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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/cetaceans/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:52:27 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Cetaceans</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/cetaceans/</link>
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				<item>
					<title> Seeking swordfish, catching dolphins and whales: EU pushes to rein in driftnets</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jul 2026 20:24:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/08160916/a.-BANNER-GP0156K-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, European Union, Mediterranean Sea, Morocco, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Bycatch, Cetaceans, Dolphins, Elasmobranchs, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Sharks, Tuna, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Driftnets, vertically hanging nets that drift with ocean currents and can stretch for kilometers, are used to catch large pelagic species such as swordfish and tuna. However, they have long drawn criticism from conservationists as they also capture and kill sharks, turtles, dolphins and other marine wildlife. For decades, debate has raged about use of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Driftnets, vertically hanging nets that drift with ocean currents and can stretch for kilometers, are used to catch large pelagic species such as swordfish and tuna. However, they have long drawn criticism from conservationists as they also capture and kill sharks, turtles, dolphins and other marine wildlife. For decades, debate has raged about use of the large nets. It’s a particularly contentious issue in the Mediterranean Sea, an important migration corridor that faces considerable pressure from overfishing, pollution and climate change. Now, international efforts to tighten legislation on driftnets in the Mediterranean have gained new momentum as member states of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) consider a proposal aimed at closing loopholes in existing rules. ICCAT is the world’s largest regional fisheries management organization, managing the stocks of highly migratory species, including tuna, swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and some shark species across the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. At ICCAT’s technical meetings held in Brussels in June, the European Union presented a proposal (see IMM_09_ENG.docx in link) that seeks to strengthen current driftnet rules. Fishers haul an illegal driftnet in international waters west of Marettimo Island, near Sicily. Image © Gavin Parsons/Greenpeace. The EU proposal would establish clearer definitions for driftnets, prohibit their possession on vessels that target certain species, and extend restrictions beyond the Mediterranean to parts of the Atlantic Ocean. “The EU has the clear ambition to push for the adoption of this measure at this year’s annual meeting of ICCAT (in November),” an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/seeking-swordfish-catching-dolphins-and-whales-eu-pushes-to-rein-in-driftnets/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Listen to whales to improve connection, care &#038; ocean health (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listen-to-whales-to-improve-connection-care-ocean-health-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listen-to-whales-to-improve-connection-care-ocean-health-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jul 2026 17:07:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David GruberSylvia Earle]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/11143500/whales-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322579</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Cetaceans, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Ecosystems, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Science, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seventy years ago, Le Monde du Silence, a film by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle, depicted the ocean as silent. Today, we know that the ocean is filled with the melodies of millions of vocalizing sea creatures, from the crisp snapping of shrimps to the complex singing and speaking of whales. In fact, the first [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seventy years ago, Le Monde du Silence, a film by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle, depicted the ocean as silent. Today, we know that the ocean is filled with the melodies of millions of vocalizing sea creatures, from the crisp snapping of shrimps to the complex singing and speaking of whales. In fact, the first life to vocalize with intent likely began in the sea. It is far from silent. Together, our careers span generations of ocean exploration. Sylvia has spent more than seven decades advancing ocean exploration and conservation, helping inspire the protection of critical marine ecosystems. And David has worked for more than three decades to better understand how marine life perceive their world, which has led him to a current focus with Project CETI translating the communication of whales. This is uncovering a vast depth and complexity in whale voices, which we are just beginning to understand. While there have been remarkable conservation successes, the overall trend is clear: the health of the ocean is declining faster than our efforts to protect it. Throughout our careers, we have witnessed extraordinary discoveries about marine life as well as humans’ ability to access even its deepest reaches, alongside dramatic changes to the ocean itself. We have celebrated conservation victories and scientific and technological breakthroughs. But we have also watched habitats disappear, species decline, and human impacts reach even the most remote corners of our oceans. David Gruber and Sylvia Earle in conversation for the Project CETI program, &#8220;The Deep&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listen-to-whales-to-improve-connection-care-ocean-health-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/listen-to-whales-to-improve-connection-care-ocean-health-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322579</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protect Antarctic krill to preserve the health of Africa&#8217;s coastal communities (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/protect-antarctic-krill-to-preserve-the-health-of-africas-coastal-communities-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/protect-antarctic-krill-to-preserve-the-health-of-africas-coastal-communities-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2026 16:06:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carmen dos Santos]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/10/19140157/16238835137_bc4b034208_h-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321376</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, Central Africa, Global, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, food security, Governance, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This week, as governments of various coastal states gather in Mombasa, Kenya, for the Our Ocean Conference, Africa must demand an end to industrial krill fishing in the Southern Ocean before irreversible damage is done to Antarctica and the ocean systems upon which our continent depends. A clear call from Africa would bolster international calls [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This week, as governments of various coastal states gather in Mombasa, Kenya, for the Our Ocean Conference, Africa must demand an end to industrial krill fishing in the Southern Ocean before irreversible damage is done to Antarctica and the ocean systems upon which our continent depends. A clear call from Africa would bolster international calls for a ban on industrial krill fishing and support positive leadership developments like the European Parliament’s recent call for a moratorium on krill fishing. The Southern Ocean regulates global ocean circulation, absorbs enormous quantities of heat and carbon dioxide, and sustains marine life across the planet. At the center of this system is Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), the tiny crustacean that feeds whales, penguins, seals and seabirds while helping lock carbon into the deep ocean. Industrial krill fishing has expanded rapidly over the last few years, with the largest share of this extraction controlled by fleets linked to certain European and Asian countries. Most concerningly, fishing is intensifying precisely where Antarctic wildlife is most vulnerable: critical feeding grounds for whales, penguins and seals are actively targeted by the industry. A single adult Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is usually just five centimeters long, but the importance of its massive populations to marine food chains, and the millions of people who depend on ocean protein as part of their daily diet, is major. Image courtesy of Uwe Kils via Wikimedia Commons. The damage is already visible. In April, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/protect-antarctic-krill-to-preserve-the-health-of-africas-coastal-communities-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/protect-antarctic-krill-to-preserve-the-health-of-africas-coastal-communities-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A year on, Australia’s biggest harmful algal bloom continues to wreak havoc</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:42:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08044105/1-d.