Guyton. One of them is the Okavango Delta in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Spain proposes 23 new marine protected areas in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 14:28:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21130834/scarlet-sea-fan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326890</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, Mediterranean Sea, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Spanish government has launched a consultation process to establish 23 new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canary Islands waters and the Mediterranean Sea as part of efforts to meet a national commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2030. The proposal, put forward by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Spanish government has launched a consultation process to establish 23 new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canary Islands waters and the Mediterranean Sea as part of efforts to meet a national commitment to protect 30% of its waters by 2030. The proposal, put forward by Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in July, aims to protect 22,405 square kilometers (8,651 square miles) of marine waters primarily in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean around the Canary Islands, part of a region known as Macaronesia. It also covers areas of the Mediterranean off the coasts of Valencia, Almería, Granada and the Balearic island of Mallorca. The proposal includes 21 new sites of community importance (SCIs) under the Natura 2000 network. Seventeen of these are in Canary Islands waters covering 2,209 km2 (853 mi2), while four more in the Mediterranean Sea will cover 5,341 km2 (2,062 mi2). In addition, two new special protection areas (SPAs) will cover 14,855 km2 (5,736 mi2) of offshore waters around the Canary Islands. The plan, the ministry writes in the proposal, “will increase the area of marine waters under Spanish sovereignty or jurisdiction that are protected by 2.08 percentage points, bringing the total to 24.53%.” The proposal is now open for public consultation until Sept. 15. The black coral Antipathella wollastoni provides structure for biodiversity-rich marine animal forests in rocky seabeds near the Canary Islands. The species and the ecosystems it supports are vulnerable to overfishing, climate change, marine pollution and coastal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/spain-proposes-23-new-marine-protected-areas-in-the-canary-islands-and-mediterranean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326890</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reconnecting the skies: Linking flyways for migratory seabirds across continents</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 13:22:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/20133036/banner-in-the-sea-and-in-the-skies-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326785</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Bycatch, Conservation, data, Environment, Fishing, Habitat, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Migration, Monitoring, Oceans, Research, Seabirds, Technology, Tracking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Corridors]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Arctic terns make the longest migration of any creature on Earth, with some Sterna paradisaea clocking more than 80,000 kilometers (49,709 miles) a year, flying from the Southern Ocean to their breeding grounds in the Arctic — and back. For a tiny bird, weighing less than an iPhone, it&#8217;s an astounding feat. South polar skuas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Arctic terns make the longest migration of any creature on Earth, with some Sterna paradisaea clocking more than 80,000 kilometers (49,709 miles) a year, flying from the Southern Ocean to their breeding grounds in the Arctic — and back. For a tiny bird, weighing less than an iPhone, it&#8217;s an astounding feat. South polar skuas (Stercorarius maccormicki) trace a similar figure eight around the Atlantic Ocean as they move between breeding colonies on Antarctic islands and the Arctic. In the Southern Ocean, grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) breed on South Georgia Island. During the rest of the year, they fly a circle around Antarctica, covering roughly 22,000 km (13,670 mi) in as little as 46 days. The journeys of these and other migratory pelagic seabirds are almost beyond comprehension, and largely unseen. But with advances in tracking, researchers have realized seabirds fly broadly predictable paths over the open ocean. Last year, researchers used tracking data to identify six marine flyways that cross the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans and touch the waters of 56 countries. A team of nearly a hundred were involved, led by researchers from the nonprofit BirdLife International, and their findings were published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. Seabirds are the most at-risk birds, with more than 30% globally threatened. For migrants, life on the wing is especially perilous. They face myriad threats across multiple jurisdictions in national waters and on the high seas, at their breeding colonies, at stopovers during migration and on the open&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/reconnecting-the-skies-linking-flyways-for-migratory-seabirds-across-continents/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326785</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous fishers rethink shark hunting &#038; protect species on Colombia’s coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-fishers-rethink-shark-hunting-protect-species-on-colombias-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-fishers-rethink-shark-hunting-protect-species-on-colombias-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Aug 