Marine protected areas News

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At the beach, Pemba Island. Image courtesy of Adrian Ponsard/WCS.

Pemba’s new marine protected areas show the power of collaboration to meet 30×30 goal

Sasha Nunneley 29 Oct 2026
An elephant in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay.

At Yerevan’s COP17 biodiversity summit, a steep climb ahead for ‘30 by 30’ target

Ashoka Mukpo 26 Oct 2026

Nearly all the world’s coral reefs are at risk of collapse within 50 years, IUCN warns

David Brown 23 Oct 2026
A Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), a commercially important fish, was once abundant, but its numbers have dwindled in Belize and throughout the Caribbean, and it’s now critically endangered. Image courtesy of Connor Holland/Ocean Image Bank.

Belize looks to the deep sea to complete its 30% ocean protection pledge

Marco Lopez 15 Oct 2026
A Peruvian artisanal fisher poses with a jumbo flying squid. Image courtesy of National Society of Artisanal Fishing of Peru (SONAPESCAL).

From paper parks to lasting protection, here’s what works in marine conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Oct 2026
Oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Image courtesy of NOAA.

Oil pollution is drifting into marine protected areas, report finds

Shanna Hanbury 12 Oct 2026
Herring are unloaded from a fishing boat in Rockland, Maine, in 2015.

US move to loosen restrictions on fishing could harm vital ecosystems, experts warn

Jules Struck 18 Sep 2026

How to enhance ocean health and resilience with marine rewilding

Bobby Bascomb 9 Sep 2026

Marine conservation collides with mining in Indonesia’s biodiversity-rich Moramo Bay

La Ode Risman Hermawan 4 Sep 2026
Guman-ri resident and haenyeo Kim Choon-hee walks along the village coastline on Aug. 15, 2026, looking at debris suspected of coming from the nearby construction. Image by Andrew Jeong for Mongabay.

South Korea’s ‘sea women’ seek justice after marine habitat devastated by harbor work

Andrew Jeong 4 Sep 2026
Saltpans in Walvis Bay, Namibia. Image courtesy by David Stanley via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Namibia greenlights controversial project to dredge phosphate from seabed

Jemima Beukes 1 Sep 2026
Minerva Hills National Park. Image courtesy of Nathan White/Tourism and Events Queensland.

Australia’s 30×30 conservation promise matters a lot, but how it’s achieved is key (commentary)

Tim Nicol 27 Aug 2026
Found across the Canary Islands, the scarlet sea fan (Leptogorgia ruberrima) is a soft octocoral that provides shelter and food for many fish and other marine organisms. Image by thorsten72 via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Spain proposes 23 new marine protected areas in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean

Francesco De Augustinis 21 Aug 2026
Many think of wildlife corridors as connected landscapes, but across the globe, animals on land, in freshwater, in the sea and in the skies need to be able to safely move to find food, water, to find a mate and reproduce. Flyways are aerial avian corridors. Image by AP Photos/Jae C. Hong.

Reconnecting the skies: Linking flyways for migratory seabirds across continents

Ruth Kamnitzer 21 Aug 2026
Members of the Kāi Tahu marine ranger team return from harvesting seaweed. Image by Edward Carver for Mongabay.

New Zealand opens marine reserves with groundbreaking Māori co-management model

Edward Carver 19 Aug 2026
Green sea turtle swimming in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. Image by ©Commonwealth of Australia (Reef Authority), photographer J. Sumerling. CC BY 4.0.

On the Great Barrier Reef, management by Traditional Owners is growing

Cat Williams 18 Aug 2026
Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), listed by the IUCN as a critically endangered species.

Global marine protected areas fail to safeguard most sharks and rays: Study

Madeline Shaw 14 Aug 2026
Cape Three Points, Ghana. Image courtesy of Hεn Mpoano.

Illegal mining threatens Ghana’s first marine protected area

Mabel Adorkor Annang 12 Aug 2026

Mining threat persists in Raja Ampat, Indonesia’s ‘Amazon of the Seas’

Hans Nicholas Jong 4 Aug 2026
A whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) stalks the reef at Luf Island, Papua New Guinea.

Four Pacific nations are planning one of the world’s largest ocean corridors

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Aug 2026
Rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata) and a juvenile bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) hang in the purse seine net of the French fishing vessel Trevignon

Drifting tuna fishing gear enter half of marine protected areas: study

Keith Anthony Fabro 31 Jul 2026
A basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), an endangered species that uses Dogger Bank as a critical seasonal feeding ground and nursery. Image courtesy of Joost van Uffelen.

Wind farms join bottom trawlers and oil rigs in a protected North Sea sandbank

Christina Egerstrom 30 Jul 2026
A whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) in the Pacific Ocean off Panama. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Image courtesy of Mission Blue/Max Bello.

What happened to the vessels Panama busted in 2025 for fishing in its flagship MPA?

Edward Carver 21 Jul 2026
A split-view image of an underwater seascape and coastline of Mussau Island, within the Manus Marine Protected Area, Papua New Guinea.

Melanesian nations announce intention to create massive ocean reserve corridor

Ashley Yeong 17 Jul 2026

Gray whales are suffering catastrophic population decline in the Pacific Ocean

David Brown 16 Jul 2026
Mediterranean coast.

The unsung biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea needs urgent protection

Mike DiGirolamo 15 Jul 2026
Linda Ingham with Pacific white-sided dolphin caught in Japanese driftnet, north Pacific. Photo © Greenpeace / Roger Grace

A marine protected area can ban fishing boats. It cannot stop drifting gear

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jul 2026
A view of Ngor Bay in Dakar, Senegal. Image by Jeff Attaway via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

What will Africa’s story on ocean governance be? Interview with David Willima

Victoria Schneider 13 Jul 2026
Seagrass meadows, pictured above, play a critical role in carbon sequestration and protecting coastlines.

Scientists use AI to produce first high-resolution map of global seagrass extent

Abhishyant Kidangoor 10 Jul 2026

São Tomé declares first two of eight planned marine protected areas

Victoria Schneider 29 Jun 2026

Asia’s shark and ray hotspots remain poorly protected, study finds

Malaka Rodrigo 26 Jun 2026
Fishers in Sahamalaza-Iles Radama Marine Protected Area. Image courtesy of Madagascar National Parks.

Six marine sanctuaries recognized as Blue Parks, four of them in Africa

Malavika Vyawahare 24 Jun 2026

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