-Algae-Bloom-Marine-Life-Washups-Stefan-Andrews_-12-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320708</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[algae, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Dolphins, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Governance, Habitat, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Penguins, Rays, Research, Sharks, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Australian history arrived to Port Hughes, depleting its waters’ rich biodiversity. The bloom had first appeared elsewhere off the state of South Australia’s coast a year earlier, causing eye and skin irritation and respiratory symptoms among beachgoers. Then, along with waves of acrid-smelling sea foam, scores of dead marine animals began washing ashore. In Port Hughes, the HAB’s impacts were most visible below the surface. The town’s wooden jetty had previously been one of the most consistent locations in South Australia to observe temperate species, said Stefan Andrews, co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation, a conservation advocacy group. But by mid-April, when Mongabay joined Andrews on a dive, the site was drab compared with vibrant photographs taken in February and March. Under the jetty, sponges and corals that had previously adorned its pylons in a brilliantly hued mosaic appeared colorless. Apart from a short-headed seahorse (Hippocampus breviceps) — a “sign of hope,” Andrews called it — little life was visible in the murky waters. The reef, he said, had become quieter, lacking the sounds of snapping shrimp and other creatures that once played in the underwater soundtrack. “There’s a sense of loss when you&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320708</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale strike risk rises as international shipping reroutes around South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2026 06:37:15 +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/20/2026/06/04104305/IMG_9041-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320573</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Governance, Science, Shipping, trafficking, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In April this year, two Bryde’s whales washed-up dead-on Dyer Island, a small nature reserve located a few kilometers off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Both whales carried severe injuries; their vertebrae had been shattered. “It was very clear that it was [vessel] strikes, because both those whales were snapped in half, and you can also see the propeller marks,” Loraine Shuttleworth, head of research at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, told Mongabay. Two whale strandings linked to ship strikes in one month alone is an unusually high number, Shuttleworth said. A new risk assessment has linked the increase in risk of ships striking whales to the rerouting of maritime traffic around South African coast. Due to the Houthi rebels attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea, which started in 2023, and the more recent fallout from the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, many cargo companies have rerouted their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. With greater shipping traffic comes a growing threat to marine species inhabiting the region: collisions with large, fast-moving vessels. Between December 2023 and December 2024, the number of large vessels traveling through South African waters at average speeds above 15 knots (28 kilometers per hour) has quadrupled, satellite data show. The scale of the increased maritime traffic struck scientist Els Vermeulen from the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, on a flight into Cape Town in 2025. “It was a beautiful day, and there were just&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/whale-strike-risk-rises-as-international-shipping-reroutes-around-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320573</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Southern Ocean is key to our planet&#8217;s future &#038; we have a chance to protect it this year (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 16:02:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Zac Goldsmith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10190606/WWF_Jay-Williams.-Chinstrap-penguins-e1760123344432-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319355</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Certification, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, Sustainability, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse of what is at stake if we fail to act, and a reminder of how little time we have left to protect some of our planet’s most precious resources. The Southern Ocean is not simply another stretch of water in need of protection. It is the engine of the global climate system, and one of the last places on Earth where nature still operates on its own terms. Right now, it is in serious trouble. The Antarctic Peninsula is home to roughly a third of the global krill population, which sustains whales, penguins, seals and seabirds. But three consecutive years of record-low sea ice have disrupted the reproduction cycles that krill depend on, and last year the krill fishery hit its 620,000-metric-ton catch limit for the first time in history, closing three months early. Industrial fleets from Norway, China, South Korea, Chile and Ukraine are extracting them at a pace that the ecosystem, already stressed by climate change, cannot absorb. The Marine Stewardship Council&#8217;s recent decision to recertify the Antarctic krill fishery as &#8220;sustainable,&#8221; despite an outdated stock assessment and mounting evidence of localized harm to whale and penguin populations, has rightly drawn legal challenge.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319355</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dangerous arsenic levels detected in Thailand’s Mekong mainstream for first time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2026 02:47:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/09223648/Fishers-Mekong-near-Chiang-Khong-3_stefan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318973</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Mekong Basin, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Dolphins, Drinking Water, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Energy Transition, extractives, Farming, Fish, Fisheries, Freshwater, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Illegal Mining, Indigenous Peoples, Mining, Pollution, Rivers, Science, Tropics, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Thai authorities have found what they described as dangerous levels of arsenic contamination in sediment from the Mekong River and three of its tributaries in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Heavy metal pollution has been reported from key tributaries of the Mekong for more than a year now, but [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Thai authorities have found what they described as dangerous levels of arsenic contamination in sediment from the Mekong River and three of its tributaries in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Heavy metal pollution has been reported from key tributaries of the Mekong for more than a year now, but the tests conducted in March by Thailand’s Pollution Control Department mark the first time that arsenic contamination has been detected on the mainstream of the Mekong, a vital transboundary river that supports thousands of plant and wildlife species and the livelihoods of millions of people. The test results published in mid-April show that sediment taken from three separate monitoring stations along the Mekong mainstream contained arsenic concentrations of between 73 and 296 milligrams per kilogram of sediment. According to the Pollution Control Department, concentrations of less than 10 mg/kg are considered broadly safe for aquatic life; levels higher than 33 mg/kg are deemed dangerous. Arsenic levels in sediment taken from various points along the Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers, key tributaries of the Mekong, all ranged from below the 33 mg/kg safe limit up to 57 mg/kg, the Pollution Control Department said via its official Facebook page, noting the contamination appears to be spreading through the river system. Thailand&#8217;s Pollution Control Department posted results of the sediment tests to their official Facebook page on April 10, 2026. Image sourced from the Pollution Control Department&#8217;s Facebook. Heavy metal pollution in the Mekong Basin has been widely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/dangerous-arsenic-levels-detected-in-thailands-mekong-mainstream-for-first-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318973</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>AI tool listens for endangered orcas in real time to reduce human disturbance</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-tool-listens-for-endangered-orcas-in-real-time-to-reduce-human-disturbance/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-tool-listens-for-endangered-orcas-in-real-time-to-reduce-human-disturbance/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Apr 2026 08:27:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/22081854/orcas-swim-in-blue-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317912</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America, Pacific Ocean, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Bioacoustics, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Where are the orcas at? And at what times are they making the most calls? Answering those questions with pinpoint accuracy is crucial to protecting the famed “southern resident” orcas off North America’s northern Pacific coast. An AI-driven initiative is now helping parse through large amounts of ocean sounds to identify and detect the orcas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Where are the orcas at? And at what times are they making the most calls? Answering those questions with pinpoint accuracy is crucial to protecting the famed “southern resident” orcas off North America’s northern Pacific coast. An AI-driven initiative is now helping parse through large amounts of ocean sounds to identify and detect the orcas in real time. OrcaHello is working with scientists and government agencies to detect the presence of this specific group of orcas and minimize the impact that coastal activities may have on them. Southern resident orcas (Orcinus orca ater) are considered an endangered subspecies made up of three distinct pods. According to the Center for Whale Research, a U.S.-based nonprofit that studies this group exclusively, there are only 76 remaining individuals of these orcas as of December 2025. A decline in the populations of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), their primary source of food, along with noise pollution and vessel traffic are major threats to their survival. “Inbreeding is also starting to be a problem, which is what you’d expect for a small population,” David Bain, chief scientist at Orca Conservancy, another nonprofit focused on the southern resident orcas, told Mongabay in a video interview. “That means the decline is going to resume unless we make conditions better.” OrcaHello was developed to look specifically into the issue of noise pollution and vessel traffic. “It’s a real-time AI alert system that’s listening 24/7 for orca calls,” Akash Mahajan, who co-developed the tool, told Mongabay in a video interview.