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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=illegal-fishing&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/illegal-fishing/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:20:58 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Illegal Fishing</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/illegal-fishing/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Fatal WWII bomb blast in Indonesia was a result of illegal fishing activity, police say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fatal-wwii-bomb-blast-in-indonesia-was-a-result-of-illegal-fishing-activity-police-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fatal-wwii-bomb-blast-in-indonesia-was-a-result-of-illegal-fishing-activity-police-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 09:03:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asrida Elisabeth]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/29084556/Explosives-and-other-remnants-of-World-War-II-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324751</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Papua, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Culture, Disasters, Environment, Environmental Law, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Islands, Law, Oceans, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BIAK, Indonesia — The munition here had outlasted one of the Pacific&#8217;s fiercest World War II battles. Eight decades later, investigators in Indonesia said it exploded by the timber-framed houses in the coastal village of Fandoi on Indonesia&#8217;s Biak Island. Investigators and officials later concluded a group of local fishers were dismantling an unexploded munition [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BIAK, Indonesia — The munition here had outlasted one of the Pacific&#8217;s fiercest World War II battles. Eight decades later, investigators in Indonesia said it exploded by the timber-framed houses in the coastal village of Fandoi on Indonesia&#8217;s Biak Island. Investigators and officials later concluded a group of local fishers were dismantling an unexploded munition recovered from coastal waters off Papua, where some of the Pacific&#8217;s most intense fighting took place in 1944. “They take them and dismantle them on the island,” said Cliff Marlessy, who as director of the Indonesia Locally Managed Marine Area (ILMMA) works with communities to manage marine resources in Biak. Their deaths are the latest in a long legacy of unexploded wartime ordnance, which has killed or injured at least 25,000 people across neighboring Papua New Guinea since 1945, according to The HALO Trust, the world&#8217;s largest humanitarian mine-clearance organization. No concrete estimate exists for the death toll across Indonesia. Authorities have known about repurposing of unexploded bombs for decades, yet some fishers continue to recover wartime explosives for use in blast fishing despite the extreme danger. Goa Jepang — or &#8220;Goa Binsar,&#8221; as locals call it — is a Japanese military bunker from World War II. Image by Asrida Elisabeth/Mongabay Indonesia. Legacy of war New Guinea and its surrounding islands were among the Pacific&#8217;s most violent World War II theatres, while Allied forces advanced westward through Japanese-held territory. During this period, months of heavy bombing and naval combat left countless unexploded bombs and artillery&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fatal-wwii-bomb-blast-in-indonesia-was-a-result-of-illegal-fishing-activity-police-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fatal-wwii-bomb-blast-in-indonesia-was-a-result-of-illegal-fishing-activity-police-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324751</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New treaty promises safer conditions for Indonesia&#8217;s fishing crews</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-treaty-promises-safer-conditions-for-indonesias-fishing-crews/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-treaty-promises-safer-conditions-for-indonesias-fishing-crews/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 10:54:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[M Ambari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24080226/hasil-tangkapan-ikan-kapal-nelayan-tegal-1536x1152-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324485</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food Industry, Forced labor, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Industry, Law, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Endi sat in front of the door leading to the second deck of a fishing boat at the Nizam Zachman fishing port in Jakarta. As he waited for the vessel to depart, the 42-year-old member shared his experience working at sea. “I only have a primary school education. I tried other jobs, like [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Endi sat in front of the door leading to the second deck of a fishing boat at the Nizam Zachman fishing port in Jakarta. As he waited for the vessel to depart, the 42-year-old member shared his experience working at sea. “I only have a primary school education. I tried other jobs, like construction, but I couldn’t handle it. The pay was low,” he told Mongabay. On fishing boats, he said, crew members are paid according to their roles. Ordinary deckhands earn around 25,000 rupiah per day, or about $1.40, while the chief engineer gets up to four times that much. For a two-month voyage, that puts total earnings anywhere from 1.5 million to 6 million rupiah ($84-$334). Endi said that while this is still insufficient to support a family, he remains grateful to have work. This could improve in the near future. In April this year, the Indonesian government ratified the International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention of 2007 (also known as ILO 188), marking a major step toward strengthening labor protections in the fishing sector. The government now has one year to prepare for its implementation, including revising existing regulations governing the recruitment, training, certification, and management of fishing crews. Overall, the convention seeks to establish minimum standards for occupational safety and health, fair wages, decent working conditions, social security, legal protection, and adequate rest for workers in the fishing industry. Fishing crew members wait for their vessel’s scheduled departure from the Nizam Zachman fishing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-treaty-promises-safer-conditions-for-indonesias-fishing-crews/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/new-treaty-promises-safer-conditions-for-indonesias-fishing-crews/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324485</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One scientist’s mission to save Ghana’s disappearing guitarfish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/one-scientists-mission-to-save-ghanas-disappearing-guitarfish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/one-scientists-mission-to-save-ghanas-disappearing-guitarfish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 08:34:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Awudu Salami Sulemana Yoda]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24082518/Blackchin-guitarfish-02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324489</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Ghana, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Economics, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Oceans, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fishers from western and central Ghana are renowned in the region, traveling the length of the West African coastline to cast their nets in the richest fishing grounds. These migrant fishers, relying on beach and purse seining, dry their catch to preserve them for transport to distant markets. Fish is an important dietary component for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fishers from western and central Ghana are renowned in the region, traveling the length of the West African coastline to cast their nets in the richest fishing grounds. These migrant fishers, relying on beach and purse seining, dry their catch to preserve them for transport to distant markets. Fish is an important dietary component for West Africans, according to Ghanaian marine biologist Issah Seidu, but its availability is under threat. “There has been a tremendous decline in fish like the tunas, anchovies, mackerel,” he told Mongabay. “And in response, the fishermen have switched gears from the traditional fishing tools to now using gillnet to target these species as their last safety net to support their livelihood.” Issah Seidu with two colleagues from his NGO, Aqualife. Image courtesy of Issah Seidu. As well as bony fish, elasmobranches — like sharks and rays, whose skeletons are made of cartilage — are much sought after. Fifty years ago, sawfish and wedgefish were widely found in shallow water along Ghana’s coast; today, both groups of elasmobranches have been fished to local extinction. Seidu, the founder of a marine conservation NGO called AquaLife, said fishers he’s interviewed for his research say sawfish haven’t been seen in Ghanaian waters since the 1980s, and it’s now been more than eight years since wedgefish were last caught. He said guitarfish, a group of rays, could be next. “Guitarfish are at a tipping point,” Seidu told Mongabay in an interview in March, “owing to their lucrative and high-value white&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/one-scientists-mission-to-save-ghanas-disappearing-guitarfish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/one-scientists-mission-to-save-ghanas-disappearing-guitarfish/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists call on countries to act on ‘forgotten’ sawfish teeth trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2026 22:12:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/23215910/2018img-2266-credit-peter-kyne_orig-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324439</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Fish, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Marine Conservation, Research, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sawfish, a group of large marine rays, derive their name from a striking appendage: Their long, saw-like snout lined with teeth-like scales. Nature intended these fish to use their snout, also called a rostrum, to send out electric signals that shock unsuspecting prey, slice it like a sword to impale it, and devour the catch. