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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/seabirds/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 21:41:58 +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 Seabirds</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/seabirds/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Extreme weather dampens breeding success for marine predators in Tasmania: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2026 12:11:09 +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/20/2026/07/27062833/h.-BANNER-52065723988_5bb208650e_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324558</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Global, Oceania, and Tasmania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Biology, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Disasters, Earth Science, Ecosystems, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Environmental Crisis, Health, Heatwave, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, Predators, Research, Science, Seabirds, Storms, Temperatures, Weather, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the rocky shores of Tasmania, seals and seabirds can’t shelter indoors during a storm or turn on the AC during a hot spell. When extreme weather strikes, they’re exposed to the elements, especially when they’re tied to a clumsy pup or a nest of newly hatched chicks. The effects can be deadly. A study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the rocky shores of Tasmania, seals and seabirds can’t shelter indoors during a storm or turn on the AC during a hot spell. When extreme weather strikes, they’re exposed to the elements, especially when they’re tied to a clumsy pup or a nest of newly hatched chicks. The effects can be deadly. A study published in Science Advances in June found that extreme weather events like storms, heat waves and floods can interfere with the breeding success of important marine predators like seals, shearwaters and albatross that raise their young along the coasts. As these events become both more frequent and increasingly intense due to climate change, the study authors stress the need to monitor predator populations to better protect them from the effects, especially during vulnerable times in the breeding season. “Extreme weather events are becoming a new normal,” study lead author Milan Sojitra, a marine ecologist at the University of Tasmania, told Mongabay. “It is having an effect on ecosystems and species.” Marine ecosystems around the world are under stress from the effects of human-caused climate change, including heatwaves and warming ocean temperatures that can cause coral bleaching and mass die-offs of marine species. Tasmania, an island and Australian state 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of the mainland, is a climate change hotspot, with surface waters off its eastern coast warming three to four times faster than the global average, according to a 2018 study. The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall and heat on the island&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/extreme-weather-dampens-breeding-success-for-marine-predators-in-tasmania-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324558</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s only penguin species at risk from upcoming El Niño and bird flu, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2026 11:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dan Collyns]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/20110117/8SJ4530_%C2%A9AndreBaertschi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323856</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Climate Science, Conservation, El Nino, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine Conservation, Penguins, Research, Science, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru — First, there was the H5N1 avian influenza of 2022, then El Niño arrived in 2023, disrupting coastal waters and fish availability. For Peru’s Humboldt penguins, the only species of penguins that breeds in the country, the burden was too heavy: Its population dropped by two-thirds between 2022 and 2025. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAN JUAN DE MARCONA, Peru — First, there was the H5N1 avian influenza of 2022, then El Niño arrived in 2023, disrupting coastal waters and fish availability. For Peru’s Humboldt penguins, the only species of penguins that breeds in the country, the burden was too heavy: Its population dropped by two-thirds between 2022 and 2025. Still recovering, the species is now facing a super El Niño that could further undermine its future. In early June, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned: “The science is clear: El Niño is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is. El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.” Scientists studying the Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) in Peru say that they are already feeling the impact of the 2026 El Niño as warmer coastal waters drive the cold current carrying the main prey fish, Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens) or anchoveta, deeper and further offshore. That means the penguins and other seabirds are forced to undertake longer fishing trips to get enough food to breed or feed chicks. Scientists studying El Niño say the gaps between the events are getting smaller and the effects are more unpredictable. “Climate change is driving more frequent and more severe El Niño events,” Andres Lescano, director of Clima, the Latin American Center of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/perus-only-penguin-species-at-risk-from-upcoming-el-nino-and-bird-flu-experts-warn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323856</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bill Montevecchi showed what seabirds could tell us about the sea</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bill-montevecchi-showed-what-seabirds-could-tell-us-about-the-sea/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bill-montevecchi-showed-what-seabirds-could-tell-us-about-the-sea/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jul 2026 02:50:00 +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/20/2026/07/14175948/bill-montevecchi-psg-16x9-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323420</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Birds, Obituary, Oceans, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The North Atlantic can look empty until someone begins paying attention. A stretch of gray water off Newfoundland may hold only a few white specks at first glance. Through binoculars those specks become murres riding the swell, puffins carrying fish crosswise in their bills, or fulmars riding the wind above the waves. To Bill Montevecchi, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The North Atlantic can look empty until someone begins paying attention. A stretch of gray water off Newfoundland may hold only a few white specks at first glance. Through binoculars those specks become murres riding the swell, puffins carrying fish crosswise in their bills, or fulmars riding the wind above the waves. To Bill Montevecchi, these birds were never simply inhabitants of the ocean. They were observers of it. Their breeding success, feeding trips, and unexplained absences offered evidence about fish stocks, changing currents, pollution, and the state of an ecosystem that people could not otherwise see. For more than five decades, William A. “Bill” Montevecchi, who died on July 11th, aged 80, treated seabirds as the ocean’s most reliable witnesses. His work helped establish them as indicators of environmental change long before the idea became commonplace. At the same time, he became one of Canada’s best-known public interpreters of marine science, moving comfortably between academic journals, government advisory panels, newspaper columns, and radio interviews. He approached each with much the same purpose: to understand what the birds were saying and to explain why others should listen. Bill Montevechi shows a small injured storm petrel in Bay De Verde, Newfoundland. Photo © Mary Lynk/CBC Born in New York, he developed an interest in birds at an early age and trained as an ornithologist before moving to Newfoundland, where he spent most of his career at Memorial University. Newfoundland offered what he sought: immense seabird colonies, productive seas, and unanswered questions.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bill-montevecchi-showed-what-seabirds-could-tell-us-about-the-sea/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bill-montevecchi-showed-what-seabirds-could-tell-us-about-the-sea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323420</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rising seas, garbage and heat threaten Brazil’s migratory shorebirds </title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-seas-garbage-and-heat-threaten-brazils-migratory-shorebirds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-seas-garbage-and-heat-threaten-brazils-migratory-shorebirds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 21:23:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sibélia Zanon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/14211324/capa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323436</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Marine, Migration, Oceans, Sea Levels, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[POTIGUAR BASIN, Brazil — On the estuary beaches where the Atlantic Ocean mixes with freshwater rising from mangrove soils, the shorebird known as the red knot has a single goal: to feed. While one member of the flock keeps watch, the others use their specialized, tireless beaks to capture clams, oysters, snails and earthworms that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[POTIGUAR BASIN, Brazil — On the estuary beaches where the Atlantic Ocean mixes with freshwater rising from mangrove soils, the shorebird known as the red knot has a single goal: to feed. While one member of the flock keeps watch, the others use their specialized, tireless beaks to capture clams, oysters, snails and earthworms that inhabit the muddy soils. Soon the time to migrate will come, and the birds must double their weight to endure the long trip. Each May, after spending the previous eight months in the coastal wetlands of Brazil’s shoreline and in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego, at the far south of South America, red knots (Calidris canutus) begin a long return flight to the Northern Hemisphere. Their final destination is the cold, desert-like Arctic tundra. It’s there, during the northern summer, between June and August, that they breed. Even before the journey starts, on the beaches of Macau, Guamaré and Galinhos — coastal municipalities dotted throughout Brazil’s Potiguar Basin — observers can see a sign of their preparation: the birds’ chests display a reddish color typical of nuptial plumage. Among migratory birds, the red knot is one of the longest-distance travelers. It flies for about six days and six nights without sleeping, eating or drinking. After leaving Brazil, it will cover roughly 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) to its next stop: Delaware Bay, on the northeastern coast of the U.S. From there, the journey continues toward the Arctic; over a year, the round trip may cover 30,000 km (nearly 