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-tool-listens-for-endangered-orcas-in-real-time-to-reduce-human-disturbance/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-tool-listens-for-endangered-orcas-in-real-time-to-reduce-human-disturbance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317912</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Singapore resort said to halt controversial dolphin sourcing, breeding</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/singapore-resort-said-to-halt-controversial-dolphin-sourcing-breeding/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/singapore-resort-said-to-halt-controversial-dolphin-sourcing-breeding/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Mar 2026 05:21:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robin Hicks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/30112321/AP720134243665-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316502</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquariums, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Environment, Environmental Law, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — The Resorts World Sentosa casino and entertainment complex in Singapore has halted sourcing dolphins from the wild for its aquarium, Mongabay has learned. The resort’s Oceanarium has also suspended its breeding program, according to insiders. The facility is assembling a panel of experts to determine the future of the more than 20 Indo-Pacific [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — The Resorts World Sentosa casino and entertainment complex in Singapore has halted sourcing dolphins from the wild for its aquarium, Mongabay has learned. The resort’s Oceanarium has also suspended its breeding program, according to insiders. The facility is assembling a panel of experts to determine the future of the more than 20 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) it has held since 2013. RWS has not announced any formal policy regarding the dolphins and declined to comment. Multiple visits by Mongabay to the Oceanarium were unable to confirm the exact number of animals held at its Marine Mammal Habitat, although trainers said no additional dolphins were being captured or bred. The last dolphin born at the facility was Kenzo, a male now 7 years old, staff said during a visit in March. Uncertainty over the fate of Singapore’s captive dolphins comes amid a growing global shift against keeping cetaceans in captivity, as awareness grows of their intelligence, complex social structures, and poor welfare in confined environments. In June 2025, Mexico became the latest country to ban the captivity of cetaceans for entertainment, joining Canada, France, India, Chile, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Taiwan is also phasing out cetacean performances. But countries including China, Japan and some in the Middle East continue to source dolphins for newly built aquariums as they expand marine attractions aimed at boosting tourism. RWS originally sourced 27 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands in 2008 and 2009. The Dolphin Island exhibit&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/singapore-resort-said-to-halt-controversial-dolphin-sourcing-breeding/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/singapore-resort-said-to-halt-controversial-dolphin-sourcing-breeding/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316502</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Belugas facing euthanasia at shuttered Canada theme park may find new homes in US</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Mar 2026 20:45:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/10173303/Marinland09_2412085592-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315512</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Dolphins, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Whales, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For about three decades, beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins greeted more than a million annual visitors to Marineland of Canada. In the sprawling 162-hectare (400-acre) theme park, located a stone’s throw from the world-famous Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, dozens of cetaceans enthralled visitors — splashing, spyhopping and leaping in their concrete-lined tanks. Marineland’s peppy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For about three decades, beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins greeted more than a million annual visitors to Marineland of Canada. In the sprawling 162-hectare (400-acre) theme park, located a stone’s throw from the world-famous Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, dozens of cetaceans enthralled visitors — splashing, spyhopping and leaping in their concrete-lined tanks. Marineland’s peppy jingle, “Everyone loves Marineland,” evoked a happy place where love transcended species, and people and marine mammals shared joy. But what the cameras didn’t show was their lives after showtime. Twenty whales — 19 belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and one killer whale (Orcinus orca) — died between 2019 and 2025. Multiple charges of animal abuse surfaced in the 2010s, though some were later withdrawn. And a 2021 animal welfare inspection found marine animals in distress due to poor water quality in their tanks. In late 2024, Ontario’s animal welfare inspectors said they had visited the park more than 200 times since 2020 for inspections and investigations. In 2018, Marineland’s owner died, and a year later, Canada passed the landmark Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, which banned the keeping, breeding and trading of cetaceans for entertainment. By then, movies such as Blackfish and Free Willy had changed the public perception of captive dolphins and whales. The lively jingle had turned sour in many people’s minds. In 2021, Marineland became Canada’s last remaining entertainment park with cetaceans. A beluga whale at SeaWorld in San Diego, California, in 2009. The species is native to the Arctic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/belugas-facing-euthanasia-at-shuttered-canada-theme-park-may-find-new-homes-in-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315512</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Proposed shark net near Club Med resort in South Africa sparks conservation clash</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Mar 2026 15:18:53 +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/20/2026/03/04140820/image-de-banniere-2-23-2026-shark-nets_dead-shark-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315207</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Environment, Governance, Oceans, Whale Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, a juvenile humpback dolphin was caught and killed in one of the many nets strung up off the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to protect beachgoers from sharks. The incident, near the city of Richards Bay on the country&#8217;s eastern coast, was a blow for South Africa’s population of Indian ocean [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Feb. 13, a juvenile humpback dolphin was caught and killed in one of the many nets strung up off the coast of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to protect beachgoers from sharks. The incident, near the city of Richards Bay on the country&#8217;s eastern coast, was a blow for South Africa’s population of Indian ocean humpback dolphins, which has dropped to fewer than 500 in recent decades. Shark nets, installed together with baited hooks called drum lines, aim to reduce the number of sharks that could come into contact with, and possibly harm, humans. Once entangled in these nets, which can run hundreds of meters wide, sharks have little chance of survival — nor do other species like humpback dolphins (Sousa plumbea). In the wake of the February incident, scientists working to conserve humpback dolphins issued a letter of opposition to a proposal to install another such net at a popular beach farther down the coast. Tinley Manor is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Richards Bay, and has emerged as a flashpoint in the debate about shark nets. Municipal authorities there are proposing installing a shark net at the public beach, in view of the new Club Med luxury resort being built right next to it. The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB), as the authority responsible for bather safety in the province, says it’s acting to safeguard beachgoers, whose numbers are expected to rise significantly with the opening of the resort later this year. Indian Ocean humpback dolphins. Image courtesy of Bridget&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proposed-shark-net-near-club-med-resort-in-south-africa-sparks-conservation-clash/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315207</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Climate change is slowing southern right whale birth rate, 33-year study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-is-slowing-southern-right-whale-birth-rate-33-year-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-is-slowing-southern-right-whale-birth-rate-33-year-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2026 15:46:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01215430/photo1_south_africa_hermanus_0130-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314971</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Australia, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Green, Mammals, Oceans, Protected Areas, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Australia&#8217;s southern coast are having calves less often than they used to. A new study links this slowdown to warming water and shrinking sea ice in the Southern Ocean. The study, conducted by researchers at Australian, South African and U.S. institutions and published this month in Scientific Reports, tracked [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Australia&#8217;s southern coast are having calves less often than they used to. A new study links this slowdown to warming water and shrinking sea ice in the Southern Ocean. The study, conducted by researchers at Australian, South African and U.S. institutions and published this month in Scientific Reports, tracked more than 1,100 calving events from 696 individual female whales at a major breeding ground in an area called the Great Australian Bight within the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area. Since around 2015, the average time between births rose from 3.4 years to 4.1 years. For a species that reproduces slowly, that shift adds up. “These extended calving intervals mean fewer calves are being born overall, and this reduces population growth over time,” lead author and marine biologist Claire Charlton from Flinders University writes in The Conversation. “Southern right whales have been celebrated as one of conservation’s success stories … But our new research shows this success story is changing.” Between 1991 and 2024, scientists used photo-identification data to tell the whales apart. Each whale has a unique pattern of callosities, or patches of thickened skin, on its head that distinguishes one from another. Southern right whale individuals are identified by their callosity patterns, patches of roughened skin covered with white cyamids or “whale lice”, that give every right whale’s head a unique and stable pattern.  