When fisherfolk in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat find a whale shark tangled in their fishing nets, it’s an unwelcome sight. They can’t legally harvest the protected species, yet the…
Overfishing is rapidly pushing many of the world’s sharks and tunas toward extinction. The world’s fastest known shark, the shortfin mako, for example, was recently uplisted to endangered on the…
The shortfin mako, the world’s fastest known shark, which can reach speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour (43 miles an hour), is one step closer to extinction. According…
Using drones for wildlife surveys isn’t new to marine wildlife research, but it’s been focused mainly on detecting the large mammals and sea turtles that break the ocean’s surface to…
Argentina has officially created two large marine protected areas: the Yaganes Marine National Park, lying off of the country’s southern tip, and the Namuncurá-Burdwood Bank II Marine National Park in…
Papua New Guinea has announced its commitment to creating 7,500 square kilometers of marine protected areas in the Bismarck Sea by 2021. The government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) made…
A marine sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas is teeming with baby manta rays, scientists say in a new study published in Marine Biology. Giant oceanic manta rays…
Fishing nets and lines kill more young white sharks living near Mexico and southern California than any other cause of death, a new study has found. A team of researchers…
A team of scientists has tracked a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) across more than 20,000 kilometers (over 12,000 miles) of ocean, the longest migration ever recorded for the species. In…
Brazil will soon have four vast marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Atlantic Ocean, covering an area of more than 920,000 square kilometers (355,200 square miles). The new designation will increase the…
The great mass of castaway plastic collecting in the northern Pacific Ocean is much larger than past estimates, and it’s growing, according to a new study. As a species, we…
Even as the world is waking up to the problems created by the massive amounts of plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans — and taking steps to address the issue —…
Scientists have long raised concerns over the future of sharks and rays, of which some 100 million are caught and killed on fishing boats every year. They have paid somewhat…
The government of Belize halted all exploration for oil in its territorial waters from Dec. 29, becoming one of the first developing countries to turn away from oil in favor…
A new alliance, introduced today at an EU-hosted conference on oceans in Malta, has joined the global effort to shore up legality in the seafood industry. Between 11 million and…
International trade in silky and thresher sharks will now be strictly regulated, according to a press release by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). All three species…
Markets around the world sell products made from the processed parts of wild animals and plants, which are sometimes illegal and mislabeled. A research team using DNA barcoding technology to…
Singapore has emerged as the world's second largest trader of shark fins by value after Hong Kong, according to a new report by the wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC. Shark…
More than 50 percent of the sharks and rays native to the Mediterranean Sea are at a high risk of extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced Monday.…
On September 15, Hollywood actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio launched a new campaign for sharks and rays at the third annual Our Ocean conference in Washington, D.C. The Global…
Greenland sharks, living in the cold, deep waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans, are one of the largest sharks in the world -- they can grow up to…
The world’s largest fish, the whale shark, is in deep trouble. According to the latest IUCN assessments, the school bus-sized fish has now been up-listed from Vulnerable to Endangered on the…