19,000&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-seas-garbage-and-heat-threaten-brazils-migratory-shorebirds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/rising-seas-garbage-and-heat-threaten-brazils-migratory-shorebirds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323436</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tiwi rangers eradicate invasive tropical fire ants in Australia’s Melville Island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jun 2026 19:31:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/22184547/Solenopsis_geminata_Francois-Brassard_LR-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321598</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous-led conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation Solutions, Indigenous Peoples, Insects, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DERBY, Australia — While Spanish sailors packed in dirt to stabilize the bottom of ships sailing from the Americas in the 16th century, they were unaware that they were also helping tiny stowaways aboard. Research suggests that tropical fire ants sailed across the Pacific Ocean, joining Europeans over the centuries as they landed and colonized [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DERBY, Australia — While Spanish sailors packed in dirt to stabilize the bottom of ships sailing from the Americas in the 16th century, they were unaware that they were also helping tiny stowaways aboard. Research suggests that tropical fire ants sailed across the Pacific Ocean, joining Europeans over the centuries as they landed and colonized landmasses across the world. Then, in the early 2000s, tropical fire ants (Solenopsis geminata) were detected on Melville Island in the Tiwi Islands, a picturesque archipelago off the coast of Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. Here, they were able to flourish, according to researchers, and have since become naturalized in parts of the Australian tropics while dominating the environment, eating small mammals, and potentially deterring nesting birds. “The ants have a huge impact on native birds and animals on the Tiwi Islands,” said Stanley Tipungwuti, a ranger on the islands where most identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. But after two decades of effort, and the work of the Tiwi Ranger team, tropical fire ants are deemed no more on Merville Island: In 2025, the species was completely eradicated, according to Ben Hoffmann, who was part of the eradication program from its inception. That same year, the Tiwi Island Rangers received the Territory Indigenous Natural Resource Management Award in Darwin for their efforts. The Tiwi Rangers were the 2025 winners of the Territory NRM Indigenous Natural Resource Management Award. Image by the Territory Natural Resource Management Award, supplied by Tiwi Resources. Hoffmann, principal research&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/rangers-eradicate-invasive-tropical-fire-ants-in-australias-tiwi-islands/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321598</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A year on, Australia’s biggest harmful algal bloom continues to wreak havoc</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 18:42:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nick Rodway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/08044105/1-d.-Algae-Bloom-Marine-Life-Washups-Stefan-Andrews_-12-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320708</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[algae, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Citizen Science, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Coral Reefs, Dolphins, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Governance, Habitat, Health, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Monitoring, Ocean Warming, Oceans, Penguins, Rays, Research, Sharks, Water, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PORT HUGHES, Australia — Situated midway along the Great Southern Reef that spans Australia’s southern coastline, the waters off Port Hughes typically teem with life. The coastal hamlet northwest of Adelaide plays host to a multitude of coral, bivalve and fish species. But in late March, the largest and longest harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Australian history arrived to Port Hughes, depleting its waters’ rich biodiversity. The bloom had first appeared elsewhere off the state of South Australia’s coast a year earlier, causing eye and skin irritation and respiratory symptoms among beachgoers. Then, along with waves of acrid-smelling sea foam, scores of dead marine animals began washing ashore. In Port Hughes, the HAB’s impacts were most visible below the surface. The town’s wooden jetty had previously been one of the most consistent locations in South Australia to observe temperate species, said Stefan Andrews, co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation, a conservation advocacy group. But by mid-April, when Mongabay joined Andrews on a dive, the site was drab compared with vibrant photographs taken in February and March. Under the jetty, sponges and corals that had previously adorned its pylons in a brilliantly hued mosaic appeared colorless. Apart from a short-headed seahorse (Hippocampus breviceps) — a “sign of hope,” Andrews called it — little life was visible in the murky waters. The reef, he said, had become quieter, lacking the sounds of snapping shrimp and other creatures that once played in the underwater soundtrack. “There’s a sense of loss when you&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/a-year-on-australias-biggest-harmful-algal-bloom-continues-to-wreak-havoc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320708</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The Southern Ocean is key to our planet&#8217;s future &#038; we have a chance to protect it this year (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2026 16:02:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Zac Goldsmith]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10190606/WWF_Jay-Williams.-Chinstrap-penguins-e1760123344432-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319355</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Certification, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, Sustainability, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the most striking images in David Attenborough&#8217;s Ocean, his defining 2025 documentary, is of supertrawlers dragging vast krill nets through a pod of feeding humpback whales off Antarctica. For most viewers, it will have been the moment a distant and invisible crisis became viscerally real. But it was also something else: a glimpse of what is at stake if we fail to act, and a reminder of how little time we have left to protect some of our planet’s most precious resources. The Southern Ocean is not simply another stretch of water in need of protection. It is the engine of the global climate system, and one of the last places on Earth where nature still operates on its own terms. Right now, it is in serious trouble. The Antarctic Peninsula is home to roughly a third of the global krill population, which sustains whales, penguins, seals and seabirds. But three consecutive years of record-low sea ice have disrupted the reproduction cycles that krill depend on, and last year the krill fishery hit its 620,000-metric-ton catch limit for the first time in history, closing three months early. Industrial fleets from Norway, China, South Korea, Chile and Ukraine are extracting them at a pace that the ecosystem, already stressed by climate change, cannot absorb. The Marine Stewardship Council&#8217;s recent decision to recertify the Antarctic krill fishery as &#8220;sustainable,&#8221; despite an outdated stock assessment and mounting evidence of localized harm to whale and penguin populations, has rightly drawn legal challenge.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/the-southern-ocean-is-key-to-our-planets-future-we-have-a-chance-to-protect-it-this-year-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319355</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Arabian Gulf’s fragile marine ecosystem threatened by current crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 May 2026 15:06:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Razan Al Mubarak]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/11143229/050A0598-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319117</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Abu Dhabi, Iran, Middle East, and Persian Gulf]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Commentary, Conflict, Dugong, Ecosystems, Estuaries, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Oil, Oil Spills, Pollution, Seabirds, War, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At this time of year, the waters of the Arabian Gulf support one of the most significant gatherings of marine life anywhere in the world. Thousands of dugongs congregate in shallow coastal areas, including mother-and-calf pairs, dependent on the 3,000 square kilometers (well over 1,000 square miles) of seagrass meadows in Abu Dhabi waters. Along [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At this time of year, the waters of the Arabian Gulf support one of the most significant gatherings of marine life anywhere in the world. Thousands of dugongs congregate in shallow coastal areas, including mother-and-calf pairs, dependent on the 3,000 square kilometers (well over 1,000 square miles) of seagrass meadows in Abu Dhabi waters. Along the same coastline, sea turtles return to nest, seabirds enter their breeding season, and migratory birds pass through wetlands that connect continents. Mangroves and coral reefs line these coasts. These ecosystems exist alongside the same coastal zones that support cities, energy and industrial infrastructure. They also underpin human life across the region. Tens of millions of people depend on desalination, drawing seawater from these same environments. Their survival, like ours, depends on clean water, intact habitats and stable environmental conditions. I have had the rare privilege, through my work, to witness these systems up close. Their richness is extraordinary, but so too is their fragility. The danger is that war turns that fragility into lasting damage. Indian Ocean humpback dolphin in Mangrove Marine National Park, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Image courtesy of Maitha Bughanoom. An airstrike on an oil tanker, or a collision, fire or loss of control by one of these vessels would release oil or other pollutants into shallow waters, where they spread rapidly across seagrass beds and coastal habitats. Water quality declines, oxygen levels fall, nesting sites are lost, and breeding cycles are disrupted. Local populations can collapse, and recovery becomes uncertain. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/arabian-gulfs-fragile-marine-ecosystem-threatened-by-current-crisis-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-319117</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Half of seabirds are declining. Protecting marine flyways could help save them</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2026 01:00:42 +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/20/2026/04/09230341/galapagos_2414294z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317300</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Climate Change, Conservation, Endangered Species, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Migration, Oceans, and Seabirds]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[&#160; Animals that cross borders often encounter conservation systems that stop at them. Migratory species move through jurisdictions with little regard for political boundaries, relying on habitats spread across large distances and governed by different rules. The result is patchy protection, overlapping threats, and declining populations. Seabirds make this problem clear. They range across entire [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[&nbsp; Animals that cross borders often encounter conservation systems that stop at them. Migratory species move through jurisdictions with little regard for political boundaries, relying on habitats spread across large distances and governed by different rules. The result is patchy protection, overlapping threats, and declining populations. Seabirds make this problem clear. They range across entire ocean basins, breeding on remote islands, feeding in distant waters, and passing through multiple national zones along the way. Nearly half of migratory species are in decline, and seabirds are among the most threatened groups. Their conservation requires coordination across places and seasons, which has been difficult to sustain. On land, one organizing idea has helped. The concept of “flyways” groups migration into broad, recurring routes. It has been used to align governments, focus research, and guide investment. Over time, it has helped coordinate conservation efforts, especially for waterbirds. A policy paper, published last month in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, applies the same framework to the ocean. Overlap of the marine flyways and national waters (Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in dark blue lines). Purple colored national waters denote CMS Parties and green represent Non-­ Party states. Maps are in Robinson projection, with (a) centered at 0° and (b) centered at 140° W. From Morten et al (2026) Recent advances in tracking have made this possible. By analyzing the movements of long-distance pelagic species, a team of researchers from BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and multiple&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/half-of-seabirds-are-declining-protecting-marine-flyways-could-help-save-them/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317300</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Migratory species summit adopts new marine protections amid extinction warnings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Apr 2026 13:55:14 +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/20/2026/04/08015440/c.-BANNER-%C2%A9Andy-Murch-Great-Hammerhead-Shark-4761-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Brazil, Global, Indian Ocean, Latin America, Pacific Ocean, South America, and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Environment, Extinction, Fish, Fishing, Fragmentation, Freshwater Fish, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Marine, Marine Animals, Migration, Oceans, Overexploitation, Seabirds, and Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dozens of migratory animals, including 33 marine species, gained new protections during the recent summit for the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The 15th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP15) took place March 23-29 in Campo Grande, Brazil, under the slogan “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life.” “It was a very strong COP for marine species,” Amy Fraenkel, CMS executive secretary, told Mongabay after the meeting’s conclusion. The CMS is a United Nations convention ratified by 132 nations and the European Union that aims to build the international cooperation necessary to conserve migratory species on a global scale. Among the key outcomes at the latest meeting: Delegates agreed on new or enhanced treaty protections for 40 species and populations, including 26 seabirds, three shorebirds and four shark species. Furthermore, CMS COP15 took steps to reduce bycatch of protected species and to identify marine flyways and key marine areas for the conservation of migratory species. Delegates also called for greater protections for seamounts, recognizing the conservation needs of freshwater fish and guarding against the impacts of deep-sea mining. “There&#8217;s a real need to be looking at ocean systems, including our coasts and the shorebirds that rely on the ocean and coastal systems,” Fraenkel said. “I was happy to see that at this COP, we started to do that.” But while conservation advocates lauded the steps taken at COP15, the summit also issued stark warnings that extinction and species decline are accelerating. The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) World&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/migratory-species-summit-adopts-new-marine-protections-amid-extinction-warnings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Accidental discovery reveals new climate threat to emperor penguins</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/accidental-discovery-reveals-new-climate-threat-to-emperor-penguins/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/accidental-discovery-reveals-new-climate-threat-to-emperor-penguins/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 05:42:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/17031546/Image1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315816</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Climate, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, Environment, Global Warming, Penguins, Remote Sensing, Sea Ice, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The plight of the emperor penguin might be more dire than previously thought. For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to discover new locations in Antarctica where the birds go to shed and replace their feathers every year, an event known as molting. However, they also found that these molting sites might have [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The plight of the emperor penguin might be more dire than previously thought. For the first time, scientists have used satellite data to discover new locations in Antarctica where the birds go to shed and replace their feathers every year, an event known as molting. However, they also found that these molting sites might have melted from under the penguins, potentially causing fatalities. Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), native to Antarctica, are the biggest of the penguin species. Since they heavily rely on sea ice for their survival, global warming is one of the major threats to their existence. A 2021 study estimated that the birds could lose 98% of their colonies and become “quasi-extinct” by the end of the century if sea ice continues to decline at projected rates. Every year, around late January, emperor penguins move to stable sea ice attached to a coastline to molt. It&#8217;s a life stage that scientists dub &#8220;catastrophic molting” because, unlike other animals, penguins shed all their feathers at once. Molting, however, is a vulnerable life stage. For one, the process of shedding and growing new plumage consumes a lot of energy. Over the four to five weeks of molting, the birds also lose 40-50% of their body weight. “Because the penguin is not waterproof during that period, they can&#8217;t go out into the sea to forage and hunt,” Peter Fretwell, senior geographic and remote-sensing scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, who discovered the new molting sites, told Mongabay in a video interview.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/accidental-discovery-reveals-new-climate-threat-to-emperor-penguins/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/accidental-discovery-reveals-new-climate-threat-to-emperor-penguins/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315816</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Penguins are breeding much earlier in a warming Antarctic, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 17:55:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/09200941/Tom-Camera-Credit-Katherine-Booth-Jones-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313994</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biology, Birds, cameras, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Global Warming, Ocean Warming, Penguins, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Penguins are dramatically shifting their breeding season as the Antarctic peninsula warms, a recent study finds. From 2012 to 2022, researchers used remote cameras to examine the timing of breeding for three penguin species across 37 colonies on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands. They tracked their ‘settlement date’: when the penguins began continuously occupying [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Penguins are dramatically shifting their breeding season as the Antarctic peninsula warms, a recent study finds. From 2012 to 2022, researchers used remote cameras to examine the timing of breeding for three penguin species across 37 colonies on the Antarctic peninsula and surrounding islands. They tracked their ‘settlement date’: when the penguins began continuously occupying their nesting zones. The study, led by the citizen-science collective Penguin Watch at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, U.K., was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Over that 10-year period, gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) began their breeding season an average of 13 days earlier in the year, though for some colonies, it was more than three weeks. Chinstrap (P. antarcticus) and Adélie (P. adeliae) penguins settled into their colonies an average of 10.4 and 10.2 days, respectively, ahead of their schedule a decade ago. These breeding changes are amongst the most extreme yet recorded for any bird — and likely any vertebrate — in response to climate change, the study notes. “This is a huge advance and an incredibly fast one … and that&#8217;s what surprised us,” says Ignacio Juarez Martínez, a biologist and the study’s lead author who conducted the research as part of his PhD at the University of Oxford. “It&#8217;s literally a world record.” Gentoo colony at Neko Harbour, on the Antarctic peninsula. Gentoo penguins are the least ice-tolerant of the three species studied — which also included Adélie and chinstrap penguins. They are expanding their range southwards&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/penguins-are-breeding-much-earlier-in-a-warming-antarctic-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313994</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Azores dodges proposal to overturn no-fishing zones in its giant new MPA network</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2026 19:29:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Maria José Mendes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/23192451/b.-OceanImageBank_EllenCuylaerts_01-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314634</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Europe, and Portugal]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cetaceans, Conservation, Dolphins, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Islands, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Protected Areas, Oceans, Regulations, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Tuna]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. &#8220;Where are we going to fish [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. &#8220;Where are we going to fish now?” he asked. The law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect just recently, on Jan. 1 this year. The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers (110,800 square miles) of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life. Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted to uphold a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network. Pico Mountain on Pico Island in the Azores, the tallest mountain in Portugal at 2,351 meters (7,713 feet). Image by Maria José Mendes for Mongabay. The vote effectively killed an earlier move to open these areas to pole-and-line tuna fishing that would have been “catastrophic and damaging to the region,” according to Luís Bernardo Brito e Abreu, coordinator of Blue Azores, a Portugal-based partnership between the Azores regional government, the U.S.-based nonprofit Waitt Institute and the Portugal-based Oceano Azul Foundation that began advocating for the establishment of the MPA network in 2019. “[The] criterion for a total protection area is indeed total protection; there&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/azores-dodges-proposal-to-overturn-no-fishing-zones-in-its-giant-new-mpa-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314634</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A fragile Sri Lankan island fights back against the threat of mineral extraction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-fragile-sri-lankan-island-fights-back-against-the-threat-of-mineral-extraction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-fragile-sri-lankan-island-fights-back-against-the-threat-of-mineral-extraction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Nov 2025 15:20:18 +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/20/2025/11/28144745/Mannar-Protest-against-sand-mining-c-Fian-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310298</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Birds, Critical Minerals, Ecosystems, Environment, extractives, Governance, Industry, Islands, Land Rights, Protected Areas, and Seabirds]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — “Cries in silence, her veins robbed by greedy hands, each grain of stolen sand buries a future beneath the lands” — these lines from the song Karunilam (‘black sand’ in Tamil), composed by the young artiste Eric Fernando, give voice to the land and people of Mannar Island, in northwestern Sri Lanka. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — “Cries in silence, her veins robbed by greedy hands, each grain of stolen sand buries a future beneath the lands” — these lines from the song Karunilam (‘black sand’ in Tamil), composed by the young artiste Eric Fernando, give voice to the land and people of Mannar Island, in northwestern Sri Lanka. The song blends melancholy and defiance, mourning the potential destruction posed by the proposed ilmenite mineral sand extraction from this ecologically significant island. Fernando describes Karunilam as a protest anthem, reflecting the sorrow and anger of the local community over the threat to Mannar’s fragile ecosystems, coastal beauty and traditional livelihoods by the proposed sand mining. The song also calls for unity among the islanders to safeguard land rights and cultural heritage against exploitation. Ilmenite, sometimes also called ‘black gold,’ deposited along the beaches of Mannar. Image by Nagamuthu Piratheeparajah. A fragile, globally important ecosystem Ilmenite, the mineral of contention in this instance, is used to produce titanium dioxide (TiO₂), used in paints, plastics and cosmetics, and titanium metal, used for aerospace material, medical implants and corrosion-resistant alloys. Pulmoddai region in northern Sri Lanka is historically one of the world’s largest ilmenite deposits. Mannar’s deposits were first noted in British colonial geological surveys in the early 20th century, but the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) delayed exploration until the 2010s. Commercial interest grew in the mid-2010s when the Australia-based Titanium Sands Limited began extensive drilling in Mannar Island. Residents grew concerned as hundreds of exploratory holes&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-fragile-sri-lankan-island-fights-back-against-the-threat-of-mineral-extraction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/a-fragile-sri-lankan-island-fights-back-against-the-threat-of-mineral-extraction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310298</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lethal dose of plastic for seabirds and marine animals ‘much smaller than expected’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Nov 2025 13:53:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/19132317/turtle-plastic-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309832</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Chemicals, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Microplastics, Oceans, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Pollution, Seabirds, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New research has found that even small amounts of plastic can be deadly to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. While previous research has established that plastic can lead to mortality in many species, this new study identifies the types and amounts of plastic that pose the greatest danger, and estimates how likely an animal [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New research has found that even small amounts of plastic can be deadly to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals. While previous research has established that plastic can lead to mortality in many species, this new study identifies the types and amounts of plastic that pose the greatest danger, and estimates how likely an animal is to die after ingesting it. The study authors found the lethal dose to be much smaller than expected. The team of international researchers, including several from U.S.-based environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy, conducted a literature review of more than 50 studies, drawing together the necropsy results for more than 10,000 animals that included data on the cause of death and on plastic ingestion. The mortality data included 1,537 seabirds from 57 species; 1,306 sea turtles from all seven marine turtle species; and 7,569 marine mammals representing 31 species, including whales, dolphins and seals. The team used the data to generate modeling that analyzed the relationship between the plastic in the animal’s gut and the likelihood of death for each animal group, looking at both the total number of pieces of plastic and their volume. Where possible, they also considered the type of plastic the wildlife ingested to understand which types were most lethal to the animals. Plastic found inside a dead black-footed albatross. Image by Dan Clark /USFWS. “That lethal dose is much smaller than we expected,” lead author Erin Murphy, manager of ocean plastic research at the Ocean Conservancy, told Mongabay. She and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/lethal-dose-of-plastic-for-seabirds-and-marine-animals-much-smaller-than-expected/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309832</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Radar study shows when offshore turbines pose greatest risks to migrating birds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/radar-study-shows-when-offshore-turbines-pose-greatest-risks-to-migrating-birds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/radar-study-shows-when-offshore-turbines-pose-greatest-risks-to-migrating-birds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2025 18:31:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/21182903/AP24362797077555-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308030</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Marine, Migration, Oceans, Offshore Wind, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When songbirds migrate through the Americas, they often cut through sections of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to save energy. A new study looks at their flying patterns in an attempt to assess how much risk offshore wind turbines and other marine infrastructure might pose to them. The authors used radar data from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When songbirds migrate through the Americas, they often cut through sections of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to save energy. A new study looks at their flying patterns in an attempt to assess how much risk offshore wind turbines and other marine infrastructure might pose to them. The authors used radar data from U.S. coastal weather stations to find that hundreds of millions of birds migrate over tight windows of time in the Northern Hemisphere spring and fall while flying at slightly lower elevations on average than over land. This puts a proportion of them at risk of being killed by wind turbines, but that risk could be mitigated with dynamic management that takes into account their patterns, according to the study, which was published Sept. 16 in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The Trump administration, in office since January, says it doesn’t support offshore wind development, but the authors still see their work as important to reducing the impacts of these projects on birds. “We hope in the future, if offshore wind begins to materialize over time — I know there&#8217;s a bit of a pause on that right now — but even things like oil and gas and offshore flaring, [we’re] hoping that these numbers can be used to provide some guidance in terms of mitigation,” Shannon Curley, a movement ecologist and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. (Curley is an adjunct lecturer at Stony Brook University but undertook this work as part of a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/radar-study-shows-when-offshore-turbines-pose-greatest-risks-to-migrating-birds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/radar-study-shows-when-offshore-turbines-pose-greatest-risks-to-migrating-birds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308030</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia falls short in bid to increase its share of southern bluefin tuna catch</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Oct 2025 16:13:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/16080810/bluefin-tune-australia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307759</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fisheries, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Regulations, Seabirds, Tuna, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Japan dominate fishing of southern bluefin tuna, but Indonesia is pushing for a larger share of the global catch. However, its request was not officially acted on at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the multilateral body that manages the stock, which Indonesia hosted from Oct. