Oil spill contaminates wildlife, beaches and protected areas in Peru
The central coast of Peru is cleaning up after a catastrophe due to a large oil spill on Jan. 15, 2022. The environmental emergency occurred after a pipe ruptured between…
With growing pressures, can the Philippines sustain its marine reserves?
MANILA — In the town of Pilar in the central Philippines, a community of 11,308 residents looks after one of the most successful marine protected areas in the country: the…
Hunted orcas spotlight Caribbean whaling
halers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines recently caught four killer whales, raising health concerns over the consumption of cetacean meat as well as new scrutiny of the Caribbean country's exemption…
Arctic countries prohibit commercial fishing in North Pole
On July 16, all five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean — the United States, Norway, Canada, Denmark, and Russia — signed an agreement that prohibits commercial fishing in the international…
How sustainable and ethical is your seafood? New report ranks U.S. supermarkets
Year-round, supermarket refrigerators, freezers, and shelves are stocked with bountiful supplies of affordable fish, but at what price to the environment and human wellbeing? Last month, the advocacy group Greenpeace released…
Live slow, decline fast: ‘speed of life’ may explain tuna population declines
It is well understood that large-bodied species of mammals, fish, and birds are especially susceptible to steep population declines and even extinction due to environmental pressures and overhunting. But new…
Does fishing make corals sick?
Coral reefs, teeming with life, are home to vibrant fish communities — which makes them extremely attractive places to go fishing. However, fishing in reefs may injure corals, which in…
Recovery of predators causes unexpected conservation challenges
A female California sea lion bearing a satellite tag tends to her pup. Photo credit: NOAA Fisheries/Alaska Fisheries Science Center. For decades, many global conservation efforts have focused on protecting…
Arctic Ocean acidifies, threatening food web and major fisheries
Scientists collected water samples to measure ocean acidification in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas on two research cruises aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Healy. Photo credit: Jeremy Mathis…
Russia bans driftnet fishing, a reprieve for seabirds and marine mammals
Tufted puffins in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The species is commonly caught in driftnet salmon fishing gear in the waters off Russia's far eastern shore. Photo credit: Steve…
UN resolves to negotiate treaty governing the high seas
The high seas are often called the Wild West of the ocean. These vast oceanic tracts begin 200 miles from shore and fall under no nation's jurisdiction. And while there…
Photos: periodic closure of fishing grounds boosts octopuses and helps coastal communities
A fisherman spears an octopus in southwestern Madagascar. Photo copyright: Garth Cripps / Blue Ventures 2015. For communities that depend on fishing for their livelihoods, fishing bans as a way…
Population of Maui’s dolphins slips below 50
A New Zealand dolphin, one of whose two subspecies, the Maui's dolphin, is critically endangered with a quickly diminishing population. Photo credit: Steve Dawson/NABU International Foundation for Nature. Maui's dolphins…
Photo essay: Polluted, overfished, and choked by weeds, world’s second-largest lake is ‘on its knees’
Fishing gear stands ready next to the day's catch on the shore of Lake Victoria. Photo credit: Isaiah Esipisu. Lake Victoria, Africa's largest fresh water body and the world's second…
Have the ‘Bandit 6’ poached their last toothfish in the Southern Ocean?
Authorities in Cape Verde board the Songhua, a vessel known to poach toothfish in the Southern Ocean. Photo credit: Sea Shepherd/Josephine Watmore On May 20, Peter Hammarstedt, captain of the…
Vaquita porpoises down to ‘way less than 100,’ Mexican agents shoot fisherman while enforcing new protected area
A fisherman hauls up a critically endangered vaquita porpoise accidentally entangled in his net in 2008. Entanglement in fishing gear threatens the species with extinction. Photo credit: Omar Vidal. With…
Offshore drilling proposed in Belize’s spectacular marine areas
Belize's Great Blue Hole, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that would be included in areas opened to oil and gas drilling under a new proposal from the Belizean…
How to solve the global fish crisis? Ban fishing on the high seas
ith demand for seafood increasing and numerous fish species declining due to overfishing and other threats, scientists are proposing a seemingly drastic solution: close the high seas to fishing and…
Flag states can be held liable for violations of fishing vessels abroad, international tribunal rules
Yu Feng, a vessel with Taiwanese flags suspected of fishing illegally, sails near Sierra Leone in 2009 before being detained by the U.S. Coast Guard and Sierra Leonean government agencies.…
Javanese fishermen switch from lobsters to stingrays as an unintended consequence of new catch limits
"This is for the future of our oceans," Indonesian Fishery Minister Susi Pudjiastuti exclaimed when she announced minimum size limits for lobster and crab catches in January this year. It…
Minister explains sustainability claims behind Indonesia’s boat bombing
A fishing boat, which was flying Indonesian colors, is sunk off the coast of Riau, Sumatra on February 9, 2015, after the fishery ministry evacuated the all-Thai crew. Photo courtesy…
Indonesian fisheries ministry imposes new limits on gear and fish harvests
Wooden fishing rigs off the coast of Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The Indonesian fisheries ministry has introduced two divisive pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the sustainability of…
Indonesian forestry and fishery ministries move to eradicate corruption
Fish being loaded into a truck for processing and export in Batu Putih, North Sulawesi. Photos by Rhett A. Butler. Today Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) signed a memorandum of…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Bolivia’s El Curichi Las Garzas protected area taken over by land-grabbers
- Authorities struggle to protect Bolivian national park from drug-fueled deforestation
- Poverty and plantations: Nigerian reserve struggles against the odds
- Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Oceans
- Warming seas push India’s fishers into distant, and more dangerous, waters
- No protection from bottom trawling for seamount chain in northern Pacific
- Annual ocean conference raises $11.3b in pledges for marine conservation
- Caribbean startups are turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
Amazon Conservation
- Amid record-high fires across the Amazon, Brazil loses primary forests
- A web of front people conceals environmental offenders in the Amazon
- Brazil boosts protection of Amazon mangroves with new reserves in Pará state
- Cross-border Indigenous efforts in Peru & Brazil aim to protect isolated groups
Land rights and extractives
- Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals following K-pop protest
- Brazil’s illegal gold trade takes a hammering, but persists underground
- Maluku bone collector unearths troubling consequence of coastal abrasion
- New FPIC guide designed to help protect Indigenous rights as mineral mining booms
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indonesian activists face jail over FB posts flagging damage to marine park
- Vietnamese environmentalist sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion
- Son of slain Quilombola leader will still strive for community’s rights
- Video: Five Tembé Indigenous activists shot in Amazonian ‘palm oil war’
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
Conservation Effectiveness
- The conservation sector must communicate better (commentary)
- Thailand tries nature-based water management to adapt to climate change
- Forest restoration to boost biomass doesn’t have to sacrifice tree diversity
- How scientists and a community are bringing a Bornean river corridor back to life
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