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sawfish, a group of large marine rays, derive their name from a striking appendage: Their long, saw-like snout lined with teeth-like scales. Nature intended these fish to use their snout, also called a rostrum, to send out electric signals that shock unsuspecting prey, slice it like a sword to impale it, and devour the catch. Humans, on the other hand, use these sharp teeth as cockfighting spurs — a spiky object strapped to a game cock’s legs so it can deliver lethal blows to its opponent and win the fight. For centuries, practitioners of the sport in Latin America have carved sawfish (fam.Pristidae) teeth into spurs. But in the 2000s, as sawfish became overfished for their fins, many cockfighting associations in the region officially banned using their teeth as spurs. In 2007, all sawfish species were added to CITES, the global wildlife trade agreement, and their commercial international trade was banned. A sawfish&#8217;s rostrum is lined with sharp teeth-like scales, which are carved into cockfighting spursCredits: Vassil &#8211; CC0. A recent study, published in the journal Conservation Letters, found that international commerce in sawfish rostra and teeth continues in Latin America despite bans. Talking to cockfighting practitioners and association representatives, the researchers found most rostral teeth entering the trade came from Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Central America and Colombia. Peru topped the list as a destination. They call for stricter law enforcement and coordination in these countries, and urge CITES to take action to curb the “hidden” trade. Although the peak&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-call-on-countries-to-act-on-forgotten-sawfish-teeth-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324439</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What happened to the vessels Panama busted in 2025 for fishing in its flagship MPA?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jul 2026 11:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20143457/1-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, North America, and Panama]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 22, 2025, Panama’s government announced it had caught 16 vessels fishing illegally inside the country’s flagship marine protected area, declaring it the largest such enforcement operation in the country’s history. Publicizing the case helped Panama show its commitment to ensure 30% of its waters are “effectively conserved and managed” by 2030, in compliance [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Jan. 22, 2025, Panama’s government announced it had caught 16 vessels fishing illegally inside the country’s flagship marine protected area, declaring it the largest such enforcement operation in the country’s history. Publicizing the case helped Panama show its commitment to ensure 30% of its waters are “effectively conserved and managed” by 2030, in compliance with the “30 by 30” goal under a 2022 international treaty. Yet Panama’s government has released little information about the case over the past year and a half, leading observers to ask if the vessel owners were ever held to account. Much of the information in this article, including about the number and nature of the vessels involved and the status of legal proceedings, hasn’t previously been reported. It comes from government files obtained via freedom of information requests by the Environmental Advocacy Center of Panama (CIAM), a nonprofit based in Panama City, and shared with Mongabay, and from Mongabay’s communications with two government agencies involved in the case: the Ministry of Environment, and the Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP). Together, those sources provide new details about the vessels, including that they number 21 rather than 16, and are all Panamanian-owned longliners. They also show that Panama’s government has quietly taken steps to hold the vessel owners accountable. The Ministry of Environment and ARAP have each issued fines for many of the vessels. The fishers involved have protested publicly and appealed the fines, arguing that they weren’t fishing in the protected area and that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/what-happened-to-the-vessels-panama-busted-in-2025-for-fishing-in-its-flagship-mpa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324037</doi>				</item>
						<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>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal fishing takes a toll on Australia&#8217;s sea cucumbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2026 17:52:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Madeline Shaw]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/07103628/a.-%C2%A9-Julian-Jimenez.-original-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322747</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Crime, Environment, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Overfishing, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Off the northwestern coast of Australia, in some of the world’s most pristine and diverse coral reefs, sea cucumbers are rapidly vanishing. Overall populations of these tubular, blobby animals declined by more than half from 2018 to 2023 in the Rowley Shoals, a remote Australian marine park, according to a recent survey. Some especially vulnerable [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Off the northwestern coast of Australia, in some of the world’s most pristine and diverse coral reefs, sea cucumbers are rapidly vanishing. Overall populations of these tubular, blobby animals declined by more than half from 2018 to 2023 in the Rowley Shoals, a remote Australian marine park, according to a recent survey. Some especially vulnerable species, such as the pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas) and the hairy blackfish (Actinopyga miliaris), have disappeared across most or all of the monitoring sites there. Researchers believe a boom in illegal fishing is to blame. Sea cucumber harvesting is prohibited in the Rowley Shoals, and the survey found Australian authorities caught 112 fishing vessels in the area carrying a collective 22 metric tons of sea cucumbers between 2021 and 2023, a figure that translates to roughly 33,000-45,000 animals. This is just the share of illegal fishing that authorities managed to intercept; the researchers noted that the actual sea cucumber body count is likely much higher. The problem isn’t unique to Rowley Shoals. It occurs in reefs across the country’s western and northern waters and has recently been on the rise, according to several researchers interviewed by Mongabay, driven by demand for the animals in China and other East Asian countries where they are considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. Illegal sea cucumber fishing spiked in northern Australia in 2024, according to experts, with fishers targeting sanctuaries and internationally protected species. The Australian government responded by launching Operation LUNAR at the end&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/illegal-fishing-takes-a-toll-on-australias-sea-cucumbers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322747</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Women patrol Tanzania’s Pemba waters in a community-led push to protect the sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2026 11:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/27103927/20260622_1048430-1bis-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321946</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Indian Ocean, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[blue economy, Conservation, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Trade, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently. At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PEMBA, Tanzania — Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently. At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks began dwindling and communities in Pemba introduced temporary closures, periods during which fishing is suspended to allow marine life to recover, she took on the task of helping patrol the waters to ensure the rules were respected. She is part of a seven-member community patrol team that goes out about eight times a month, checking boats, fishing gear and licenses. The work can mean hours on the water, sometimes in rough conditions, for pay of about $8 a day. In much of Pemba, women participate widely in fisheries, but being out on patrol with men is another matter. The community is predominantly Muslim, and gender roles can be closely examined. &#8220;Some of the women are not permitted by their husbands,&#8221; Ali Said Hamad, a member of the Mwambao team, said, explaining one of the reasons more women do not join. Said has spent decades on these waters — not as an enforcement officer — but helping implement community-led conservation programs. For those women who do patrol the waters, family support can make the difference. Issa said her husband supported her decision to take part. Her work is part of a broader community-led conservation effort supported&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/women-patrol-tanzanias-pemba-waters-in-a-community-led-push-to-protect-the-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321946</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A trailblazing Ugandan championing women in African fisheries: Q&#038;A with Lovin Kobusingye</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 13:45:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Akana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/26090506/Ghana_-women-in-fisheries_a6c5141cc54bf13eb3cff9f60a7e5c1b-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321885</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Oceans, and Overfishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Speaking at a gathering of ocean conservation groups and development practitioners in Watamu, Kenya, Lovin Kobusingye had a simple message: The women who catch, process and sell fish are still largely missing from conversations about Africa&#8217;s growing blue economy. For Kobusingye, the challenges facing women in fisheries are part of her everyday life. “My reality [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Speaking at a gathering of ocean conservation groups and development practitioners in Watamu, Kenya, Lovin Kobusingye had a simple message: The women who catch, process and sell fish are still largely missing from conversations about Africa&#8217;s growing blue economy. For Kobusingye, the challenges facing women in fisheries are part of her everyday life. “My reality