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Japan dominate fishing of southern bluefin tuna, but Indonesia is pushing for a larger share of the global catch. However, its request was not officially acted on at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the multilateral body that manages the stock, which Indonesia hosted from Oct. 6-9 on the island of Bali. CCSBT members instead kept each nation’s share unchanged. Indonesia expressed disappointment in the result, having argued that the allotment system is inequitable and unfair to developing countries. “Indonesia views that the current allocation system has not paid due regard to the principles of equity and fairness in international law, which the preamble of the CCSBT Convention emphasizes,” Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, Indonesia’s fisheries minister, said in a statement at the meeting, according to the meeting’s official report viewed by Mongabay. Indonesia’s fleet has been cited for compliance-related issues — not following the fishery’s rules — which other parties raised as an issue in the discussion over the country’s share. While much attention at the meeting was on Indonesia’s request, the parties also dealt with other matters. They kept the total allowable catch (TAC) for all parties the same for 2026 as 2025, and they agreed to once again fully fund a key stock monitoring program. They also set up a future meeting for discussion of seabird protection in the fishery. There are more than a dozen regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in the world, with some overlapping geographically but managing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indonesia-falls-short-in-bid-to-increase-its-share-of-southern-bluefin-tuna-catch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307759</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Abandoning Antarctic krill management measure threatens conservation progress (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Oct 2025 14:25:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Andrea CapurroMary-Anne Lea]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10190606/WWF_Jay-Williams.-Chinstrap-penguins-e1760123344432-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307412</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica and Southern Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Commentary, Ecosystems, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Governance, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Overfishing, Penguins, and Whales]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[All along the western Antarctic Peninsula, whales, penguins and seals in their millions depend on krill (Euphausia superba) throughout the year. In the most rapidly warming region on the continent, they are now facing an additional and unprecedented threat. For the first time in 15 years, industrial vessels may undertake increased and more concentrated fishing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[All along the western Antarctic Peninsula, whales, penguins and seals in their millions depend on krill (Euphausia superba) throughout the year. In the most rapidly warming region on the continent, they are now facing an additional and unprecedented threat. For the first time in 15 years, industrial vessels may undertake increased and more concentrated fishing for krill in this region. The record catch limit was reached this past August, triggering an unparalleled early closure of the fishery. This change comes after the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the multilateral body responsible for conserving marine species in the Southern Ocean, allowed a critical conservation measure (CM 51-07) to lapse in 2024, removing precautionary regulations that previously distributed catches across the region to reduce direct competition between the fishery and krill-dependent predators. While this new scenario doesn’t technically break any rules, this may be precisely the problem. Fishing within catch limits may still risk adversely affecting krill-dependent predator populations. The cascading ecological consequences can be widespread, while the precautionary principles that guide CCAMLR are put to the test. Antarctic krill are the cornerstone species of the Southern Ocean; they are the primary food source for a suite of species and provide important contributions to the global carbon cycle. They are so important that they inspired a pioneering conservation mandate, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (also CCAMLR). Unlike traditional fisheries that maximize harvest, the CCAMLR embedded the ecosystem-based approach in its foundational text&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/abandoning-antarctic-krill-management-measure-threatens-conservation-progress-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307412</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Out-of-range albatross makes a highlight in the revival of seabird watching in Sri Lanka</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/out-of-range-albatross-makes-a-highlight-in-the-revival-of-seabird-watching-in-sri-lanka/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/out-of-range-albatross-makes-a-highlight-in-the-revival-of-seabird-watching-in-sri-lanka/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jul 2025 07:14:58 +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/20/2025/07/09062642/1-Great-Crested-and-swift-Terns-c-Garry-Alport-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302076</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birding, Birds, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Migration, Oceans, Research, and Seabirds]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Young birder Lahiru Walpita begins most of his days at dawn by scanning the skies for seabirds along the coastline in northern Sri Lanka. In July 2024, during one of his routine beach surveys, Walpita noticed a large bird trailing a fishing vessel. It circled gracefully with wings outstretched, before vanishing into the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Young birder Lahiru Walpita begins most of his days at dawn by scanning the skies for seabirds along the coastline in northern Sri Lanka. In July 2024, during one of his routine beach surveys, Walpita noticed a large bird trailing a fishing vessel. It circled gracefully with wings outstretched, before vanishing into the horizon, he says, just long enough for him to capture a few photographs. From its shape and size, he had a hunch about its identity, and consultations with experts confirmed it was a grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma). This marked a groundbreaking moment — not only was it the first-ever albatross recorded in Sri Lankan waters, but also the first confirmed sighting north of the equator, says ornithologist Sampath Seneviratne, a professor of zoology at the University of Colombo. “These albatrosses typically dwell in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and rarely stray far from their home range. This is a truly remarkable observation,” he tells Mongabay. This grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) was the first-ever confirmed albatross recorded in Sri Lankan waters as well as to the north of the equator. Image by Lahiru Walpita. Over the past few years, Walpita’s diligent ocean-watching — especially around Mannar Island in northern Sri Lanka — has led to sightings of elusive seabirds such as the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea), tropical shearwater (Puffinus bailloni) and Jouanin&#8217;s petrel (Bulweria fallax). During his beach surveys, Walpita has rescued over 150 pelagic birds. He has also collected over 60 dead pelagic birds that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/out-of-range-albatross-makes-a-highlight-in-the-revival-of-seabird-watching-in-sri-lanka/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/out-of-range-albatross-makes-a-highlight-in-the-revival-of-seabird-watching-in-sri-lanka/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302076</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&#038;A with fisher Gustavo Rosales</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jun 2025 16:32:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Cristina Alvarado]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17135201/8-Buenas-Practicas-Liberacion-TORTUGA-1-e1746057118140-768x512-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bycatch, Conservation, Education, Environment, Fish, Fishing, Interviews, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sea Turtles, Seabirds, and Turtles]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Attracted by bait, sea turtles off the coast of southern Peru often get caught on fishing hooks intended for mahi-mahi. Releasing the turtles is complicated as they’re heavy animals, and some try to defend themselves from humans by flapping their flippers and biting. “It gives me great satisfaction to release them,” says Gustavo Rosales, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Attracted by bait, sea turtles off the coast of southern Peru often get caught on fishing hooks intended for mahi-mahi. Releasing the turtles is complicated as they’re heavy animals, and some try to defend themselves from humans by flapping their flippers and biting. “It gives me great satisfaction to release them,” says Gustavo Rosales, a fisher from the city of Ilo. “If it weren’t for the turtles, there would be no balance. Everything is in a chain.” Rosales is one of 4,472 Peruvian fishers who have been trained by the government in best practices for releasing turtles, seabirds and other animals unintentionally caught by fishing gear, better known as bycatch. A hawksbill turtle, one of the species fishers have tried to rescue and release in southern Peru. Image courtesy of WWF. The training workshops, held along the country’s coastline, began in 2022 to implement a regulation aimed at the mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) fishery. The regulation requires that at least one crew member per boat has obtained a training certificate. Jesús Nieves, general director of technical development and training in artisanal fishing at the National Fund for Fisheries Development (FONDEPES), says there are approximately 4,500 fishing boats targeting mahi-mahi, with about one trained crew member per boat at present. The goal is to reach 10,000 trained fishers, so the workshops are ongoing. Gustavo Rosales during a training workshop aimed at implementing the regulation for the mahi-mahi fishery. Image courtesy of Prodelphinus Perú. Rosales says the training not only raises awareness among&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/perus-new-bycatch-training-aims-to-help-save-hooked-sea-turtles-qa-with-fisher-gustavo-rosales/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Plastic-eating seabird chicks show signs of organ failure and cognitive decline</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/plastic-eating-seabird-chicks-show-signs-of-organ-failure-and-cognitive-decline/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/plastic-eating-seabird-chicks-show-signs-of-organ-failure-and-cognitive-decline/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2025 14:29:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/16103708/fleshfooted-shearwater-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Plastic, Pollution, Research, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For years, Jack Auty studied how inflammation in the human body drives diseases, ranging from stroke to sepsis to Alzheimer&#8217;s, at the Tasmanian School of Medicine. But a visit to a seabird colony five years ago, where he saw many dead sable shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) chicks washed up ashore with their guts full of plastics, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For years, Jack Auty studied how inflammation in the human body drives diseases, ranging from stroke to sepsis to Alzheimer&#8217;s, at the Tasmanian School of Medicine. But a visit to a seabird colony five years ago, where he saw many dead sable shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) chicks washed up ashore with their guts full of plastics, changed