2026 06:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Euan Wallace]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19153718/DSC04428-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326694</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation and Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Citizen Science, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Crime, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Science, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LA GUAJIRA, Colombia — Feet from the ocean, four sharks and a ray lie dead on the wind-battered sand. Above them stands Wilfrido Arends, 46. The blade of a short knife glints in his hand. Carefully, he bends down to cut a small fin from the underside of one shark — an endangered species known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LA GUAJIRA, Colombia — Feet from the ocean, four sharks and a ray lie dead on the wind-battered sand. Above them stands Wilfrido Arends, 46. The blade of a short knife glints in his hand. Carefully, he bends down to cut a small fin from the underside of one shark — an endangered species known as a blacknose (Carcharhinus acronotus). He hands the sample to a woman next to him, who places it delicately in a vial. A tape measure is passed over the still glistening back of the dead shark. Each measurement is read out and noted down. Arends, a fisher from Colombia&#8217;s Wayuu Indigenous community, is spearheading shark research and conservation in Punta Gallinas, a Wayuu community where shark meat is part of the traditional diet. Home to around 50 families, the community sits at the northernmost tip of South America. &#8220;If we wipe out our sharks, I think that further down the line we will miss them,&#8221; says Arends, who is known locally as &#8220;Caracas.&#8221; Together with researchers from Colombian shark conservation initiative Proyecto Puyuii, Arends and other Wayuu fishers are documenting shark diversity in the largely unstudied waters of La Guajira. &#8220;There&#8217;s almost no data on anything,&#8221; says Diego Cardeñosa, a marine biologist at Florida International University in the U.S. A member of Proyecto Puyuii, he has been training Wayuu fishers to record the shark species they catch. Wayuu fishers and Puyuii researchers measure the carcass of a caught blacknose shark, an endangered species. Image by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-fishers-rethink-shark-hunting-protect-species-on-colombias-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/indigenous-fishers-rethink-shark-hunting-protect-species-on-colombias-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326694</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New Zealand opens marine reserves with groundbreaking Māori co-management model</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2026 14:48:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18170638/2-Members-of-the-Kai-Tahu-marine-ranger-team-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326516</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand, Oceania, Pacific Islands, and Polynesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Conservation leadership, Culture, Environment, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — At a U.N. meeting in 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand’s then Prime Minister John Key made a major announcement that drew praise from international conservation groups: His administration would turn a swath of waters far larger than the country’s land mass into a marine protected area (MPA). The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DUNEDIN, Aotearoa New Zealand — At a U.N. meeting in 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand’s then Prime Minister John Key made a major announcement that drew praise from international conservation groups: His administration would turn a swath of waters far larger than the country’s land mass into a marine protected area (MPA). The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, planned for New Zealand’s northern waters, would have been one of the largest fully no-take MPAs in the world, but the sanctuary violated Māori fishing rights enshrined decades earlier. Key’s government had done relatively little to consult with Māori groups about the proposal, many of whom resisted the plan, calling for more recognition of their authority and their role in ocean governance. The sanctuary plan fell through. Yet, even as Key’s top-down exercise drew criticism, a more bottom-up approach to marine governance was underway in the country’s far southeast. There, Māori leaders helped develop a network of small MPAs, five of which became official on July 1, 2026, after more than a decade of grassroots and governmental work. A key aim is to protect seabed habitats, offshore canyons, rocky reefs, tidal lagoons and kelp forests. The network, called Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia, is co-managed by the regional Māori tribe Kāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu in standard Māori), and the Department of Conservation. The reserves are the first in the country to be co-managed by Indigenous people and the government using shared decision-making and a joint marine ranger team. The network name refers to the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/new-zealand-opens-marine-reserves-with-groundbreaking-maori-co-management-model/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326516</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippine Supreme Court rules monitoring commercial fishing vessels is