every day is that I wake up to an industrial person taking over my landing place, taking over my fishing zone,” she told the audience, describing how tourism developments and other coastal investments increasingly compete with traditional fishing communities for access to the sea. Kobusingye said many women face dangers in the fisheries sector, poor working conditions and growing pressure from developments that compete for access to the coast. In some communities, traditional rights are overlooked by the government; while rising seas, erosion and declining fish catches are making an already difficult livelihood even harder, she told the attendees of the meeting organized by the Ocean Resilience Climate Alliance (ORCA). Despite these challenges, Kobusingye said women remain central to sustaining fisheries and coastal economies. They process fish, trade seafood and support households, including paying school fees, from the income they earn. Yet despite their role in the sector, many women still have little say in how fisheries are managed. Lovin Kobusingye is also the founder and CEO of Kati Farms Ltd, an agro-processing firm. Image courtesy of Kati Farms Ltd. “If you are invisible, you receive invisible budgets. If you are invisible, you receive invisible&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-trailblazing-ugandan-championing-women-in-african-fisheries-qa-with-lovin-kobusingye/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321885</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Asia&#8217;s shark and ray hotspots remain poorly protected, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/asias-shark-and-ray-hotspots-remain-poorly-protected-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/asias-shark-and-ray-hotspots-remain-poorly-protected-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jun 2026 03:52:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25201215/1-A-famiky-of-Critically-Endangered-Winghead-Hammerhead-sharks-and-a-threatened-Eagle-ray-died-due-to-fisheries-in-Baththalangunduwa-ISRA-c-BRT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321855</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bycatch, Conservation Solutions, Environmental Policy, Extinction, Fish, Fisheries, Gillnets, Illegal Fishing, Marine Animals, Marine Protected Areas, Overfishing, Protected Areas, Rays, shark finning, Sharks, and Species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — The majority of 122 marine areas identified across Asia as critical for the survival of sharks, rays and chimaeras remain largely unprotected despite supporting some of the world’s most threatened marine species, according to a new study. Published in Biodiversity and Conservation, the study assessed the network of important shark and ray areas [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — The majority of 122 marine areas identified across Asia as critical for the survival of sharks, rays and chimaeras remain largely unprotected despite supporting some of the world’s most threatened marine species, according to a new study. Published in Biodiversity and Conservation, the study assessed the network of important shark and ray areas (ISRAs) across 19 Asian countries and territories and found that only 5.4% of their total area overlaps with recognized marine protected areas (MPAs). Just 2.8% falls within fully protected no-take zones where extractive activities are strictly prohibited. Critically endangered sharpnose guitarfish landed from the Palk Bay ISRA are recorded in a fish market in the village of Mathagal, Sri Lanka&#8217;s Jaffna district. Fish markets and landing sites are valuable points for fisheries data collection and monitoring. Image courtesy of Blue Resources Trust. Together, these ISRAs cover more than 1 million square kilometers (approximately 386,102 square miles) of ocean and support sharks, rays and chimaeras, also known by the umbrella term elasmobranchs. Nearly three-quarters of these species are listed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN red list, highlighting the urgency of conserving these habitats, said study lead author Adriana Gonzalez-Pestana, a Ph.D. candidate at Charles Darwin University (CDU) in Australia and member of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group ISRA project. IUCN is the global wildlife conservation authority. Critically endangered stripenose guitarfish caught within the Pasikuda &amp; Kalkuda ISRA in Sri Lanka&#8217;s east and being sold at a local fishery. Image courtesy of Blue Resources&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/asias-shark-and-ray-hotspots-remain-poorly-protected-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/asias-shark-and-ray-hotspots-remain-poorly-protected-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321855</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How a popular spaghetti dish is threatening Italy’s marine ecosystem</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2026 17:47:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Manuela Callari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/16113722/Riccio_Viola_URCHIN-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Italy]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Consumption, Crime, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Invertebrates, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Surveillance, Tourism, Wildlife, and Wildlife consumption]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NAPLES — On a warm, moonlit night in May, Maurizio Simeone sat in an ambush at his desk about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Naples, Italy. The marine scientist and director of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Gaiola Underwater Park was watching the grainy live feed from cameras surveilling the MPA as poachers descended on the seafloor. “It was midnight. Here they were again,” Simeone told Mongabay. The poachers had come a few nights before to scout the area. Then a second time. This time, Simeone was waiting for them. He rushed to alert the Coast Guard. The poachers operated with ruthless efficiency, using a dangerous illegal method known as the hookah system. A compressor on a small boat pumps air through a hose to a diver, allowing them to stay underwater for hours and systematically strip the seabed. Every 20 minutes, the diver resurfaced to hand over a net full of purple sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus), grab an empty net and then dive back down. When the authorities moved in, the two men on the boat began dumping hundreds of sea urchins and their gear into the sea, as the diver quickly resurfaced. The three men were old acquaintances of Simeone’s. “They are repeat offenders. It’s not the first time we’ve caught them,” Simeone said. Illegally harvested sea urchins seized in July 2024. Image courtesy of Maurizio Simeone. During a previous bust a year earlier, the vessel was apprehended with a staggering haul: 976 sea urchins pulled from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/how-a-popular-spaghetti-dish-is-threatening-italys-marine-ecosystem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321286</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Norlan Pagal, fisherman and guardian of Tañon Strait, died on May 14th, aged 56</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/shot-for-defending-the-sea-norlan-pagal-kept-watching-from-shore/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/shot-for-defending-the-sea-norlan-pagal-kept-watching-from-shore/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2026 12:40:54 +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/20/2026/05/21123838/Norlan-Pagal-video-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319928</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Obituary, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The sea off San Remigio could look gentle from shore. White sand, clear water, and boats moving slowly across Tañon Strait. For many families in Barangay Anapog, in northern Cebu, it was also the pantry and workplace. Fish and shellfish were food, income, and a future to pass on. By the early 2000s, that future [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The sea off San Remigio could look gentle from shore. White sand, clear water, and boats moving slowly across Tañon Strait. For many families in Barangay Anapog, in northern Cebu, it was also the pantry and workplace. Fish and shellfish were food, income, and a future to pass on. By the early 2000s, that future was shrinking. Catches had fallen. Commercial boats entered waters reserved for small fishers. Dynamite and compressors damaged the reefs and frightened those who tried to stop them. The rules were known, but enforcement was weak, meaning that despite the sea’s protected status, it was still being stripped. Norlan Pagal had been a fisherman since 1979. He left school after Grade 4, but he learned fishery law closely and remembered what the sea had once provided. In 2002, when the decline became impossible to ignore, he joined the bantay dagat, the volunteer sea patrol that guards coastal waters in the Philippines. Three years later he became chair of the Anapog Fishermen Association. For more than a decade he helped watch over the Anapog Marine Protected Area and the wider Tañon Strait Protected Seascape. The work was direct and dangerous. He and other volunteers went out in small boats, sometimes paddling to confront fishers using illegal gear. They patrolled, reported violations, organized clean-ups, and helped restore mangroves. Sometimes they succeeded: commercial vessels were caught, sanctuaries defended, and rules enforced in a place where they had often been ignored. At other times the answer was violence. Norlan Pagal.