his course. When he dissected one of them, his first seabird, his trained eyes couldn’t miss the signs of severe inflammation in the bird’s gut. Heartbroken, he decided to offer his knowledge about inflammation to his colleagues studying the impacts of plastics on wildlife. Since then, Auty and his colleagues have studied how plastics and microplastics, tiny fragments broken down from larger plastic pieces, affect the health of seabirds. In a 2023 paper, they identified a fibrotic disease, called plasticosis, caused by stomach tissue inflammation that results from ingesting microplastics. “We are exposing all wildlife to plastic, to toxins, to pollution, to global warming — we are doing a giant experiment right now,” Auty told Mongabay, adding that it’s important to study these threats’ impacts on wildlife. “I think we can learn a lot about what&#8217;s going on in the human body from wildlife.” Sable shearwaters in the Tasman Sea near Lord Howe Island off the coast of Tasmania. Image courtesy of Michael Keogh via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC-SA). So far, much of that research has been based on insights from dead, washed-up animals stuffed with plastics. But Auty and his colleagues wondered how ingesting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/plastic-eating-seabird-chicks-show-signs-of-organ-failure-and-cognitive-decline/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/plastic-eating-seabird-chicks-show-signs-of-organ-failure-and-cognitive-decline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297689</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Atlantic puffins are perilously attracted to artificial light</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2025 17:20:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/07163802/puffin-with-fish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292687</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Atlantic Ocean, Canada, Europe, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Birds, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pollution, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about a half-hour’s drive south of St. John’s, capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a briefing by a coordinator from conservation NGO [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the long summer days of August turn into nights, a few dozen volunteers gather in the small community of Witless Bay, a tiny town on the Atlantic coast about a half-hour’s drive south of St. John’s, capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. After a briefing by a coordinator from conservation NGO the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), the volunteers don reflective vests, grab butterfly nets and flashlights, and place plastic crates in their cars. They then set off scouting the 15-kilometer (9-mile) coastline for tiny, black-backed pufflings, the name for baby Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica). It’s a daily ritual for the Puffin Patrol, a grassroots movement that began in the 2000s and now comprises nearly 1,000 volunteers every August. That’s when fledging Atlantic puffins from North America&#8217;s largest colony of the species, Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, leave their burrows for the first time. Under the cover of darkness, hiding from their predators, the tiny birds venture into the ocean, where they spend the next four years of their lives before coming ashore to breed. Atlantic puffins also breed in parts of the northeastern U.S., the U.K. and northern Europe. Lifelong monogamous pairs return to the same burrow each year and lay a single egg. Both parents raise the chick for about three months before the young leaves the colony. On this journey, most pufflings find their way to the ocean. A few (less than 1%, according to a 2021 study) instead end up on land.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/atlantic-puffins-are-perilously-attracted-to-artificial-light-new-study-shows/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292687</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Microplastics are sickening and killing wildlife, disrupting Earth systems</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/microplastics-are-sickening-and-killing-wildlife-disrupting-earth-systems/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/microplastics-are-sickening-and-killing-wildlife-disrupting-earth-systems/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Nov 2024 15:43:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/21110656/bottlenose-dolphin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290402</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Animals, Birds, Chemicals, Conservation, Consumption, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Health, Mammals, Microplastics, Natural Gas, Oceans, Oil, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Plastic, Poisoning, Politics, Pollution, Seabirds, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bottlenose dolphins leapt and torpedoed through the shallow turquoise waters off Florida’s Sarasota Bay. Then, a research team moved in, quickly corralling the small pod in a large net. With the speed of a race car pit crew, veterinarians, biologists and their assistants examined the animals, checking vital signs while taking skin, blood and other [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bottlenose dolphins leapt and torpedoed through the shallow turquoise waters off Florida’s Sarasota Bay. Then, a research team moved in, quickly corralling the small pod in a large net. With the speed of a race car pit crew, veterinarians, biologists and their assistants examined the animals, checking vital signs while taking skin, blood and other samples. They held a petri dish over each dolphin’s blowhole until it exhaled, with an intensity similar to a human cough. Then, they rolled up the net and the dolphins swam off unharmed. A pod in Louisiana’s Barataria Bay was similarly tested. Generations of dolphins have been part of this ongoing dolphin health study, run by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program since 1970. It tracks populations and individuals and also looks for health issues related to pollutants in the marine environment. In the lab, scientists discovered that all 11 of the dolphins had breathed out microplastic fibers, shed from synthetic clothing, says Leslie B. Hart, associate professor at the College of Charleston and an author on this research. The fibers resembled those found in human lungs in previous studies, proving that dolphins, like us, are breathing plastic. In people, microplastic has been linked to poor lung function and possible lung disease. An earlier collaboration linked phthalates circulating in the dolphins’ blood to alterations in their thyroid hormone levels — an effect also found in humans that can impact nearly every organ in the body. Phthalates, toxic chemicals found in flexible plastics, readily leach into the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/microplastics-are-sickening-and-killing-wildlife-disrupting-earth-systems/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/microplastics-are-sickening-and-killing-wildlife-disrupting-earth-systems/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290402</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lesser noddy sighting stirs up birding community in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/lesser-noddy-sighting-stirs-up-birding-community-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/lesser-noddy-sighting-stirs-up-birding-community-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2024 06:48:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rafiqul Islam]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/05060331/lesser-noddies-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289679</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birding, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Habitat, Marine, New Discovery, Oceans, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Sept. 7, 2024, British ornithologist Gary Allport and Dutch birdwatcher Jan-erik Nilsen took a boat from Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox&#8217;s Bazar to Sonadia Island. On their way, while they observed a flock of terns feeding around a fishing boat, a lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris) flew in, circled the boat twice, and then flew [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Sept. 7, 2024, British ornithologist Gary Allport and Dutch birdwatcher Jan-erik Nilsen took a boat from Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox&#8217;s Bazar to Sonadia Island. On their way, while they observed a flock of terns feeding around a fishing boat, a lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris) flew in, circled the boat twice, and then flew off, surprising them. This is the first time the seabird species was recorded in Bangladesh. “Fortunately, we got quick photos and then headed off to Sonadia. Once there, we saw another noddy very briefly, which we could not identify as the species for certain, but we assumed it was the same bird,” Allport said. Then they headed back to Cox&#8217;s Bazar. When they got to the lagoon by Cox’s Bazar airport, they saw two lesser noddies together. A close examination of the pictures showed that they were different individuals from the ones they saw first in the morning, so there were at least three birds. And it seemed likely that the bird at Sonadia was a fourth. “[A] lesser noddy first for Bangladesh — Boom! Great day out in a boat at the weekend from Cox&#8217;s Bazar to Sonadia area with good numbers of terns and waders. Nice start finding the first lesser noddy but then followed by two more, and probably a fourth bird too. Really super birding,” Allport wrote on his X handle after sighting the birds. Lesser noddies are generally a bird of the open seas, and there has been no record&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/lesser-noddy-sighting-stirs-up-birding-community-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/lesser-noddy-sighting-stirs-up-birding-community-in-bangladesh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289679</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Caracal, meet penguin: How humans pushed unlikely predator and prey together</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/caracal-meet-penguin-how-humans-pushed-unlikely-predator-and-prey-together/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/caracal-meet-penguin-how-humans-pushed-unlikely-predator-and-prey-together/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2024 14:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petro Kotzé]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/06194226/6-Boulders_Petro-Kotze-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288233</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Conservation, Environment, Human-wildlife Conflict, Penguins, Predators, Small Cats, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — The sharp pop of an air gun echoes through the forested flanks of Constantia as volunteers herd a raiding troop of baboons away from the affluent Cape Town suburb that blossomed in their historic stomping grounds. The Cape baboons (Papio ursinus) play an important ecological role, but with easy access to calorie-rich [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — The sharp pop of an air gun echoes through the forested flanks of Constantia as volunteers herd a raiding troop of baboons