unconstitutional</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/philippine-supreme-court-rules-monitoring-commercial-fishing-vessels-is-unconstitutional/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/philippine-supreme-court-rules-monitoring-commercial-fishing-vessels-is-unconstitutional/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2026 14:33:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/19104201/4447483754_4a51b2e873_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326635</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Law, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Philippine Supreme Court has struck down a regulation requiring commercial fishing vessels to continuously transmit their locations and submit electronic catch reports, a decision small-scale fishers say could make it harder to protect coastal grounds already strained by overfishing and competition from larger operators. The high court upheld a lower-court decision that invalidated Fisheries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Philippine Supreme Court has struck down a regulation requiring commercial fishing vessels to continuously transmit their locations and submit electronic catch reports, a decision small-scale fishers say could make it harder to protect coastal grounds already strained by overfishing and competition from larger operators. The high court upheld a lower-court decision that invalidated Fisheries Administrative Order No. 266 (FAO 266), which required all Philippine-flagged commercial fishing vessels to install tracking systems and electronically report catches and other operational information. The court issued its decision on Jan. 21, 2026, and announced it publicly on Aug. 3, 2026. The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) filed a motion for reconsideration of the court’s decision on Aug. 14. Without continuous tracking, fishers say authorities may struggle to detect commercial vessels entering municipal waters — the coastal zone generally extending 15 kilometers (9 miles) from shore and reserved primarily for small-scale local fishers. “If some vessels could still enter municipal waters even when monitoring devices were installed, it could become even worse now that the Supreme Court has declared the requirement unconstitutional,” Pablo Rosales, president of Pangisda Pilipinas, a national fisherfolk alliance, told Mongabay by phone. Some fishers and scientists also raised concerns that greater commercial fishing pressure could further reduce the number of fish available to coastal communities. A skipjack purse seine fishery operation underway on the deck of a Philippine fish carrier/supply boat. Image © Alex Hofford / Greenpeace. Tracking commercial fishing FAO 266 formed part of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/philippine-supreme-court-rules-monitoring-commercial-fishing-vessels-is-unconstitutional/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326635</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On the Great Barrier Reef, management by Traditional Owners is growing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 18:35:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Cat Williams]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18180055/a.-141891-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326533</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Protected Areas, Solutions, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PERTH, Australia — “There’s this beautiful underwater garden out there,” says Mercy Singleton, referring to the vast network of colorful corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia’s Queensland coast. “We’d like to see it safe and recovering.” Singleton is Yirrganydji and director of Research and Engagement Services at Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PERTH, Australia — “There’s this beautiful underwater garden out there,” says Mercy Singleton, referring to the vast network of colorful corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia’s Queensland coast. “We’d like to see it safe and recovering.” Singleton is Yirrganydji and director of Research and Engagement Services at Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation. Her people are one of 18 Traditional Owner groups helping steward the Great Barrier Reef, for them their Sea Country — with Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreements (TUMRAs) in hand. These community-based plans for joint management of the Reef are part of a suite of conservation efforts at the iconic World Heritage Site that include Traditional Owners in management. While there are still gaps in the full inclusion of Indigenous communities in the stewardship of their traditional waters, big strides are being made, say Indigenous governance organizations and scientists. A recent decision by the World Heritage Committee has taken notice.  “The last 30 years have seen massive changes in how the Great Barrier Reef is managed, particularly for Traditional Owners,” says Allan Dale, professor of tropical regional development at James Cook University. “There&#8217;s been this great increase in the governing capability and the ability of those Traditional Owner groups to achieve their aspirations,” he tells Mongabay. “There&#8217;s been a real huge growth in the sort of capability of land and sea reservations and there&#8217;s an increasing number of rangers and leaders and planners and workers in that space.” Dr. Mercy Singleton, director of Research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/on-the-great-barrier-reef-management-by-traditional-owners-is-growing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326533</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As an industry and a cooking ingredient, seaweed is gaining ground in Brazil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-an-industry-and-a-cooking-ingredient-seaweed-is-gaining-ground-in-brazil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-an-industry-and-a-cooking-ingredient-seaweed-is-gaining-ground-in-brazil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 12:26:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Letícia Klein]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/18152140/IMG_2934-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326525</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[algae, Food, Food Industry, food security, Marine, Natural Resources, Nutrition, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a Brazilian beach, a family gave seaweed new life.