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/shot-for-defending-the-sea-norlan-pagal-kept-watching-from-shore/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/shot-for-defending-the-sea-norlan-pagal-kept-watching-from-shore/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319928</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sharks and rays do not know boundaries and a new high seas treaty seeks to protect them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sharks-and-rays-do-not-know-boundaries-and-a-new-high-seas-treaty-seeks-to-protect-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sharks-and-rays-do-not-know-boundaries-and-a-new-high-seas-treaty-seeks-to-protect-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2026 10:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/12093851/2-Migratory-shark-c-Hannes-Klostermann-OceanImageBank-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319189</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Global, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Illegal Fishing, International Trade, Oceans, Overfishing, Rays, Sharks, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – As the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, commonly known as the High Seas Treaty,  officially came into force in January, shark scientists and conservationists who gathered in Sri Lanka hailed the landmark treaty as one that could reshape the future of migratory shark and ray conservation by finally creating a pathway to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO – As the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, commonly known as the High Seas Treaty,  officially came into force in January, shark scientists and conservationists who gathered in Sri Lanka hailed the landmark treaty as one that could reshape the future of migratory shark and ray conservation by finally creating a pathway to protect species that traverse vast oceanic boundaries beyond any single nation’s control. “Invisible political lines of controls that we draw on maps mean nothing for the ocean’s long-distance travelers,” said marine biologist Asha de Vos, founder of the Colombo-based Oceanswell during a panel discussion at the Sharks International 2026 (SI2026). “Once these animals swim away from protected areas, they immediately become vulnerable again, so the BBNJ is a very important first step in protecting these highly migratory species.” The session, titled “Sharks know no boundaries: The future of shark conservation under BBNJ regime,” at SI2026 explored how the treaty could strengthen protection for migratory sharks and rays whose ranges extend across territorial waters and international seas. Many sharks and rays are highly migratory, so they move across enormous oceanic ranges, passing through the waters of multiple countries and into the high seas where governance has historically been fragmented and weak. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) lists at least 38 highly migratory shark species, while several migratory rays — including manta and devil rays — are also known to undertake long-distance oceanic movements. International waters or the areas beyond national jurisdictions aimed to conserve through&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sharks-and-rays-do-not-know-boundaries-and-a-new-high-seas-treaty-seeks-to-protect-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/sharks-and-rays-do-not-know-boundaries-and-a-new-high-seas-treaty-seeks-to-protect-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319189</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>NPFC adopts illegal fishing measures — but no Emperor Seamount protections</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/npfc-adopts-illegal-fishing-measures-but-no-emperor-seamount-protections/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/npfc-adopts-illegal-fishing-measures-but-no-emperor-seamount-protections/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Apr 2026 14:50:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/24120605/Hendrika-Jacoba-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318105</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Japan, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Politics, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) approved a series of measures aimed at combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and improving stock assessments during its latest annual meeting in Osaka, Japan, April 14-17. However, several NGOs viewed the meeting as a step backward for fish stock management, calling out the commission’s failure to add [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) approved a series of measures aimed at combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and improving stock assessments during its latest annual meeting in Osaka, Japan, April 14-17. However, several NGOs viewed the meeting as a step backward for fish stock management, calling out the commission’s failure to add protections for several vulnerable species and to halt bottom fishing in the Emperor Seamount Chain. The NPFC protects marine ecosystems and non-tuna fish stocks in the high seas of the North Pacific Ocean and is one of four regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in the Pacific. Its 10th annual meeting gathered the nine members — Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, the United States and Vanuatu — along with 11 observer groups and Panama as a cooperating noncontracting party. “It was a hard but a good week,” Gerald Leape, principal officer with the U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries project, told Mongabay minutes after the closure of the meeting. Japanese sardines (Sardinops melanostictus). Image by Totti via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Combating IUU fishing NPFC members agreed to adopt a shared system of minimum standards for port inspection, a move that targets IUU fishing. The decision brings the commission in line with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), a binding international agreement marking its 10th anniversary this year. With the approval of this measure, commission members committed to implementing more stringent inspection standards and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/npfc-adopts-illegal-fishing-measures-but-no-emperor-seamount-protections/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/npfc-adopts-illegal-fishing-measures-but-no-emperor-seamount-protections/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318105</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Talks to reduce funding for overfishing remain stalled at WTO meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Apr 2026 00:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/26132857/Loading-and-unloading-activities-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316874</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fish, Fisheries, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Governments across the world have pledged to re-ignite stalled “Fish Two” negotiations and finalize the second part of a long-sought agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies by mid-2028. The commitment came at the World Trade Organization’s recently concluded 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where little progress was made on the long-running issue. “It’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Governments across the world have pledged to re-ignite stalled “Fish Two” negotiations and finalize the second part of a long-sought agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies by mid-2028. The commitment came at the World Trade Organization’s recently concluded 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where little progress was made on the long-running issue. “It’s important that WTO members have agreed to continue negotiating. But the prospects of reaching a deal remain dim,” Kristen Hopewell, global policy specialist at the University of British Columbia, Canada, told Mongabay. “Just a handful of states are blocking an agreement supported by the vast majority of the WTO membership.” These comprise the U.S., India and Indonesia, according to a Marine Policy paper Hopewell authored earlier this year. WTO members became deadlocked trying to decide how to ban nations from subsidizing their fishing industries in ways that contribute to overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as mandated by U.N. Sustainable Development Target 14.6. Negotiations began in 2001 and dragged out over 21 years. In 2022, WTO members decided to split the elusive agreement in two. This unlocked a deal dubbed “Fish One,” curtailing subsidies that enable IUU fishing and the continued fishing of overfished stocks. Fish One came into force on Sept. 15, 2025, but left the thorny question of how to ban all overfishing and capacity-enhancing subsidies, which enable fleets to operate unsustainably, for ongoing “Fish Two” negotiations. These have progressed little since 2022. Three more states ratified Fish One at MC14:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/talks-to-reduce-funding-for-overfishing-remain-stalled-at-wto-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316874</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Eight arrested as Europe cracks down on lucrative eel smuggling syndicates</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/eight-arrested-as-europe-cracks-down-on-lucrative-eel-smuggling-syndicates/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/eight-arrested-as-europe-cracks-down-on-lucrative-eel-smuggling-syndicates/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2026 14:41:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19095708/glass-eel-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315953</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Marine Conservation, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in France and Spain have arrested six French nationals and two Spaniards who were allegedly part of a transnational syndicate that were trafficking critically endangered European eels. The suspects are accused of smuggling more than 7 million eels worth 600,000 euros ($693,000) over two years. The joint investigation began a year ago. In March [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities in France and Spain have arrested six French nationals and two Spaniards who were allegedly part of a transnational syndicate that were trafficking critically endangered European eels. The suspects are accused of smuggling more than 7 million eels worth 600,000 euros ($693,000) over two years. The joint investigation began a year ago. In March 2025, the public prosecutor&#8217;s office in Bayonne, a city in southwestern France bordering Spain, opened a judicial investigation into suspected smuggling of juvenile European eels — known as glass eels at this stage of their development — from the Adour River Basin and the Bay of Biscay. Authorities uncovered an international trafficking ring operated by a collector from the Landes region, according to the prosecutor’s office. He worked for a French fish wholesaler, authorities say, and was laundering glass eels that were caught illegally amid those caught legally, circumventing rules in place to trace the origins of the fish. Over the past two years, officials believe he poached and trafficked more than two tons of glass eels to his employer and, clandestinely, to a Spanish wholesaler. On March 12, 2026, each of the alleged smugglers arrested in France was charged with participating in a criminal activity, unauthorized possession, transport and export of animal products, and forgery. They’ve also been banned from engaging in any fishing activities, and one individual was required to pay bail of 100,000 euros ($115,500). European eels (Anguilla anguilla) are coveted as a delicacy in East Asian cuisine. They’re caught in their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/eight-arrested-as-europe-cracks-down-on-lucrative-eel-smuggling-syndicates/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315953</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Modest controls put on freewheeling squid fleet at South Pacific fisheries meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 14:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12141145/a.