Photo by Macarena Agrelo. Using this long-term whale dataset, along with environmental records, researchers found that half of the variation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-is-slowing-southern-right-whale-birth-rate-33-year-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/climate-change-is-slowing-southern-right-whale-birth-rate-33-year-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314971</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Penguins are breeding much earlier in a warming Antarctic, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 17:55:17 +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/20/2026/02/09200941/Tom-Camera-Credit-Katherine-Booth-Jones-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313994</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biology, Birds, cameras, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Global Warming, Ocean Warming, Penguins, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Penguins are dramatically shifting their breeding season as the Antarctic peninsula warms, a recent study finds. From 2012 to 2022, researchers used remote cameras to examine the timing of breeding for three penguin species across 37 colonies on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands. They tracked their ‘settlement date’: when the penguins began continuously occupying [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Penguins are dramatically shifting their breeding season as the Antarctic peninsula warms, a recent study finds. From 2012 to 2022, researchers used remote cameras to examine the timing of breeding for three penguin species across 37 colonies on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands. They tracked their ‘settlement date’: when the penguins began continuously occupying their nesting zones. The study, led by the citizen-science collective Penguin Watch at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, U.K., was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Over that 10-year period, gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) began their breeding season an average of 13 days earlier in the year, though for some colonies, it was more than three weeks. Chinstrap (P. antarcticus) and Adélie (P. adeliae) penguins settled into their colonies an average of 10.4 and 10.2 days, respectively, ahead of their schedule a decade ago. These breeding changes are amongst the most extreme yet recorded for any bird — and likely any vertebrate — in response to climate change, the study notes. “This is a huge advance and an incredibly fast one … and that&#8217;s what surprised us,” says Ignacio Juarez Martínez, a biologist and the study’s lead author who conducted the research as part of his PhD at the University of Oxford. “It&#8217;s literally a world record.” Gentoo colony at Neko Harbour, on the Antarctic peninsula. Gentoo penguins are the least ice-tolerant of the three species studied — which also included Adélie and chinstrap penguins. They are expanding their range southwards&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313994</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Azores dodges proposal to overturn no-fishing zones in its giant new MPA network</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 19:29:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria José Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/23192451/b.-OceanImageBank_EllenCuylaerts_01-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314634</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Europe, and Portugal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Regulations, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Tuna]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. &#8220;Where are we going to fish [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. &#8220;Where are we going to fish now?” he asked. The law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect just recently, on Jan. 1 this year. The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers (110,800 square miles) of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life. Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted to uphold a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network. Pico Mountain on Pico Island in the Azores, the tallest mountain in Portugal at 2,351 meters (7,713 feet). Image by Maria José Mendes for Mongabay. The vote effectively killed an earlier move to open these areas to pole-and-line tuna fishing that would have been “catastrophic and damaging to the region,” according to Luís Bernardo Brito e Abreu, coordinator of Blue Azores, a Portugal-based partnership between the Azores regional government, the U.S.-based nonprofit Waitt Institute and the Portugal-based Oceano Azul Foundation that began advocating for the establishment of the MPA network in 2019. “[The] criterion for a total protection area is indeed total protection; there&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314634</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover a new whale highway after tagging a pygmy blue whale by drone</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/scientists-discover-a-new-whale-highway-after-tagging-a-pygmy-blue-whale-by-drone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/scientists-discover-a-new-whale-highway-after-tagging-a-pygmy-blue-whale-by-drone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2026 15:38:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Turrell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/17204026/Marine-Migratory-Species-Expedition-2025-credit-HO_Doc.Konservasi-Indonesia-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314393</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Drones, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Whales, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian scientists have attached a satellite tag onto an endangered pygmy blue whales for the first time by drone. The tag’s data not only revealed a new feeding site for the species (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda), but also a previously undocumented path it takes to the South Antarctic. Unlike Antarctic blue whales, pygmy blue whales prefer [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian scientists have attached a satellite tag onto an endangered pygmy blue whales for the first time by drone. The tag’s data not only revealed a new feeding site for the species (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda), but also a previously undocumented path it takes to the South Antarctic. Unlike Antarctic blue whales, pygmy blue whales prefer tropical waters and are found in the Indian Ocean. They’re known to migrate between the west coast of Australia and Indonesia. However, their journey south between Indonesia and Australia is rarely documented and their habits are more of a mystery. A pygmy blue whale is observed by a research drone during the Marine Migratory Species Expedition 2025 in the North Wetar Sea, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Oct. 9, 2025. (HO/Konservasi Indonesia) From Oct. 5-16, 2025, a team of 20 scientists from Konservasi International, Thrive Conservation, the Elasmobranch Institute and universities from Indonesia and Timor-Leste focused their research on the Lesser Sunda landscape, which is part of the Coral Triangle. The study area also includes the Ombai Strait, known as one of the most important migratory corridors for pygmy blue whales. In December 2025, Indonesia created the new 325,238 hectare West Wetar Marine Protected Area, found within the Lesser Sunda seascape, the scattering of Indonesian islands closest to Australia. During the expedition, the team also gathered data to help the government create an offshore marine protected area in the Banda Sea. The pygmy blue whale’s biggest threats include ship strikes in busy shipping lanes, ocean noise&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/scientists-discover-a-new-whale-highway-after-tagging-a-pygmy-blue-whale-by-drone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/scientists-discover-a-new-whale-highway-after-tagging-a-pygmy-blue-whale-by-drone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314393</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mexico considers shrinking protected areas for endangered vaquita porpoise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2026 20:57:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maxwell Radwin]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/10192935/Screenshot-2026-02-10-132642-768x450.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Baja California, Latin America, Mexico, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Oceans, Politics, Protected Areas, Vaquita, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have proposed scaling back fishing regulations meant to protect a narrow stretch of ocean home to the last 10 remaining vaquitas, the world’s smallest species of porpoise. If implemented, the changes could shrink protected areas and open up vessel traffic in the northern Gulf of California, the stretch of water [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have proposed scaling back fishing regulations meant to protect a narrow stretch of ocean home to the last 10 remaining vaquitas, the world’s smallest species of porpoise. If implemented, the changes could shrink protected areas and open up vessel traffic in the northern Gulf of California, the stretch of water between Baja California and mainland Mexico where the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is endemic. The proposal cites scientific research and aims to satisfy local fishing communities, but conservation groups say the changes in it could lead to the porpoise’s extinction. “I don’t think we can forget that this is the most endangered marine mammal in the world,” Sarah Doleman, senior ocean campaigner for the U.K.-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency, told Mongabay. “With such a small population of 10 individuals, any effort to reduce the measures that are in place at the moment, and to enforce those measures fully, would be a real threat to the future of this species.” The proposal, not yet public but reviewed by Mongabay, is being developed by several government agencies, including the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). Input on it came from fishing industry representatives and an “interinstitutional group” assembled by the government that the proposal does not identify. The vaquita measures just 1.5 meters (5 feet) in length, weighs 54 kilograms (120 pounds) and features dark circles around its eyes. Its numbers have been steadily declining from under 600 when scientists first surveyed the species in 1997, with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/mexico-considers-shrinking-protected-areas-for-endangered-vaquita-porpoise/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lower levels of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in North Atlantic whales show regulations work: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/lower-levels-of-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-north-atlantic-whales-show-regulations-work-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/lower-levels-of-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-north-atlantic-whales-show-regulations-work-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2026 20:25:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/03201534/Alexandre-Rouxs-photo-licensed-as-CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313682</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, forever chemicals, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Planetary Health, Pollution, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago, offering rare good news about the effectiveness of chemical regulations, Harvard University researchers report in a new study. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed tissue samples [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago, offering rare good news about the effectiveness of chemical regulations, Harvard University researchers report in a new study. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analyzed tissue samples from pilot whales collected in the Faroe Islands between 1986 and 2023. Researchers measured bulk organofluorine, a proxy for total PFAS contamination, as well as individual compounds in liver and muscle tissues. North Atlantic long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) now have 60% lower concentrations of some legacy PFAS than they did a decade ago. Photo by Charlie Jackson via Flikr (CC BY 2.0.) PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are synthetic chemicals used since the 1950s in products ranging from non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing to food packaging and firefighting foam. Legacy PFAS are older compounds that were used for decades but are generally no longer produced for industrial use. Their extreme stability has earned them the nickname &#8220;forever chemicals,&#8221; as they persist in the environment and accumulate in the tissues of living organisms. PFAS exposure has been linked to numerous health problems in humans and wildlife, including liver damage, immune system suppression, developmental problems, thyroid disease, and certain cancers. The chemicals bioaccumulate in the food chain, meaning concentrations increase at each level, with top predators like whales and humans facing the highest exposures. The new research revealed that organofluorine concentrations in pilot whale livers peaked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/lower-levels-of-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-north-atlantic-whales-show-regulations-work-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/lower-levels-of-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-north-atlantic-whales-show-regulations-work-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Division’s final journey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/divisions-final-journey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/divisions-final-journey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Feb 2026 04:22:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/01034428/division-00-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313603</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Obituary, Oceans, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; Division was four years old when he died, a young age even by the shortened standards now applied to North Atlantic right whales. His body was found in late January, adrift off the coast of North Carolina, partial and unrecoverable. The weather was too dangerous for anything more than confirmation. By then, the cause [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; Division was four years old when he died, a young age even by the shortened standards now applied to North Atlantic right whales. His body was found in late January, adrift off the coast of North Carolina, partial and unrecoverable. The weather was too dangerous for anything more than confirmation. By then, the cause was already understood. Division with his mother in January 2022. Photo credit: CMARI Division with his mother in January 2022. Photo credit: CMARI He was first seen entangled in early December, fishing line wrapped tightly around his head and mouth. It cut into his blowhole and lodged in his upper jaw. Some of the gear was removed. Enough remained to slow him, to feed infection, to drain energy from a body still meant to grow. Scientists who tracked him afterward saw what they had learned to recognize: weight loss, altered swimming, the steady signs of decline. They followed his movements as best they could. Distance and storms intervened. He was last sighted alive on January 21st, off Cape Hatteras. Six days later, he was dead. Division’s catalog number was 5217. His name came from the pale markings on his head, callosities arranged in a pattern that resembled a mathematical symbol. To those who knew him only through photographs and survey logs, he was one of many. Sixty-eight recorded sightings. Twenty-three photographs. A few notes about tooth decay in the bonnet. One image shows him leaping, much of his body briefly clear of the water. He&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/divisions-final-journey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/divisions-final-journey/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313603</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Unregulated tourism risks disrupting Timor-Leste’s whale migration</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/unregulated-tourism-risks-disrupting-timor-lestes-whale-migration/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/unregulated-tourism-risks-disrupting-timor-lestes-whale-migration/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 03:09:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robin Hicks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08160620/Maternal-sperm-whale-pod-too-close-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310754</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Timor, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethics, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Migration, Oceans, Tourism, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DILI, Timor-Leste — Whale tourism in Timor-Leste is booming. Tour operators report a healthy number of sightings and full bookings in the peak season of September to December, when hundreds of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) make the journey through the Ombai-Wetar Strait on their way south to western Australia. Customers splurge $5,000 for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DILI, Timor-Leste — Whale tourism in Timor-Leste is booming. Tour operators report a healthy number of sightings and full bookings in the peak season of September to December, when hundreds of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) make the journey through the Ombai-Wetar Strait on their way south to western Australia. Customers splurge $5,000 for a week of swimming with the lite version of the world’s largest animal in a country that has unmatched potential for whale watching, because of its deep, nutrient-rich waters close to the shore and relatively undisturbed marine environment. “For me, the whales represent the health of the ecosystem — they’re the most visible sign of something much bigger happening below the surface,” local conservationist and photographer Jafet Potenzo Lopes tells Mongabay in an interview. “When a blue whale or sperm whale passes along the coast, it’s not just a sighting; it’s a reminder that this coastline is still functioning in a way that many places have lost.” Timor-Leste’s marine mammal “superhighway,” traversed by migrating blue and sperm whales and resident pods of pilot whales, orcas and dolphins, attracts tourists from around the world. Operators are already fully booked for 2026 and 2027. “Even though [whale] encounters are never guaranteed, tourists will always try their luck,” says Rechelle Trasmonte, a Philippine national and dive organizer at Compass Diving, one of Timor-Leste’s six major whale tour operators. This season, however, serious concerns about malpractice have emerged. In an open letter shared with Mongabay in November, British underwater&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/unregulated-tourism-risks-disrupting-timor-lestes-whale-migration/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/unregulated-tourism-risks-disrupting-timor-lestes-whale-migration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310754</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A rare bright spot for whales: Decades of conservation pay off for endangered population in Canada</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-rare-bright-spot-for-whales-decades-of-conservation-pay-off-for-endangered-population-in-canada/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-rare-bright-spot-for-whales-decades-of-conservation-pay-off-for-endangered-population-in-canada/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Dec 2025 00:43:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stella Mayerhoff]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/04234437/Gully-Photo-3-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310633</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean and Canada]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Populations of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus), playful animals that resemble large dolphins, stretch across the Atlantic Ocean, with each group of whales living year-round in a particular deep ocean canyon. Historically, commercial whaling targeted these animals, causing their numbers across the basin to collapse. Even as protections against whaling increase, northern bottlenose whale populations [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Populations of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus), playful animals that resemble large dolphins, stretch across the Atlantic Ocean, with each group of whales living year-round in a particular deep ocean canyon. Historically, commercial whaling targeted these animals, causing their numbers across the basin to collapse. Even as protections against whaling increase, northern bottlenose whale populations struggle to recover globally due to low reproductive rates and ongoing threats such as ship strikes and fishing-gear entanglement. A group of northern bottlenose whales gather at the water’s surface in the Gully, Nova Scotia during a research expedition by the Whitehead Lab in 2017. Image by Deepdivewhales via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). But new evidence from a submarine canyon off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, known as the Gully, shows a promising rebound. Commercial fishing and vessel traffic are down in the area, and the endangered northern bottlenose whales in this canyon are growing in number after decades of decline, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The Gully is one of the few places where scientists have monitored a distinct population long enough to track meaningful trends. Roughly as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon, and with steep walls and channels, it provides critical habitat for a group of northern bottlenose whales known as the Scotian Shelf population. “At the broadest scale, submarine canyons stir up the oceanography, and that typically translates into more productivity, life and food—good for everything!” said co-author Hal Whitehead, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-rare-bright-spot-for-whales-decades-of-conservation-pay-off-for-endangered-population-in-canada/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-rare-bright-spot-for-whales-decades-of-conservation-pay-off-for-endangered-population-in-canada/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310633</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare dugong calf sighting in Alor spotlights seagrass &#038; marine mammal conservation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rare-dugong-calf-sighting-in-alor-spotlights-seagrass-marine-mammal-conservation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rare-dugong-calf-sighting-in-alor-spotlights-seagrass-marine-mammal-conservation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2025 04:54:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/20120503/01-Dugong-Alor_Juraij-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307968</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dugong, Endangered