away from the affluent Cape Town suburb that blossomed in their historic stomping grounds. The Cape baboons (Papio ursinus) play an important ecological role, but with easy access to calorie-rich human food and no natural predators left, the population ballooned. It now clashes regularly with the city’s frustrated human residents. The city is part of a “complex” system, says Gabriella Leighton, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cape Town,. Almost 5 million people live here, but South Africa’s second most populous city is also part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a global biodiversity hotspot. As the impacts of centuries of human-induced change ricochet through the system, altercations are unavoidable. But Leighton, an expert in urban ecology and carnivore conservation, also describes the Cape Peninsula — a rugged, nearly 500-square-kilometer (190-square-mile) area of exceptional biodiversity that encompasses the city and suburbs — as a natural laboratory. Recently, she published the first record of wildcats regularly hunting marine prey. A group of local caracals (Caracal caracal), medium-sized wildcats distinguished by their sharply pointed, lavishly tufted ears, are hunting seabirds, including endangered Cape cormorants (Phalacrocorax capensis) and African penguins (Spheniscus demersus). The highly opportunistic hunter’s dietary shift is likely the result of large-scale, human-induced changes that have led to more caracal-seabird encounters over time, Leighton says. The complex cascade of changes started a long time ago, escalating with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/caracal-meet-penguin-how-humans-pushed-unlikely-predator-and-prey-together/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/caracal-meet-penguin-how-humans-pushed-unlikely-predator-and-prey-together/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288233</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Animal apocalypse: Deadly bird flu infects hundreds of species pole-to-pole</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/animal-apocalypse-deadly-bird-flu-infects-hundreds-of-species-pole-to-pole/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/animal-apocalypse-deadly-bird-flu-infects-hundreds-of-species-pole-to-pole/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2024 14:44:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/06135840/19.-Elephant-Seal-HPAI-%C2%A9-Antonio-Alcami-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285666</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Arctic, Atlantic Forest, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Diseases, Endangered Species, Environment, Health, Mammals, Marine, Migration, Planetary Health, Research, Seabirds, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brown skuas and south polar skuas, two gull-like species that nest in Antarctica, are sometimes called the “pirates of the Southern seas.” These migratory seabirds are fierce, competitive predators that hunt or scavenge anything, from eggs and adult birds to seafood, mammals or garbage. “They&#8217;re really tough animals — and they’re dying,” says Antonio Quesada, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brown skuas and south polar skuas, two gull-like species that nest in Antarctica, are sometimes called the “pirates of the Southern seas.” These migratory seabirds are fierce, competitive predators that hunt or scavenge anything, from eggs and adult birds to seafood, mammals or garbage. “They&#8217;re really tough animals — and they’re dying,” says Antonio Quesada, director of the Spanish Polar Committee. He gravely recounts why this season’s field work in the Antarctic was like no other: A lethal strain of avian flu, H5N1, breached this fragile ecosystem in February. Only a handful of specially trained researchers were allowed onshore in outbreak sites, garbed in hazmat suits to prevent contagion and spread. The true scale of the event is still unknown, but reports were grim. In the Falkland Islands, H5N1 killed 10,000 black-browed albatross and ravaged a gentoo penguin colony. Scientists discovered a mass skua die-off: 50 carcasses littered a Beak Island nesting colony of 130. Quesada has rarely seen a single dead skua in 20 years’ work in Antarctica. “They’re an indicator species. If they’re dying, what does it mean for other birds?” he asks. The threat posed by H5N1 extends far beyond the frozen South. Few people realize that the world is currently gripped in another serious pandemic — or, to be exact, a panzootic, the animal equivalent. This virus has now infected more than 500 bird and mammal species. Researchers Luciana Gallo (left) and Marcela Uhart (right) sampling for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza strain (HPAI) of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/animal-apocalypse-deadly-bird-flu-infects-hundreds-of-species-pole-to-pole/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/animal-apocalypse-deadly-bird-flu-infects-hundreds-of-species-pole-to-pole/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285666</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On Kaho’olawe, new technology could restore a sacred Hawaiian island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/on-kahoolawe-new-technology-could-restore-a-sacred-hawaiian-island/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/on-kahoolawe-new-technology-could-restore-a-sacred-hawaiian-island/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Feb 2024 15:18:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/16144207/red-tailed-tropicbird-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278949</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Hawaii, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Protected Areas, Seabirds, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[To bring seabirds back to Kaho‘olawe, you need to first find the cats. And to find the cats on Kaho‘olawe, you need to know where to find the bombs. Eleven kilometers, about 7 miles, off the coast of Maui, the island of Kaho‘olawe — the smallest of the main Hawaiian Islands — presents conservationists with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[To bring seabirds back to Kaho‘olawe, you need to first find the cats. And to find the cats on Kaho‘olawe, you need to know where to find the bombs. Eleven kilometers, about 7 miles, off the coast of Maui, the island of Kaho‘olawe — the smallest of the main Hawaiian Islands — presents conservationists with a unique opportunity. Small, remote, and sparsely inhabited by humans, it’s almost a perfect location to restore populations of the native seabirds that have been otherwise devastated across Hawai‘i. The one problem? Cats. Brought to Kaho‘olawe by American ranchers in the 1800s, these feral felines, roughly estimated at 500 to 600 animals, eat seabird eggs and chicks. They also attack the adult birds. But to remove them, ecologists have to navigate a landscape still scattered with unexploded ordnances left by four decades of U.S. military testing. “Everywhere you look are cats, cats, cats,” says Timo Sullivan, former director of drone programs at the nonprofit Island Conservation, who directed the organization&#8217;s prior work on Kaho‘olawe. “There’s almost nowhere safe for seabirds to rest.” In partnership with Island Conservation and the island’s other conservation groups, the company Conservation X Labs developed a new deployable camera, called Sentinel, that seeks to change the birds’ fate. Sentinel pairs AI-powered camera traps with a remotely operated drone, allowing researchers to collect data on the island’s invasive cats remotely and minimizing the need for travel. The system could be groundbreaking not only for the island’s seabirds, but for a much larger&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/on-kahoolawe-new-technology-could-restore-a-sacred-hawaiian-island/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/on-kahoolawe-new-technology-could-restore-a-sacred-hawaiian-island/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278949</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/from-rat-ridden-to-reserve-redonda-is-an-island-restoration-role-model/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/from-rat-ridden-to-reserve-redonda-is-an-island-restoration-role-model/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Sep 2023 10:33:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/27101830/redonda-birds-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273675</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antigua, Caribbean, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Environment, Habitat, Invasive Species, Islands, Marine, Oceans, Predators, Reforestation, Rodents, Seabirds, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Seven years ago, Redonda, a volcanic island in the Caribbean Sea, resembled the moon&#8217;s surface: a dusty, debris-covered, barren terrain. The island, which is part of Antigua and Barbuda, had once been mined for guano, seabird excrement used for fertilizer. However, mining operations on Redonda ceased around the start of World War I, and when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Seven years ago, Redonda, a volcanic island in the Caribbean Sea, resembled the moon&#8217;s surface: a dusty, debris-covered, barren terrain. The island, which is part of Antigua and Barbuda, had once been mined for guano, seabird excrement used for fertilizer. However, mining operations on Redonda ceased around the start of World War I, and when the miners were gone, they left behind a legacy of rats and goats. Over the successive decades, the rats and goats stripped Redonda of its vegetation. Rocks and soil slid into the sea, damaging the reefs and seagrass and making it dangerous for anyone to venture onto the island. Then, in 2016, conservationists began removing the rats and goats to restore the island. They first used a rodenticide to eliminate the rats while not harming other biodiversity. Then, they captured and transported the small population of goats by helicopter off the island, most of whom had been starving due to the lack of food on Redonda. EAG staff monitoring Redonda Island in June 2022. Image © Olivier Raynaud. Once these invasive animals were gone, Redonda transformed faster than anyone could have imagined. Native trees and grasses sprouted back. Seabirds like brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) and red-billed tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) recolonized the island. According to conservation experts working to restore Redonda, the population of the critically endangered and endemic Redonda ground dragon (Ameiva atrata) has increased thirteenfold since 2017. “The island was in such a dreadful state that everyone thought it was going to need an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/from-rat-ridden-to-reserve-redonda-is-an-island-restoration-role-model/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/from-rat-ridden-to-reserve-redonda-is-an-island-restoration-role-model/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273675</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Catastrophic breeding failure’ for penguins as Antarctic sea ice vanishes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/catastrophic-breeding-failure-for-penguins-as-antarctic-sea-ice-vanishes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/catastrophic-breeding-failure-for-penguins-as-antarctic-sea-ice-vanishes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Aug 2023 