-BANNER-Humboldt-squid-%C2%A9Joescience1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315645</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forced labor, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A lower limit on the size of the fleet targeting jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific Ocean, improved controls at ports and the introduction of electronic monitoring systems on board vessels to rein in illegal practices and labor abuses: These were the main outcomes of the 14th meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A lower limit on the size of the fleet targeting jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific Ocean, improved controls at ports and the introduction of electronic monitoring systems on board vessels to rein in illegal practices and labor abuses: These were the main outcomes of the 14th meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), which concluded in Panama on March 6, marking steps toward tighter regulation of fisheries, especially for squid, in the vast swath of ocean the body manages. “It&#8217;s a part of the world&#8217;s largest squid fishery … so it was very positive that attention was being paid to it,” Dave Gershman, a senior officer on international fisheries at the U.S.-based think tank The Pew Charitable Trusts, who attended the meeting as an observer, told Mongabay just minutes after the closure. “But this is only the start of what&#8217;s needed to put in place science-based management.” The SPRFMO annual meeting took place in Panama City March 2-6. The intergovernmental organization includes 17 members (16 countries and the European Union) and was established in 2012 with the aim of ensuring the long-term conservation and better regulation of fishing activities (except for tuna fishing) in the high seas of the South Pacific, an area encompassing about 59 million square kilometers (23 million square miles). The most anticipated decisions at this year’s meeting concerned tightening regulation of the jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) fishery, following increased fishing activity and signals of declining stock. Decision-makers also took steps&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh sees rise in ray, shark fishing as traditional seafood species dwindle</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 07:50:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Khadijatul Kobra]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12073924/Stingray-04-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315636</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Law, Mangroves, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Rays, Saltwater Fish, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Though seafood is a prevalent protein source in Bangladesh, some fishes, like stingrays and sharks, never appealed to most of the population here, barring a few coastal Indigenous groups. However, the illegal fishing of such species has become common in the country in recent years. In a recent incident on Feb. 21, authorities detained 22 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Though seafood is a prevalent protein source in Bangladesh, some fishes, like stingrays and sharks, never appealed to most of the population here, barring a few coastal Indigenous groups. However, the illegal fishing of such species has become common in the country in recent years. In a recent incident on Feb. 21, authorities detained 22 fishers and confiscated around 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of stingray from the coasts of Sundarbans mangroves. Conservationists and experts working in fishery sectors blame poor law enforcement, lack of awareness among fishers, rising illegal demands and poverty of the fishing community as some of the reasons behind the exploitation of such protected marine species in Bangladesh. Data from WCS Bangladesh’s research shows the country’s waters are home to 10 families of sharks and 12 families of rays. Of them, stingrays and whiprays (Dasyatidae family), locally known as shapla pata, are the most common. More than half the shark and ray species found in Bangladesh are threatened with the risk of extinction, according to the research. A 2018 study shows that in Bangladesh stingrays are mainly harvested by artisanal fishers using gillnets, set bag nets (a low-cost, artisanal commercial method in coastal and estuarine waters) and longline hooks between depths of 5 meters (16 feet) and 40 m (130 ft) by the seashore and in coastal rivers in coastal districts like Noakhali, Bhola, Patuakhali, Khulna and Bagerhat. Fishers collect their catch of stingrays together. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman. Stingrays have become popular among the poorer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/bangladesh-sees-rise-in-ray-shark-fishing-as-traditional-seafood-species-dwindle/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315636</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seafood fraud is rampant, imperiling fish populations, report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/seafood-fraud-is-rampant-imperiling-fish-populations-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/seafood-fraud-is-rampant-imperiling-fish-populations-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2026 17:36:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/05142725/1-wholesale-seafood-market-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315255</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The global fisheries and aquaculture sector produces more than 150 million metric tons of food per year, valued at nearly $200 billion. Yet it’s plagued with fraud, according to a new report. The report, published Feb. 10 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency, both United Nations bodies, says [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The global fisheries and aquaculture sector produces more than 150 million metric tons of food per year, valued at nearly $200 billion. Yet it’s plagued with fraud, according to a new report. The report, published Feb. 10 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency, both United Nations bodies, says that up to roughly 20% of aquatic products are intentionally mislabeled as the wrong species or otherwise fraudulent, posing environmental and health risks. “A global 20% seafood fraud rate isn’t just a statistic; it’s a dire warning,” Max Valentine, a campaign director at U.S.-based marine conservation NGO Oceana, said in a statement. (An Oceana policy adviser to the NGO’s Europe branch contributed to the FAO report, but Valentine wasn’t involved with it.) “Consumers are falling victim to a bait and switch, and the fishers who play by the rules are paying the price. This is a global problem that every nation must work together to combat at its source.” The report, presented at the World Seafood Congress held Feb. 9-11 in Chennai, India, calls for governments and industry stakeholders to establish better traceability systems, use advanced detection methods, and educate the public. “Tools of great relevance are national legislation and national and international standards, which are vital in defining acceptable products and practices,” the report says. A tuna on board a fishing vessel in Indian waters in 2012. The vessel was operating outside of Indian regulations on registration and ownership, according to the international NGO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/seafood-fraud-is-rampant-imperiling-fish-populations-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/seafood-fraud-is-rampant-imperiling-fish-populations-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315255</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>China’s Pacific squid fishery rife with labor, fishing abuses: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Mar 2026 15:47:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/03141824/39-with-seabird-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Chile, China, East Asia, Ecuador, Global, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forced labor, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses including violence, debt bondage and withheld wages and medical care, overfishing, shark finning, marine mammal killings: A new report exposes bad practices and a weak regulatory framework governing the jumbo flying squid fishery in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. The report was launched on Feb. 19, just days before the annual meeting of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses including violence, debt bondage and withheld wages and medical care, overfishing, shark finning, marine mammal killings: A new report exposes bad practices and a weak regulatory framework governing the jumbo flying squid fishery in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. The report was launched on Feb. 19, just days before the annual meeting of the commission of the South Pacific Regional Fishery Management Organisation (SPRFMO), the intergovernmental body that manages the fishery. The report drew on interviews with 81 fishers, mainly Indonesian sailors who worked between 2021 and 2025 on 60 Chinese vessels targeting jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the region. “Our interviews revealed that these vessels are engaged in widespread fisheries abuses and labor abuses,” Dominic Thomson, head of the investigation for U.K.