Species, Environment, Fisheries, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A rare sighting of a baby dugong off Alor in East Nusa Tenggara has sparked renewed attention to the importance of protecting Indonesia’s seagrass ecosystems and marine wildlife. A short video was released Oct. 10 by the environmental foundation WWF-Indonesia showing the first documented appearance of a baby dugong (Dugong dugon) in the waters of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A rare sighting of a baby dugong off Alor in East Nusa Tenggara has sparked renewed attention to the importance of protecting Indonesia’s seagrass ecosystems and marine wildlife. A short video was released Oct. 10 by the environmental foundation WWF-Indonesia showing the first documented appearance of a baby dugong (Dugong dugon) in the waters of Alor’s Mali Beach, where conservationists have conducted monitoring since 2016. The calf was observed swimming alongside two adult dugongs, known as Mawar (male) and Melati (female), by a member of the Kabola Fishermen Communication Forum. “I had seen the dugong calf before, but it usually avoided boats along with Melati, unlike Mawar,” Onesimus La’a, the chairman of the forum, said in a statement. Mawar, the male dugong, off Mali beach in Alor. Image courtesy of WWF-Indonesia/Alda Rizkiani. &nbsp; Dugongs, close relatives of manatees, are the world’s only marine mammals that feed solely on seagrass. Their global numbers have declined sharply due to hunting and the loss of seagrass habitats. With slow reproductive rates — year-long pregnancies and extended calf care — they face mounting survival pressures. Listed as globally vulnerable by the IUCN, their conservation status varies by region and can be far more critical in some areas. “The presence of two other dugongs besides Mawar proves that the seagrass ecosystem at Mali Beach, Alor, has the ecological qualities to provide habitat and food sources for dugongs,” Ranny R. Yunenin, the national coordinator for the protected and endangered marine species program at WWF-Indonesia, said in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rare-dugong-calf-sighting-in-alor-spotlights-seagrass-marine-mammal-conservation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/rare-dugong-calf-sighting-in-alor-spotlights-seagrass-marine-mammal-conservation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307968</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Drone surveys offer early warnings on whale health and survival</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drone-surveys-offer-early-warnings-on-whale-health-and-survival/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drone-surveys-offer-early-warnings-on-whale-health-and-survival/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 11:09:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16085514/Banner-Image-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307767</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, North America, Pacific Ocean, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Drones, Environment, Oceans, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[How are whale populations faring? Traditionally, getting an answer to that question involved counting whales by taking their photos and identifying them from their natural markings. However, a caveat persisted. Whales live a long time and reproduce very slowly. That means it often takes “a long time to learn about changes in the population as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[How are whale populations faring? Traditionally, getting an answer to that question involved counting whales by taking their photos and identifying them from their natural markings. However, a caveat persisted. Whales live a long time and reproduce very slowly. That means it often takes “a long time to learn about changes in the population as well as their health,” John Durban, senior scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, told Mongabay in a video interview. Now, Durban and his team are deploying drones and photogrammetry to complement their existing work and determine how whale health is being impacted by climate change. They measure the size and shape of whales from high-resolution aerial photos captured by drones. Using this data, they’ve been able to make a link between environmental factors and the animals’ health, giving them a clearer picture of how whale populations are faring and fluctuating. “We have been looking at the individual health of whales as a kind of early-warning system before they die or start having reproductive issues,” Durban said. “That gives us a lot more power to assess the impact of things like climate change.” For their research, the team focused on two species of whales in two different ocean basins: North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) that live off the coast of New England in the northeastern U.S., and orcas (Orcinus orca) in Alaska. For the former, the team ventures out into Cape Cod Bay in March and April&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drone-surveys-offer-early-warnings-on-whale-health-and-survival/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/drone-surveys-offer-early-warnings-on-whale-health-and-survival/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307767</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Abandoning Antarctic krill management measure threatens conservation progress (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2025 14:25:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrea CapurroMary-Anne Lea]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10190606/WWF_Jay-Williams.-Chinstrap-penguins-e1760123344432-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[All along the western Antarctic Peninsula, whales, penguins and seals in their millions depend on krill (Euphausia superba) throughout the year. In the most rapidly warming region on the continent, they are now facing an additional and unprecedented threat. For the first time in 15 years, industrial vessels may undertake increased and more concentrated fishing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[All along the western Antarctic Peninsula, whales, penguins and seals in their millions depend on krill (Euphausia superba) throughout the year. In the most rapidly warming region on the continent, they are now facing an additional and unprecedented threat. For the first time in 15 years, industrial vessels may undertake increased and more concentrated fishing for krill in this region. The record catch limit was reached this past August, triggering an unparalleled early closure of the fishery. This change comes after the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the multilateral body responsible for conserving marine species in the Southern Ocean, allowed a critical conservation measure (CM 51-07) to lapse in 2024, removing precautionary regulations that previously distributed catches across the region to reduce direct competition between the fishery and krill-dependent predators. While this new scenario doesn’t technically break any rules, this may be precisely the problem. Fishing within catch limits may still risk adversely affecting krill-dependent predator populations. The cascading ecological consequences can be widespread, while the precautionary principles that guide CCAMLR are put to the test. Antarctic krill are the cornerstone species of the Southern Ocean; they are the primary food source for a suite of species and provide important contributions to the global carbon cycle. They are so important that they inspired a pioneering conservation mandate, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (also CCAMLR). Unlike traditional fisheries that maximize harvest, the CCAMLR embedded the ecosystem-based approach in its foundational text&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will California&#8217;s marine mammal conservation success come undone?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/will-californias-marine-mammal-conservation-success-come-undone/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/will-californias-marine-mammal-conservation-success-come-undone/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2025 13:30:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Helvarg]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/09104318/F.-A-harbor-seal-pup-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307294</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Governance, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Pollution, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAN DIEGO, U.S. — The bluff at La Jolla Cove in San Diego is covered with pelicans and cormorants; below, some two dozen sea lions lounge on a rocky ledge or bark and frolic in the shallows, some leaping clear out of the water. On the shore, a volunteer from the local Sierra Club’s Seal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAN DIEGO, U.S. — The bluff at La Jolla Cove in San Diego is covered with pelicans and cormorants; below, some two dozen sea lions lounge on a rocky ledge or bark and frolic in the shallows, some leaping clear out of the water. On the shore, a volunteer from the local Sierra Club’s Seal Society, an organization that educates and advocates for pinniped protection, is monitoring an emaciated 13.5-kilogram (30-pound) pup, just a few months old, that has spent the last several days hauling up on the beach, with no sign of an adult nearby. Now, Hubbs Sea World has a response team on the way to rescue it. Hubbs is part of a marine mammal stranding network that covers California’s entire 1,770-kilometer (1,100-mile) coastline. Snorkeling in the cove amid healthy green surf grass, with bright orange Garibaldi damselfish (Hypsypops rubicundus) swimming by (think goldfish on steroids), my cameraman friend Charlie Landon and I are suddenly surrounded by swooping, barrel-rolling sea lions. They move like flexible torpedoes, twisting through the water column, some streaming bubbles from their snouts. Watching a rockfish near the bottom of the cove, I sense movement and turn to see a large sea lion, maybe 110 kg (250 lbs), eyeing me from less than arm’s length away before gliding on. A curious juvenile bites down on Charlie’s GoPro camera before approaching me, close enough that I put my hands on my chest lest it “mouth feel” my fingers. Then it heads back into the swirling&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/will-californias-marine-mammal-conservation-success-come-undone/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/will-californias-marine-mammal-conservation-success-come-undone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307294</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Argentina pushes pipeline exports through protected Patagonian waters</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2025 13:32:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rodolfo Chisleanschi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/18133135/43cbcac1-c51a-45a2-8157-3da612901827-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304453</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and Bahía San Antonio protected natural areas, and Caleta de los Loros Multiple Use Reserve. But a planned oil port has many locals and