17:37:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/04/26085605/11278870305_f6ea2ae166_o-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=272585</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Charismatic Animals, Climate, Climate Change, Extinction, Global Environmental Crisis, Marine, Penguins, Sea Ice, Seabirds, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Emperor penguins in the Antarctic are suffering a “catastrophic” breeding failure as the region’s sea ice vanishes, pointing to a grim future for a species highly susceptible to the impacts of climate, a new study has found. Researchers used satellite imagery to find that chicks in four out of five emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Emperor penguins in the Antarctic are suffering a “catastrophic” breeding failure as the region’s sea ice vanishes, pointing to a grim future for a species highly susceptible to the impacts of climate, a new study has found. Researchers used satellite imagery to find that chicks in four out of five emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies in the Bellingshausen Sea, an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, didn’t survive to fledge in the Southern Hemisphere spring of 2022. This lack of fledgling success is directly attributed to sea ice loss, which is a consequence of human-induced climate change, according to the study published in Communications Earth &amp; Environment. Emperor penguin colonies require sea ice attached to solid land between April and January to breed, molt and forage successfully. Any changes to the sea ice can lead to penguin chicks missing the opportunity to develop the waterproof feathers necessary for survival. The researchers monitored the presence of emperor penguins between 2018 and 2022 at five colonies around the Bellingshausen Sea: on Rothschild Island, Verdi Inlet, Smyley Island, Bryan Coast, and Pfrogner Point. During the species’ breeding season in 2022, satellite imagery showed broken-up sea ice and no presence of penguins. Scientists estimate that if current rates of global warming persist, more than 90% of emperor penguin colonies would be &#8220;quasi-extinct by the end of the century.&#8221; Image by Acaro via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Sea ice cover in Antarctica has been experiencing record lows, even now, during the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/catastrophic-breeding-failure-for-penguins-as-antarctic-sea-ice-vanishes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/catastrophic-breeding-failure-for-penguins-as-antarctic-sea-ice-vanishes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-272585</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>S. Africa to purge bird-eating mice from key albatross breeding island</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/s-africa-to-purge-bird-eating-mice-from-key-albatross-breeding-island/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/s-africa-to-purge-bird-eating-mice-from-key-albatross-breeding-island/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jul 2023 17:01:09 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Leonie Joubert]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/05110359/Wandering-Albatross-on-Marion-Island-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270562</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat, Invasive Species, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Predators, Research, Rodents, Seabirds, Solutions, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — Evidence of mice attacking albatross chicks on Marion Island, midway between South Africa and Antarctica, makes for grim viewing. One video, captured at a colony of endangered gray-headed albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma) in 2015, shows the first mice emerging shortly after sunset. Chicks stand defensively in their nests through the night, but once [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — Evidence of mice attacking albatross chicks on Marion Island, midway between South Africa and Antarctica, makes for grim viewing. One video, captured at a colony of endangered gray-headed albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma) in 2015, shows the first mice emerging shortly after sunset. Chicks stand defensively in their nests through the night, but once fatigue sets in, they settle down. The mice quickly scurry onto their heads, and tear in. One chick gives in, tucking its bill under a wing and enduring the hours-long assault, before eventually shaking off its attacker. The video, filmed remotely by Ben Dilley, at the time a doctoral researcher at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, confirmed an alarming pattern. When mice come upon younger, down-covered chicks, they first attack the birds’ wings or rumps. With older fledglings, whose feathers have toughened, the mice find easier pickings on the chicks’ heads, where the soft crown feathers still give quick access to the skin. Over the course of hours, a single mouse can gnaw the chick’s entire crown away, down to the bone. Two fledgling grey-headed albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma) with mouse-inflicted wounds on their heads. Image by Ben Dilley. By dawn, Dilley’s video showed the wounded chicks alive but weakened with pain and exhaustion. Scalped, wings drooping, the chicks were less likely to clap their beaks defensively at an approaching threat. They were easy prey to predators such as petrels, and likely to contract potentially lethal secondary infections.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/s-africa-to-purge-bird-eating-mice-from-key-albatross-breeding-island/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270562</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Penguins ‘enrich our lives’: Q&#038;A with Pablo Borboroglu, protector of penguins</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/penguins-enrich-our-lives-qa-with-pablo-borboroglu-protector-of-penguins/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/penguins-enrich-our-lives-qa-with-pablo-borboroglu-protector-of-penguins/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2023 15:38:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/16141433/Borboroglu-and-penguin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269905</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Argentina, Patagonia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Education, Environment, Fisheries, Impact Of Climate Change, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Penguins, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Pablo Garcia Borboroglu first laid eyes on a wild penguin colony in Patagonia, Argentina, he experienced two things at once: a sense of extraordinary wonder for these wild animals, and shock because of what was happening to them. “In the province where I live here in Patagonia, 40,000 penguins die per year due to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Pablo Garcia Borboroglu first laid eyes on a wild penguin colony in Patagonia, Argentina, he experienced two things at once: a sense of extraordinary wonder for these wild animals, and shock because of what was happening to them. “In the province where I live here in Patagonia, 40,000 penguins die per year due to oil spills,” Borboroglu told Mongabay. “You would go to the coast, and you would find dead penguins covered in oil or penguins that were dying.” Borboroglu initially had no intention of working in conservation science, but he set up a rehabilitation center to help penguins impacted by the oil spills. He also refocused his career on marine biology and conservation, and used his scientific knowledge to help protect penguins around the world. Not only were penguins threatened by oil spills, but they faced many other threats, including plastic pollution, human disturbance, and the impacts of fisheries and climate change. In a career that spans more than three decades, Borboroglu has helped protect 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of penguin marine and terrestrial habitat in Argentina, an area home to about 40% of the world’s population of Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus). In 2009, he founded the Global Penguin Society, the first and only international science-based coalition focused on the conservation of penguins. He also co-founded the Penguin Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, and helped run conservation education programs that have reached hundreds of thousands of students and community members across&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/penguins-enrich-our-lives-qa-with-pablo-borboroglu-protector-of-penguins/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269905</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Seabird conservation mostly works, comprehensive new data set shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/seabird-conservation-mostly-works-comprehensive-new-data-set-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/seabird-conservation-mostly-works-comprehensive-new-data-set-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 May 2023 19:51:25 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/10144921/atlantic-puffin-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268461</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Ecosystems, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Impact Of Climate Change, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Research, Restoration, Seabirds, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fifty years ago, ornithologist Stephen Kress had a bold vision for Eastern Egg Rock, an island off the coast of Maine. He wanted to restore the island’s former colony of Atlantic puffins that hunters had wiped out in the 1880s. This kind of seabird restoration had never been done before, but Kress was determined to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fifty years ago, ornithologist Stephen Kress had a bold vision for Eastern Egg Rock, an island off the coast of Maine. He wanted to restore the island’s former colony of Atlantic puffins that hunters had wiped out in the 1880s. This kind of seabird restoration had never been done before, but Kress was determined to try. In 1973, he began transporting Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) chicks, or pufflings, from Canada onto the island. However, during the initial four years of the project, he had trouble getting the puffins to return to the island to breed. So Kress tried something else. “I saw an article in National Geographic magazine about Icelandic people hunting puffins, using dead puffins as decoys to attract them,” Kress told Mongabay. “They were aware that puffins would fly in close to look at other puffins, and they were propping up dead birds to mimic an existing colony.” Atlantic Puffins gape at reflections on a mirror box in Maine. Image by Derrick Z. Jackson Kress installed his own decoys on Eastern Egg Rock, but instead of dead puffins, he used wooden sculptures shaped and painted to look exactly like the bright-billed seabirds. “To my amazement, almost to the day that we put up these decoys, we had our first landing,” said Kress, who was the first to use these methods to move seabirds. “So my hunch that what was missing was a social element, or at least that the birds would come to decoys, proved itself. And among&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/seabird-conservation-mostly-works-comprehensive-new-data-set-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268461</doi>				</item>
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