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Aparecida Rosa Ayres often says she has known seaweed since she was in her mother’s womb, thanks to the stories she used to tell her. As a child, her mother used seaweed as doll hair while playing on the beach. Today, the 47-year-old Caiçara woman has given it a new meaning: It is the star ingredient at Rancho Ayres, her restaurant on Paraty’s São Gonçalo Beach. While the seaweed of her mother’s childhood was native to Ilha Grande Bay, the variety Aparecida uses for cooking is Kappaphycus alvarezii, a macroalgae of Philippine origin that she first found in 2013. Eight years later, she took a course offered by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the Paraty municipal government on the potential of seaweed farming for the regional bioeconomy. That course inspired Algas na Mesa Paraty, an initiative that combines what Aparecida calls “seaweed gastronomy” with historical revival at the São Gonçalo and São Gonçalinho beaches. “We are the daughters of the waters; we were born in the maritório [marine territory], so the use of seaweed comes as a form of resistance and permanence to preserve the territory,” Aparecida says. She descends from one of the traditional Caiçara families (traditional population from south/southeast Brazil) displaced from their homes by the beach during the construction of the Rio-Santos federal road (BR-101) between 1969 and 1975. However, the Caiçara continued to use the beaches for work and leisure. There, families built ranchos — facilities that support mariculture, community-based tourism and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/as-an-industry-and-a-cooking-ingredient-seaweed-is-gaining-ground-in-brazil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326525</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mobile queen conch hatcheries strive to help the species, engage Caribbean communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mobile-queen-conch-hatcheries-strive-to-help-the-species-engage-caribbean-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mobile-queen-conch-hatcheries-strive-to-help-the-species-engage-caribbean-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2026 09:54:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[André Habet]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17144351/Henry-Carey-holds-up-shells-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326429</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Molluscs, Oceans, Overfishing, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Queen conch were once so abundant that fishers in many parts of the Caribbean could wade into knee-deep waters and gather armfuls of the pink, whorled shells. Today, however, the giant marine snails are in decline across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, while some populations have already collapsed. Growing demand for queen [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Queen conch were once so abundant that fishers in many parts of the Caribbean could wade into knee-deep waters and gather armfuls of the pink, whorled shells. Today, however, the giant marine snails are in decline across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, while some populations have already collapsed. Growing demand for queen conch (Aliger gigas) meat and shells has led to overharvesting; habitat degradation, pollution and warming waters add further threats. Despite a 1992 CITES Appendix II listing to regulate their international trade, seasonal restrictions and bans by several Caribbean countries to address overfishing and juvenile harvesting, and a 2024 designation as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, few queen conch survive to adulthood compared to historical baselines. In a bid to slow the species’ decline by helping more conch reach reproductive age, scientists are deploying an innovative set of solar-powered mobile hatcheries to shelter them through their vulnerable early life stages. The Queen Conch Lab (QCL), affiliated with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the U.S., partners with local conservation organizations to deploy the hatcheries. The aim is not just to build nurseries that will nurture and protect developing conch, but to create community learning spaces where students and other visitors can gain knowledge about the species’ life cycle and participate in restoration efforts, according to Megan Davis, director of the QCL and a research professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. A researcher holds a juvenile queen conch. Image by Jennifer Doerr, NOAA&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/mobile-queen-conch-hatcheries-strive-to-help-the-species-engage-caribbean-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326429</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Aceh’s community fishers struggle to preserve tradition amid blooms of plastic pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/acehs-community-fishers-struggle-to-preserve-tradition-amid-blooms-of-plastic-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/acehs-community-fishers-struggle-to-preserve-tradition-amid-blooms-of-plastic-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2026 08:48:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nurul Hasanah]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/17083116/Gampong-Jawa-fishers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326365</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Community Development, Culture, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Traditional People, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Seven fishers moved in concert along the shore of Gampong Jawa Beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost city, hauling in a blue net nearly half a mile long from the Indian Ocean. “Forward &#8230; Keep it going … Now, move back!” instructed Surya Abid, the panglima laot, or “sea commander,” of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Seven fishers moved in concert along the shore of Gampong Jawa Beach in Banda Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost city, hauling in a blue net nearly half a mile long from the Indian Ocean. “Forward &#8230; Keep it going … Now, move back!” instructed Surya Abid, the panglima laot, or “sea commander,” of the Gampong Jawa community. The practice known as tarek pukat is a form of community fishing dating to the Aceh Sultanate, which ruled here from the 15th century until defeat to the Dutch colonial navy in 1903. Its rules are overseen by the panglima laot, an Indigenous Acehnese institution that governed fishing through customary law long before the existence of the modern Indonesian state. Toward the end of 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake under nearby Simeleue Island triggered the infamous Indian Ocean tsunami — a disaster that, in Gampong Jawa, wiped out more than 90% of the population. Memorials in and around Banda Aceh are built 30 meters (100 feet) high to honor those lost and remind future generations of the wave height that left 167,540 people dead or missing in Indonesia alone. Today, only a small number of fishers still work together handling these vast nets to catch fish, following unwritten customary rules to protect threatened marine species including sea turtles and their eggs. In Gampong Jawa, those rules are overseen by Surya, the local panglima laot. Efendi, an assistant to the panglima laot (customary fishery lead), mends a torn fishing net. Image by Nurul&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/acehs-community-fishers-struggle-to-preserve-tradition-amid-blooms-of-plastic-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326365</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global marine protected areas fail to safeguard most sharks and rays: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-marine-protected-areas-fail-to-safeguard-most-sharks-and-rays-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-marine-protected-areas-fail-to-safeguard-most-sharks-and-rays-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Aug 2026 16:41:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Madeline Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/14141331/a.-BANNER-%C2%A9-Jonathan-Lavan-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326271</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, Sharks, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, 196 countries agreed to the ambitious conservation goal of “30&#215;30”: setting aside 30% of the planet’s coastal and marine areas for conservation by 2030 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Now, halfway to 2030, only about 10% of the ocean is covered by protected areas, leaving many countries far short of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, 196 countries agreed to the ambitious conservation goal of “30&#215;30”: setting aside 30% of the planet’s coastal and marine areas for conservation by 2030 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Now, halfway to 2030, only about 10% of the ocean is covered by protected areas, leaving many countries far short of meeting this biodiversity goal by the end of the decade. Even within these existing reserves, new research shows significant gaps for one of the most threatened marine groups: sharks and rays. A study published in Conservation Letters in July finds that most species of sharks and rays have less than 10% of their ranges covered by any marine protected area (MPA), with significant shortfalls for threatened and critically endangered species. The analysis also reveals major gaps in reporting on the extent of fishing and harvesting restrictions in these preserves, also known as “take-status”, which is important for assessing meaningful protection for these animals. “Simply increasing the amount of protected ocean doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean we&#8217;re actually protecting those threatened species,” Amanda Arnold, a marine biodiversity researcher at Simon Fraser University in Canada and the lead author of the study, told Mongabay. “It’s not covering the breadth of biodiversity.” Sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), a critically endangered species according to the IUCN. Image mattdowse via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0). Research suggests that to offer measurable conservation benefits, marine preserves should cover at least a tenth of a species’ range, with 20-40% coverage maximizing conservation gains. Yet few&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-marine-protected-areas-fail-to-safeguard-most-sharks-and-rays-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326271</doi>				</item>
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