environmentalists concerned for the future of this biodiverse marine region. “We all need energy to live our lives, but the location chosen for these works could not be worse,” says Roxana Schteinbarg, coordinator of the conservation program at the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB). “The San Matías Gulf is too important for the health of our sea to be turned into a sacrifice zone.” Authorities have chosen the village of Punta Colorado for the new oil port, the final destination for the 437-kilometer (272-mile) Vaca Muerta Sur (VMOS) oil pipeline. This enormous pipeline will carry crude oil extracted by fracking from the Neuquén Plateau, at the western edge of the country, to two buoys installed offshore to fill the tanks of cargo ships. Fuerte Argentino, an elevation that rises up in front of the sea with no clear explanation for its origin, will overlook the Hilli Episeyo, the LNG ship. Image courtesy of Fabricio Di Giacomo. The government is also planning a second fossil fuel port in the gulf. North of the oil&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/argentina-pushes-pipeline-exports-through-protected-patagonian-waters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304453</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Saving polar bears and beluga whales: Interview with Alysa McCall</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/saving-polar-bears-and-beluga-whales-interview-with-alysa-mccall/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/saving-polar-bears-and-beluga-whales-interview-with-alysa-mccall/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2025 11:44:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/24100407/beluga-whale-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303115</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic Ocean, Canada, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, data, Endangered Species, Environment, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Polar Bears, Research, Technology, Whales, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Before pivoting her focus to the Arctic, Alysa McCall worked extensively in the grassland ecosystem. There, the interventions required for ecosystem restoration and wildlife protection were much less complicated. You could introduce more water in case of a scarcity. Or put up a fence to protect animals. The Arctic, however, was a whole other ballgame. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Before pivoting her focus to the Arctic, Alysa McCall worked extensively in the grassland ecosystem. There, the interventions required for ecosystem restoration and wildlife protection were much less complicated. You could introduce more water in case of a scarcity. Or put up a fence to protect animals. The Arctic, however, was a whole other ballgame. “We can&#8217;t grow more ice. We can&#8217;t put a fence up,” McCall, director of conservation outreach and staff scientist at the nonprofit Polar Bears International, told Mongabay in a video interview. “The conservation approaches, management and planning are just so different.” Since then, McCall has worked with her colleagues to study and protect the Arctic and its native species, such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). One of the organization’s long-running projects, called Beluga Cam, uses boats in the Churchill River in Hudson Bay, Canada, to gather footage of the annual migration of about 57,000 beluga whales. The initiative is part of a larger citizen science project that brings people from around the world to help researchers identify belugas from the visuals and make observations about them. This year, the project got an upgrade with the use of a new boat that houses the cameras and other equipment during the course of the migration season. Beluga whales as captured on the Beluga Cam in 2025. Image courtesy of Kieran Mclver. “We have also been able to, over time, actually identify individuals,” McCall said. “To see that whale come year after year&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/saving-polar-bears-and-beluga-whales-interview-with-alysa-mccall/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/saving-polar-bears-and-beluga-whales-interview-with-alysa-mccall/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303115</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global tracking study reveals marine megafauna hotspots lie largely unprotected</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/global-tracking-study-reveals-marine-megafauna-hotspots-lie-largely-unprotected/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/global-tracking-study-reveals-marine-megafauna-hotspots-lie-largely-unprotected/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2025 16:02:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/27203226/AP25175119772976-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301969</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Global, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Marine Protected Areas, Megafauna, Migration, Oceans, Research, Sea Turtles, Sharks, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A global study tracking nearly 13,000 individual marine animals has uncovered a sharp disconnect between where these animals actually spend their time and where marine protections exist. The findings raise concerns over whether current conservation targets can deliver for ocean giants. Published in the journal Science on June 5, the study mapped the movements of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A global study tracking nearly 13,000 individual marine animals has uncovered a sharp disconnect between where these animals actually spend their time and where marine protections exist. The findings raise concerns over whether current conservation targets can deliver for ocean giants. Published in the journal Science on June 5, the study mapped the movements of 12,794 individuals from 111 marine megafauna species. The analysis drew from a global dataset built from nearly 16,000 original individual tracks comprising 11 million geoposition records. Researchers found that these animals spend 80% of their time in just 63% of the area they traverse — in zones the authors call Important Marine Megafauna Areas (IMMegAs). But only about 5% of these IMMegAs currently fall within marine protected areas (MPAs). “It was very interesting to see that some areas are just used by multiple species in many similar ways, [which] clearly shows hotspot areas that are of high biological and ecological importance,” Ana Sequeira, the study’s lead author and an associate professor in the Research School of Biology at Australian National University, told Mongabay by email. “These areas represent good candidates for areas that should be considered for protection.” The findings cast doubt on whether the 30&#215;30 global target under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — protecting 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030 — can deliver for wide-ranging species without stronger alignment between protections and the places these animals actually use. “It was concerning to see that even if the total increase to 30%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/global-tracking-study-reveals-marine-megafauna-hotspots-lie-largely-unprotected/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/global-tracking-study-reveals-marine-megafauna-hotspots-lie-largely-unprotected/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301969</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Locals fear Chile’s new port project for green energy will disrupt ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/locals-fear-chiles-new-port-project-for-green-energy-will-disrupt-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/locals-fear-chiles-new-port-project-for-green-energy-will-disrupt-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jul 2025 14:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/11132103/D72B0964-66F5-446D-B86C-48498E13C8B0-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302171</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Chile, Latin America, Pacific Ocean, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Development, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Fish, Green, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Infrastructure, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Ports, Renewable Energy, Saltwater Fish, Shipping, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Chilean government has recently approved a new port project in Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic Region, an area that recently attracted a lot of attention due to its enormous green energy potential. The port will transport infrastructure to expand green hydrogen, a colorless gas produced without fossil fuels, and allow for faster and more [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Chilean government has recently approved a new port project in Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic Region, an area that recently attracted a lot of attention due to its enormous green energy potential. The port will transport infrastructure to expand green hydrogen, a colorless gas produced without fossil fuels, and allow for faster and more efficient transport of salmon from the farms in the region, said a government official. Meanwhile, some Indigenous residents and environmental organizations are raising concerns about potential environmental impacts of the port on the region’s marine ecosystems and species, such as humpback whales. In April, the Regional Commission for the Use of Coastal Border (CRUBC in Spanish) unanimously approved the Cabo Negro port project, proposed by the investment company Inversiones PPG SpA, which will be located 28 kilometers (17.3 miles) from the regional capital of Punta Arenas. A company presentation seen by Mongabay said it will include a 400-meter (1,312-foot) dock for loading and unloading supplies and servicing vessels, along with a 2-hectare (5-acre) landfill. The total length of the pier is approximately 1,100 m (3,609 ft) from the beach. Jan Gysling, the project manager for Nortev SpA, a company that is supporting PPG in the development of the project, told Mongabay that, although it has not yet been defined, the total area of the project will most likely be approximately 30 hectares (74 acres) of land and 5 hectares (12.3 acres) of sea. Local officials expect the port to help boost industries producing green hydrogen,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/locals-fear-chiles-new-port-project-for-green-energy-will-disrupt-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/locals-fear-chiles-new-port-project-for-green-energy-will-disrupt-ecosystems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302171</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Orcas discovered making tools from seaweed to ‘massage’ each other</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2025 15:18:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/25150728/Two-whales-allokelping-with-a-small-length-of-kelp-stem-visible-between-them.