-based NGO the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), told Mongabay. Jumbo flying squid, also known as Humboldt squid, are large-bodied animals averaging 50 to 80 centimeters (20 to 31 inches) in length. They concentrate in the South Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South America, where they play a key mid-trophic role in the marine ecosystem, serving both as a predator of smaller species and as prey for sharks, swordfish, sperm whales, dolphins and other marine life. The species is among the most commercially important squid species, accounting for about 30% of global squid landings. The fishery involves South American countries fishing mainly within their exclusive economic zones (EEZs): Ecuador, Chile and Peru. The latter has for decades been the world&#8217;s leading producer. In the last decade,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Guinea-Bissau’s transitional government bans fish meal production</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/guinea-bissaus-transitional-government-bans-fish-meal-production/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/guinea-bissaus-transitional-government-bans-fish-meal-production/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2026 11:18:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Josef Skrdlik]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/02094133/Image-de-banniere-Huan-Xin-17-5-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea-Bissau, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea, Economics, Environment, Fish, Governance, and Illegal Fishing]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — This small West African nation, whose mangrove-fringed coastal waters and expansive estuaries are important spawning grounds for fish species that migrate along the West African coast, long appeared to have little do with fish meal production, an activity that was booming in other parts of the region. Yet, even though satellite imagery [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — This small West African nation, whose mangrove-fringed coastal waters and expansive estuaries are important spawning grounds for fish species that migrate along the West African coast, long appeared to have little do with fish meal production, an activity that was booming in other parts of the region. Yet, even though satellite imagery showed no recognizable fish meal plants, fish meal of Guinea-Bissau origin was being advertised for sale online. Then, on Jan. 29, the country’s transitional government, installed in the aftermath of the November 2025 coup, issued an all-out ban on fish meal production with immediate effect, saying that “the production of fish meal and fish oil has been proliferating in the country.” Interviews with officials, operators involved in the sector and drone imagery, combined with the analysis of marine traffic data, show that fish meal was being produced in Guinea Bissau. Most of it was not on land but at sea. The extent of the operations’ legality remains unclear, but records seen by Mongabay show that vessels operating the offshore factories were licensed by the ministry of fisheries and as of 2025, at least one of them was authorized to produce fish meal. According to data from Global Fishing Watch, a U.S.-based NGO that publicly tracks fishing activity, the 147 meters (482 feet) long vessel Tian Yi He 6 entered Guinea-Bissau’s waters in October 2019 and was followed by Hua Xin 17, a 125 m (410 ft) long vessel, in May 2024. Tian Yi He 6&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/guinea-bissaus-transitional-government-bans-fish-meal-production/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/guinea-bissaus-transitional-government-bans-fish-meal-production/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The power of cities over the seas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-power-of-cities-over-the-seas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-power-of-cities-over-the-seas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Mar 2026 14:10:00 +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/20/2026/02/24233832/Abu-Dhabi-satellite-esa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314674</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Analysis, Cities, Commentary, data, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, food security, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Infrastructure, Marine, Oceans, Overfishing, philanthropy, Ports, Remote Sensing, Supply Chain, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that determines the ocean’s health passes through cities. Ports regulate entry. Municipal buyers decide what seafood is served in schools and hospitals. Urban air-quality rules shape [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Debates about ocean protection tend to orbit national governments and multilateral treaties. Fisheries quotas, shipping rules, and marine reserves are usually negotiated by states. Yet much of the activity that determines the ocean’s health passes through cities. Ports regulate entry. Municipal buyers decide what seafood is served in schools and hospitals. Urban air-quality rules shape how ships fuel and operate at berth. Taken together, these levers suggest that coastal cities may exert more practical influence over the seas than is commonly acknowledged. Consider the modern port, which is less a waterfront than a complex regulatory zone. Ships cannot simply arrive and unload. They must comply with local safety, environmental, and operational requirements. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, for instance, introduced a Clean Air Action Plan that has pushed shipping lines toward cleaner fuels, shore power, and newer vessels. The primary motivation was urban smog, not marine conservation. Still, the result has been a measurable reduction in greenhouse gases and particulate pollution across one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors. When ports tighten standards, global shipping companies adjust, because the trade is too valuable to forgo. Procurement offers another underappreciated channel. Large metropolitan governments purchase enormous volumes of food for public institutions. If those buyers adopt sustainability criteria for seafood, they can influence supply chains in ways that national policy often struggles to achieve. Several U.S. cities now use guidelines informed by organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. In Brazil, reporting revealed that shark&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-power-of-cities-over-the-seas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/the-power-of-cities-over-the-seas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314674</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-cockfighting-imperils-perus-critically-endangered-sawfish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-cockfighting-imperils-perus-critically-endangered-sawfish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Feb 2026 12:27:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/27122527/A-judge-watches-a-cockfight-in-Peru.-Image-by-Peter-Baldes-via-Flickr-CC-BY-NC-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314903</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Videos, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely casualty of one of the country’s most entrenched traditions: cockfighting. The elongated “teeth” that give sawfish (Pristis pristis) their name aren’t actual teeth, but hardened, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely casualty of one of the country’s most entrenched traditions: cockfighting. The elongated “teeth” that give sawfish (Pristis pristis) their name aren’t actual teeth, but hardened, modified scales embedded along the rostrum. For decades, some cockfighters have carved these structures into sharp spurs that they attach to a rooster’s legs before a fight. (Left) A crowd gathered on the beach in the town of Caleta La Cruz in Tumbes province, northern Peru, in 2014, after fishers landed a largetooth sawfish they captured accidentally. (Right) A sawfish rostral “tooth.” Images courtesy of (left) Emilio Borjas Garcia/Planeta Oceano and (right) Patricia Charvet. A new film by Mongabay, Why cockfighting is threatening Peru’s last sawfish, examines how — even as sawfish have nearly disappeared from Peruvian waters — their rostral teeth continue to circulate through informal markets, repurposed into weapons for the ring. Cockfighting in Peru is legal and is formally recognized as cultural heritage. An estimated 1,700 arenas operate nationwide, with between 300,000 and 500,000 breeders involved. Blade fights and spur fights are common. Historically, prized spurs were crafted from natural materials, including hawksbill turtle shells and sawfish rostral teeth. By the 1970s, sawfish spurs were especially sought after for their durability and capacity to inflict severe injury. They commanded premium prices among competitors. Spurs for cockfighting fashioned from sawfish teeth. Images courtesy&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-cockfighting-imperils-perus-critically-endangered-sawfish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/how-cockfighting-imperils-perus-critically-endangered-sawfish/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314903</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Migrant fishers’ deaths at sea tied to unchecked captain power, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/migrant-fishers-deaths-at-sea-tied-to-unchecked-captain-power-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/migrant-fishers-deaths-at-sea-tied-to-unchecked-captain-power-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2026 13:31:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/14023539/79c0c995-gp0stqo6l_web_size_with_credit_line-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314480</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forced labor, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Law Enforcement, Oceans, Poaching, Politics, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The deaths of migrant fishers at sea are largely driven by structural labor and governance failures, rather than by safety or compliance issues alone, a new study shows. Migrant sea workers, especially those recruited from low-wage Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, often experience violence and fatal abuse while aboard distant-water fishing vessels, those that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The deaths of migrant fishers at sea are largely driven by structural labor and governance failures, rather than by safety or compliance issues alone, a new study shows. Migrant sea workers, especially those recruited from low-wage Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, often experience violence and fatal abuse while aboard distant-water fishing vessels, those that operate in the seas outside any one country’s jurisdiction. The study, published Jan. 27 in the journal Maritime Studies, found that deaths of migrant fishers at sea are frequently the result of systemic working conditions that give boat captains control over basic