Turquoise waters in Los Roques National Park in Venezuela

Real MPA or Paper Park? Los Roques National Park

Featured
Turquoise waters in Los Roques National Park in Venezuela

Los Roques National Park in Venezuela. Photo by Tucanrecords, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

Continue reading →

Orange-dotted grouper swimming and breathing in the ocean

New report sheds light on how fish grow in a warming, low-oxygen world

Featured
Orange-dotted grouper swimming and breathing in the ocean

Grouper. Image created with Adobe Firefly.

Aquatic animals that breathe through gills — including most fish and many invertebrates — are the backbone of life in oceans, lakes and rivers. They support biodiversity, shape food webs and sustain fisheries that feed millions of people worldwide. Understanding how these animals grow, reproduce and survive is therefore essential to understanding how aquatic ecosystems work — and how they continue to support human societies.

Continue reading →

Philippines_short_Valentines (3)

Swipe right for healthy oceans

Featured

Philippines_short_Valentines (3)
In thinking about February as Valentine’s Month, we invited our social media followers to “swipe right for healthy oceans.”

In a series of four posts showcasing country snapshots and designed to mimic a dating app interface, we presented how the Sea Around Us‘ fisheries data help us explore what ocean health looks like in different parts of the world. Each post highlights key strengths and challenges, grounded in catch reconstructions, stock assessments, and nutrition data.

Continue reading →

Fatal Watch image

Between profit and principle: Fatal Watch exposes the human price of the global tuna industry

Featured

Fatal Watch image

Labour and human rights abuses, overfishing, unreported, unregulated and illegal fishing, all spurred by subsidies provided to distant-water fishing fleets, are some of the most pervasive practices linked to the global seafood industry.

Witnessing and reporting on all of this are fisheries observers. Often scientists – marine biologists or ecologists –, fisheries observers are tasked by national frameworks, regional bodies, or international fisheries organizations with gathering information that supports sustainable fisheries management. Some are hired by the fishing companies they monitor.

Continue reading →

Turquoise waters at the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

Real MPA or paper park? Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

Featured
Turquoise waters at the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. Image by UNESCO, Wikimedia Commons.

World Oceans Day (WOD), the initiative proposed in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and officially recognized by the UN in 2008, aims to catalyze collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate.

Some of the yearly campaigns thousands of organizations run, inspired by this goal, are guided by the annual action theme that NGO The Ocean Project proposes for WOD. The Ocean Project, together with the World Ocean Network, led efforts to get the UN to recognize June 8th as World Oceans Day.

Continue reading →

Helostoma temminckii or kissing gourami with its mouth open.

Animal-welfare models fail to account for fish’s need for oxygen

Featured

Helostoma temminckii or kissing gourami with its mouth open.

Helostoma temminckii or kissing gourami. Image by Jörn, Wikimedia Commons.


A new essay published in Issues in Science and Technology argues that current animal welfare science and policy frameworks overlook a fundamental aspect of the lives of fish and other aquatic “water-breathing” species — and calls for a shift in how governments, researchers, and industry assess humane treatment in aquaculture, research, commercial fisheries, and in the wild.

Continue reading →