-Center-for-Whale-Research-NMFS-NOAA-Permit-27038-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301376</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, North America, Pacific Ocean, United States, and Washington]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Biodiversity, Cetaceans, Mammals, Marine, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;We were amazed when we first noticed this behavior,&#8221; said Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research in the U.S. state of Washington. What started as a puzzling observation in drone footage revealed something unexpected: killer whales are making tools from a type of seaweed called kelp. The behavior, dubbed &#8220;allokelping&#8221; (kelping [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&#8220;We were amazed when we first noticed this behavior,&#8221; said Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research in the U.S. state of Washington. What started as a puzzling observation in drone footage revealed something unexpected: killer whales are making tools from a type of seaweed called kelp. The behavior, dubbed &#8220;allokelping&#8221; (kelping with another whale), represents the first evidence of toolmaking by marine mammals. The finding is detailed in a recently published paper in the journal Current Biology. Southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca ater) in Washington&#8217;s Salish Sea have been observed biting off the ends of bull kelp stalks, positioning the trimmed pieces between themselves and a partner, then rolling the kelp between their bodies for extended periods. &#8220;Bull kelp stalk is firm but flexible, like a filled garden hose, with a slippery outer surface,&#8221; Weiss said. &#8220;I suspect these features make it an ideal grooming tool.&#8221; Orca whale fashioning kelp stipes for allokelping. (Left) A grasps a kelp stalk by the holdfast end and (Right) detaches a short segment. Aerial images courtesy of Center for Whale Research, NMFS NOAA Research permit 27038. Figure from Weiss et. al. 2025 The discovery emerged when researchers upgraded their drone equipment in 2024, allowing them to capture high-quality, zoomed-in footage of the whales. Rachel John, a master’s degree student studying animal behavior at the University of Exeter, U.K., was the first to spot the unusual behavior. &#8220;I was watching one of those really close-up videos when I saw something that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/orcas-discovered-making-tools-from-seaweed-to-massage-each-other/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whales still aren’t ‘eating all the fish’ (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/whales-still-arent-eating-all-the-fish-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/whales-still-arent-eating-all-the-fish-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2025 22:05:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Peter Corkeron]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/11143500/whales-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301030</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cetaceans, Commentary, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Ethics, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Hunting, Marine, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Research, Science, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a world full of bad news, there’s been good news in whale conservation. Many of the great whales are coming back. In fact, some populations have been recovering faster than anyone imagined they could, returning from near-obliteration by commercial whaling. Most of the humpback whales in the Southern Ocean and the Eastern Pacific gray [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a world full of bad news, there’s been good news in whale conservation. Many of the great whales are coming back. In fact, some populations have been recovering faster than anyone imagined they could, returning from near-obliteration by commercial whaling. Most of the humpback whales in the Southern Ocean and the Eastern Pacific gray whales have recovered to within the best estimates of their pre-whaling abundance. Even some of the drastically depleted southern right whale populations have shown consistent recovery. We know this because these whales can be found close enough inshore that we have been able to estimate their abundance over recent decades with reasonable accuracy. Many other whale populations aren’t as easy to study, so unsurprisingly we know less about how they’re doing. This is why a recent scientific paper reporting an estimated 50,000 fin whales in one part of the Southern Ocean was a happy surprise. The paper was based on surveys over a fairly small area, albeit a place where fin whales used to be common before whaling. This was a collaborative effort, led by Norwegian government scientists, and including government scientists from the U.K. and Australia. Rather than just coming up with the number of whales, the paper also included estimates of how much krill these whales were consuming. The authors then compared these estimates with the amount caught by the krill fishery, and suggested that whales eat about 20 times as much krill as taken by the fishery. Estimating the amount of krill,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/whales-still-arent-eating-all-the-fish-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-301030</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/samoas-new-marine-spatial-plan-protects-30-of-the-countrys-ocean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/samoas-new-marine-spatial-plan-protects-30-of-the-countrys-ocean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jun 2025 03:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claire Turrell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/04025946/Samoa_2022_12092022-Lepore.P1000368.MOV_credit-Joe-Lepore-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300139</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Samoa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, data, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Migration, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Samoa, an archipelagic country composed of nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification all pose significant threats to the country’s coastal communities. To help protect its future, the Samoan government announced June 3 that it has enacted a law establishing a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Samoa, an archipelagic country composed of nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification all pose significant threats to the country’s coastal communities. To help protect its future, the Samoan government announced June 3 that it has enacted a law establishing a marine spatial plan to sustainably manage 100% of its ocean by 2030. The plan, which became law May 1, also establishes nine new marine protected areas (MPAs) that cover 30% of Samoa’s ocean, an area of 35,936 square kilometers (13,875 square miles), roughly the size of Taiwan. The MPAs mean that Samoa meets its 30&#215;30 ocean commitment, part of a worldwide agreement to protect 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030 that countries made at the 2022 U.N. Biodiversity Conference. Samoa’s ocean is filled with deep trenches, underwater seamounts and coral reefs teeming with sea life. The new MPAs protect a place that is home to critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris), blue sharks (Prionace glauca) and Taei’s dwarfgoby (Eviota taeiae), a fish found only on Samoan reefs. It is also a migration route for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). “Samoa is a large ocean state, and our way of life is under increased threat from climate change, overfishing, habitat degradation, and much more,” Toeolesulusulu Cedric Pose Salesa Schuster, Samoa’s environment minister, said in a press release. “This Marine Spatial Plan [MSP] marks a historic step towards ensuring that our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/samoas-new-marine-spatial-plan-protects-30-of-the-countrys-ocean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/samoas-new-marine-spatial-plan-protects-30-of-the-countrys-ocean/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Our responsibility for cetacean conservation grows with proof of their intelligence (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/our-responsibility-for-cetacean-conservation-grows-with-proof-of-their-intelligence-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/our-responsibility-for-cetacean-conservation-grows-with-proof-of-their-intelligence-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2025 17:38:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Avery Ancell]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/08171641/GP04PW7-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298843</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Global, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Cetaceans, Commentary, Conservation, Dolphins, Environment, Ethics, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Research, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The search for intelligent life is looking in the wrong direction. There are billions of stars in our galaxy, some of them older than our sun and with Earth-like planets orbiting around them. Hypothetically, these other solar systems could have started their development of intelligent life billions of years before ours. So, why haven&#8217;t we [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The search for intelligent life is looking in the wrong direction. There are billions of stars in our galaxy, some of them older than our sun and with Earth-like planets orbiting around them. Hypothetically, these other solar systems could have started their development of intelligent life billions of years before ours. So, why haven&#8217;t we found evidence of any other advanced civilizations? Are the conditions on Earth so unique that life really could only arise here? Maybe. If that is the case, intelligent life is an anomaly that could only thrive under particular and coincidental conditions that Earth has supplied. Humans are not the only species that have formed intelligence in this “goldilocks melting pot” of conditions. Perhaps centuries of human-centered thinking have prevented us from beginning to understand the intelligence of other species here on Earth. We must look down into the ocean before we look to the stars: in recent years, scientists have questioned what have fundamentally been understood to be human traits. We are on the precipice of understanding modes of intelligence, consciousness and communication in species other than humans. But what does that mean for people and the assumptions of anthropocentrism? We as humans are less unique than we thought, and as we break down the barriers of what it means to be human, our responsibility for biodiversity conservation increases. Blue whale spouting off the coast of Kaikoura, Aotearoa (New Zealand) on February 11th, 2024. Image courtesy of Avery Ancell. Cetaceans — whales, dolphins and porpoises&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/our-responsibility-for-cetacean-conservation-grows-with-proof-of-their-intelligence-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-298843</doi>				</item>
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