living and survival conditions, making fatalities a predictable outcome rather than isolated incidents. “In seeking a conceptual framework to analyse these deaths at sea, we employed necropolitics, as it captures how power operates through death and the threat of death as instruments of governance,” lead author Christina Stringer, director of the Centre for Research on Modern Slavery at the University of Auckland Business School, Aotearoa New Zealand, told Mongabay by email. Indonesian migrants on board foreign fishing boats describe experiencing overwork, withholding of wages, debt bondage, and even physical and sexual violence. Image courtesy of Greenpeace. The paper is based on systematic analysis of 55 documented cases of Indonesian fishers who died or went missing on distant-water fishing vessels owned by or operating under the flags of China, Taiwan and South Korea. Using the idea of “necropolitics,” which refers to the power to decide who lives and who dies, the authors found that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/migrant-fishers-deaths-at-sea-tied-to-unchecked-captain-power-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/migrant-fishers-deaths-at-sea-tied-to-unchecked-captain-power-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314480</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sustainable fisheries can’t be built on exploited labor (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/sustainable-fisheries-cant-be-built-on-exploited-labor-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/sustainable-fisheries-cant-be-built-on-exploited-labor-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 21:56:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alfred “Bubba” Cook]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/10140041/1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314160</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Human Rights, Illegal Fishing, Law, Law Enforcement, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the global fisheries conservation community has rightly focused on the health of fish stocks, the integrity of management systems, and the long-term sustainability of ocean resources. But there is a fundamental truth we can no longer afford to sidestep: fisheries management that fails to protect the people working at sea is neither credible [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For decades, the global fisheries conservation community has rightly focused on the health of fish stocks, the integrity of management systems, and the long-term sustainability of ocean resources. But there is a fundamental truth we can no longer afford to sidestep: fisheries management that fails to protect the people working at sea is neither credible nor sustainable. Crew welfare starts with international law. In theory, the framework already exists. International maritime law, anchored in instruments such as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), establishes the responsibilities of states over vessels flying their flag. Complementing this are labor-specific agreements like the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention (C188), the Maritime Labour Convention, and safety instruments such as the Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety. In practice, however, these protections remain uneven, weakly enforced, or entirely absent for too many fishing crews, particularly migrant workers deployed on distant-water fleets. Ratification gaps persist. Oversight mechanisms are diffuse and fragmented, and accountability too often disappears once a vessel leaves port. Under international law, flag states, those countries where a ship is registered and to whose jurisdiction it is subject, remain the primary authority responsible for ensuring the safety, welfare and labor conditions of crews on their vessels. This is not optional. It is a legal obligation that is explicit under UNCLOS Article 94, on duties of the flag state. Yet many flag states lack either the capacity or the political will to exercise effective control over labor&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/sustainable-fisheries-cant-be-built-on-exploited-labor-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/sustainable-fisheries-cant-be-built-on-exploited-labor-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314160</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>In the Brazilian Amazon, community conservation success comes with a cost: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-the-brazilian-amazon-community-conservation-success-comes-with-a-cost-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-the-brazilian-amazon-community-conservation-success-comes-with-a-cost-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jan 2026 12:36:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Logan Rance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/29122935/Fisher-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313501</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Finance, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystems, Fisheries, Forests, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Indigenous Peoples, Payments For Ecosystem Services, Protected Areas, Research, Rivers, Species, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In rural communities living near Brazil’s Juruá River, a tributary of the Amazon River that flows northward through the country, families of fishers take turns in guarding the entrances of oxbow lakes. The most sinuous river in the Amazon Basin, the Juruá, meanders through low-lying floodplains, creating numerous stagnant water bodies. From small wooden watchtowers [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In rural communities living near Brazil’s Juruá River, a tributary of the Amazon River that flows northward through the country, families of fishers take turns in guarding the entrances of oxbow lakes. The most sinuous river in the Amazon Basin, the Juruá, meanders through low-lying floodplains, creating numerous stagnant water bodies. From small wooden watchtowers built on the water, the community members watch for poachers who seek to illegally harvest pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), the largest freshwater fish species in the Amazon and a staple species for communities’ food security. A study published in Nature Sustainability found that these community-based conservation efforts benefit not only pirarucu and oxbow lakes, but also connect floodplain and upland ecosystems. By limiting access to outsiders, confiscating poaching equipment and reporting illegal activity to government agencies, community members effectively protect natural resources and their own livelihoods. However, this work comes at a substantial cost, researchers found. While on patrol, guards cover the expenses of surveillance, spend days away from their jobs and risk dangerous encounters with poachers, all without pay. A broader conservation footprint Community-based conservation is a strategy that places local communities at the center of managing and protecting natural resources, rather than excluding them. While it involves collaboration among community members, researchers and government agencies, its success comes from local knowledge and community-driven collective action. Conservation goals prioritize the protection of both biodiversity and local livelihoods. To understand the scope of protections provided by the co-management of pirarucu in the Brazilian Amazon, the researchers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-the-brazilian-amazon-community-conservation-success-comes-with-a-cost-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/in-the-brazilian-amazon-community-conservation-success-comes-with-a-cost-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313501</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With a target on their bellies, can California&#8217;s sturgeon survive?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Dec 2025 12:18:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Neme]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/09180637/15365961103_419799657f_4k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310850</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Rivers, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Following up on a tip to the state’s poaching hotline, game wardens in California rushed to a popular fishing spot, Clifton Court Forebay, in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. They’d received a tipoff about an individual allegedly catching a green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and stuffing it in his SUV. They tracked down the suspect using photographs submitted by the tipster. The fish was in the back of his vehicle, barely alive. The wardens quickly issued a citation and rushed the 165-centimeter (65-inch) ailing sturgeon to the nearby marina. For 90 minutes, they worked to revive the fish. They submerged it in the water and, crouching on the boat ramp, rocked the animal back and forth to run water through its gills and provide oxygen as if it were swimming. At last, the fish rallied and swam away, presumably healthy enough to survive. This was in 2022, but it’s far from an isolated incident, noteworthy because it had a happy ending. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) officers periodically discover anglers taking sturgeon illegally, as they did while patrolling the Sacramento River early this year, when they spotted two groups of suspected sturgeon poachers. Each had caught a large fish and tied it off some 91 meters (100 yards) away in a seeming effort to conceal it. But the wardens weren’t fooled. They seized the fish and set them free. In California, and worldwide, poachers target sturgeon for their eggs, which become a coveted delicacy when processed into caviar. Caviar&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/with-a-target-on-their-bellies-can-californias-sturgeon-survive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310850</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa withdraws abalone listing even as illegal trade threatens species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/south-africa-withdraws-abalone-listing-even-as-illegal-trade-threatens-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/south-africa-withdraws-abalone-listing-even-as-illegal-trade-threatens-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Dec 2025 10:32:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08092419/61b53fa4-2749-4cee-afd8-91697e73e326-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310702</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Amid negotiations last week on wildlife trade regulations by delegates from around the world, one item was left out of the discussions. South Africa had been expected to bring to the summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, a proposal to strengthen protection of South African abalone, a large sea snail considered a delicacy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Amid negotiations last week on wildlife trade regulations by delegates from around the world, one item was left out of the discussions. South Africa had been expected to bring to the summit of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, a proposal to strengthen protection of South African abalone, a large sea snail considered a delicacy in East Asia. But it abruptly withdrew its proposal at the summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. South African abalone (Haliotis midae) commands high prices in East Asian markets and has been massively overfished in recent decades. The trade in the mollusk is dominated by organized transnational criminal networks and local gangs, but the fishery also provides livelihoods for thousands of people in coastal communities across South Africa’s Eastern and Western Cape provinces. Under South Africa’s proposal, the species would have been listed on CITES Appendix II, which would have subjected the international commercial trade of abalone to strict import and export regulations. While similar proposals for other species have been withdrawn at past CITES summits, the countries behind them usually offered a public explanation for their move to the other delegates. This time, however, South Africa made no public statement about its U-turn. Thobile Zulu-Molobi, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, told Mongabay that reasons for the withdrawal would be given once there’s “more clarity on certain issues.” Abalone land other exotic seafood for sale in Hong Kong. Image by Jason Wong via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Johan Heckroodt, chair&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/south-africa-withdraws-abalone-listing-even-as-illegal-trade-threatens-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/south-africa-withdraws-abalone-listing-even-as-illegal-trade-threatens-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310702</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For sharks on the brink of extinction, CITES Appendix II isn’t protective enough (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/for-sharks-on-the-brink-of-extinction-cites-appendix-ii-isnt-protective-enough-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/for-sharks-on-the-brink-of-extinction-cites-appendix-ii-isnt-protective-enough-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2025 17:40:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[David Shiffman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/01175242/1280_MiU0TxC4B8L1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309918</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Extinction, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Sharks, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sharks are some of the most threatened animals on Earth, with approximately one-third of all species assessed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. These animals are not only older than dinosaurs, but older than trees, and yet they face a very real risk of extinction within our lifetimes. Their number one threat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sharks are some of the most threatened animals on Earth, with approximately one-third of all species assessed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. These animals are not only older than dinosaurs, but older than trees, and yet they face a very real risk of extinction within our lifetimes. Their number one threat is unsustainable overfishing, driven by demand fed through complex international trade networks. That’s why ocean conservationists have focused so much attention on a powerful global wildlife trade treaty called CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. During the last few CITES Conferences of the Parties (COPs), many of the shark species that most commonly show up in the global shark fin trade have been added to Appendix II, which allows international trade as long as it is limited, monitored carefully, and demonstrated to be sustainable. That approach has led to some huge successes, according to a paper published earlier this year. Nearly half of all CITES signatory nations made substantive reforms to their fisheries management regulations, and about a quarter improved their monitoring and enforcement of existing rules. A mako shark in the Pacific Ocean. Image by Ron Watkins / Ocean Image Bank. Perhaps most exciting, countries that previously had no shark fisheries management regulations at all introduced strong conservation measures for the first time. “These results show that CITES has driven countries who catch and trade sharks internationally, and who previously had no national fisheries management or trade regulations, to implement legislation&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/for-sharks-on-the-brink-of-extinction-cites-appendix-ii-isnt-protective-enough-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-309918</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds important Nassau grouper spawning site in Belize near collapse</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2025 17:18:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marco Lopez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/20105811/4-OceanImageBank_ConnorHolland_25-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309888</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize, Caribbean, and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Oceans, and Saltwater Fish]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — The Nassau grouper is drawn by the winter moon, between December and March, to special places where hundreds of the cryptic fish engage in a reproductive dance that sometimes lasts days. Northeast Point at Glover’s Reef Atoll, off the coast of southern Belize, is one of those places. The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HOPKINS, Belize — The Nassau grouper is drawn by the winter moon, between December and March, to special places where hundreds of the cryptic fish engage in a reproductive dance that sometimes lasts days. Northeast Point at Glover’s Reef Atoll, off the coast of southern Belize, is one of those places. The Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) is a large-bodied, top-level predatory reef fish. Its pale tan to reddish-brown body with five dark vertical bars makes it easily recognizable. While these fish hide well, spending their days lounging in reef crevices and only emerging to feed at night, their highly predictable spawning aggregations make for an easy catch for opportunistic fishers. The species was once the most abundant and commercially important fish in the Caribbean. In Belize, fisheries records indicate that Nassau grouper was the most-caught fish during the 1960s, with estimated catches of more than 30,000 fish per year from a single aggregation site, Caye Glory. Northeast Point is one of Belize’s 13 officially recognized fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites for Nassau grouper. The aggregation there was also once an impressive sight, drawing an estimated 15,000 fish in 1975. Today, that moonlit annual gathering has all but vanished. The number of fish attending has declined by 85% over the past two decades and is now “on a trajectory towards local extirpation,” according to a recent study. It attributes the decline to the government’s limited capacity to enforce regulations aimed at protecting the groupers from fishing at this remote site. “Since&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/study-finds-important-nassau-grouper-spawning-site-in-belize-near-collapse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309888</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mongabay launches dedicated Oceans Desk to expand global reporting on marine ecosystems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 21:39:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alejandroprescottcornejo]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11211024/Adobe-Express-file-34-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309341</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, China, Global, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Illegal Fishing, Marine, Mongabay investigation, Oceans, Oil Spills, shark finning, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation. The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With increasing pressures from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, the health of the world’s oceans is imperiled. In response, Mongabay has launched a dedicated Oceans Desk composed of a global team of journalists specialized in reporting on oceans, fisheries and marine conservation. The desk, which includes editors, reporters and program directors from across Mongabay’s newsroom, marks a strategic shift to deepen coverage of marine ecosystems as part of the organization’s expanding environmental reporting. “One of our goals at Mongabay is to provide a planetary view of the environment, and understanding the ocean is crucial for grasping the state of life on Earth,” said Willie Shubert, Mongabay’s VP of programs and executive editor. “Our Oceans Desk delivers original and insightful journalism on often underreported topics that highlight humanity&#8217;s cultural, economic and political connections to the sea while also emphasizing the intrinsic value of a living and biodiverse ocean.” Driven by high reader interest, Mongabay’s oceans coverage has steadily expanded to become a top priority for the organization, with thousands of articles, videos and podcasts already published. “The ocean is vast and powerful, but threats from overfishing, climate change, pollution, and crime are pushing it to the brink,” Shubert said. “The voices of communities dependent on a healthy ocean, from fishers and marine biologists to policymakers and consumers, must be part of the story to address these problems. By building a dedicated desk that reports daily from across the world, we aim to inspire people to care for marine biodiversity&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/mongabay-launches-dedicated-oceans-desk-to-expand-global-reporting-on-marine-ecosystems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309341</doi>				</item>
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