Blog Archives

For many whales and dolphins, the world is shaped by sound; they hunt and navigate by listening for echoes.

Navigating in this way requires super-sensitive hearing. And scientists have now found that, for some whales, this sense is adjustable.

Researchers in Hawaii measured the hearing of a female false killer whale, and found that she could fine-tune her most crucial sense.

The whale would “turn down” her hearing when she anticipated a loud noise.

The researchers presented their findings at the Acoustics 2012 meeting in Hong Kong.

Dr Paul Nachtigall from the University of Hawaii led the research, working with Kina, a trained false killer whale.

He and his colleague, Prof Alexander Supin from the Russian Academy of Sciences, first noticed five years ago that Kina might have the ability “t...

Brigitte Bardot, the actress and animal rights campaigner, has offered to take the place of the founder of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group in prison.

Paul Watson was detained in Germany last week. On Monday, the 61-year-old was ordered by a German court to remain in custody a day after his arrest on a warrant from Costa Rica where he is accused of endangering a shark-finning ship’s crew during a confrontation in 2002.

“Being outraged by the fact that he’s been put in prison, I offer to take his place because I am his accomplice,” Bardot, 77, said in a statement.

“I have always supported Paul Watson, my brother in arms,” said the retired French actress who had a Sea Shepherd trimaran named after her in 2011.

Watson was passing through Frankfurt with French European Parliament mem...

A school of bottlenose dolphins have figured out how to enjoy a free meal with the whelk waste from a seafood factory, marine researchers believe.

And like any school, there are also lessons for youngsters on how to do things properly.

Third year Swansea University marine biology student Jodie Denton counted how many bottlenose dolphins turned up after the licensed discharges by the plant at New Quay, Ceredigion.

She said: “There does seem to be a correlation between dolphin numbers and when the factory is open.”

Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CBMWC) has identified 300 individual dolphins which use the bay, one of the largest in Europe and a location for sighting wildlife including seal, basking shark, minke whale and even Orca.

But it seems only the dolphins have cottoned on to the ...

Investigators believe an increase in usual ocean temperatures have driven a type of anchovy deeper into the sea, beyond the reach of many young pelicans

What do the terms “marine reserve” and “marine-protected area” conjure up for you? Places in which, perhaps, wildlife is protected? In which the damaging activities permitted in other parts of the sea

The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean has increased a hundred fold over the past 40 years.

Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography documented the big rise when they trawled the waters off California.

They were able to compare their plastic “catch” with previous data for the region.

The group reports its findings in the journal Biology Letters.

“We did not expect to find this,” says Scripps researcher Miriam Goldstein.

“When you go out into the North Pacific, what you find can be highly variable. So, to find such a clear pattern and such a large increase was very surprising,” she told BBC News.

All the plastic discarded into the ocean that does not sink will eventually break down.

Sunlight and the action of the waves will degrade an...

The Prince of Wales is to deliver a keynote address at the sixth World Fisheries Congress.

The congress is organised by the World Council of Fisheries Societies which aims to promote international cooperation in fisheries science, conservation and management.

Charles, who established the International Sustainability Unit to build consensus on how to resolve some of the key environmental challenges facing the world, will address this year’s event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

The World Council of Fisheries aims to encourage and promote sustainable management practices, excellence in fisheries research and the wise use of fishery resources.

The congress is held every four years, with the last one taking place in Yokohama in Japan in 2008.

Later, the Prince, who is known ...

Wemo Media, the Venice, CA-based entertainment studio, on friday, 4 May 2012, announced the launch of “theBlu,” a globally shared art and entertainment experience.

Inspired by the world’s oceans, “theBlu” is a living and breathing digital art exhibit of ocean habitats and species, created by artists and developers from all over the world.

This social exploring experience is currently available as a downloadable app for PC and Macintosh computers at theblu.com

“theBlu” principles:

Use the power of the internet to connect geographically disparate people in a meaningful way.

Empower a global community of artists and developers to create an extraordinarily beautiful and high fidelity series of apps.

Support non-profit collaborators in their efforts to better understand and protect the world’s...

Greenland’s glaciers are not speeding up as much as previously thought, researchers have estimated.

As a result, the ice rivers may be contributing “significantly less” to sea-level rise than had been thought.

Previous studies had estimated that the nation’s glaciers would double their flow by 2010 and continue to maintain that speed, they explained.

But the team, writing in Science, said the glaciers could eventually flow faster than earlier studies estimated.

The team of US researchers based their findings on data stretching back to 2000-2001, collected from more than 200 outlet glaciers.

“So far, on average, we are seeing about a 30% speed-up in 10 years,” observed lead author Twila Moon from the University of Washington, Seattle.

This is less than earlier projections, one of which est...

Norwegian whale hunters have harpooned the first three whales of the year, nearly a month after the controversial hunting season began, the country’s Fishermen’s Sales Organisation said Wednesday.

“Three whales were taken off Bear Island on Sunday,” Per Rolandsen, of the sales organisation’s division in Norway’s Arctic Lofoten archipelago, told AFP.

Norway’s whale hunting season started on April 1 and is set to last until August 31, but Rolandsen explained that weather conditions had been poor and the vessels had been tied up until now with other fishing activities.

“The whale hunt is very weather dependent (but) we expect now that the hunting conditions will improve,” he said.

Norway and Iceland are, with Japan, the only countries to defy the 1986 international moratorium on commercial wh...