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The sight of a pointed dorsal fin slicing through the waves strikes many with a feeling of primal, blood-freezing fear. Sharks have a fearsome reputation stretching back much further than the iconic 1970s film Jaws but, for many of us, the reputation is undeserved.

In fact, sharks are actually under threat from man. Whether caught for their fins, to be served in fish and chip shops or as accidental bycatch it’s clear that shark numbers are falling. To help you understand the beauty of the sharks residing in UK waters, here are seven surprising facts.

1. Around 21 species live off the UK coast.

According to the Shark Trust you’re most likely to meet the basking shark. These plankton-eating gentle giants can grow up to 11 metres and are seen off Britain’s west coast throughout the summer...

The climate secrets of the deepest part of the ocean, the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, have been probed by scientists.

The international team used a submersible, designed to withstand immense pressures, to study the bottom of the 10.9km-deep underwater canyon.

Their early results reveal that ocean trenches are acting as carbon sinks.

This suggests that they play a larger role in regulating the Earth’s chemistry and climate than was thought.

Although two explorers, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, reached the deepest part of the Marianas Trench – a point called the Challenger Deep – in 1960, no humans have been back since.

And the handful of scientific missions, including this recent visit to this deepest spot, have been carried out using unmanned underwater vehicles.

Lead r...

The European Union has signalled an intention to block landings of mackerel from Icelandic boats amid the ongoing quota dispute.

The wrangle over increased quotas has caused anger and concern within the Scottish industry for several months.

Talks had failed to resolve the issue, after Iceland unilaterally increased its quotas following a surge of mackerel in its territory.

It is hoped any block could yet be averted through more talks.

Tomas Heidar, chief negotiator for Iceland on mackerel fisheries, told the BBC Scotland news website it was “imperative” to “reach an agreement on comprehensive management of the mackerel stock in order to ensure sustainable fishery”.

He added: “We emphasise that all the parties carry joint responsibility in this regard.”

The European Commission said in a st...

As floodwaters in the Queensland capital Brisbane begin to recede, scientists are casting their eyes out to sea and wondering whether the region’s greatest natural feature, the Great Barrier Reef, will be scarred by the experience.

This is the world’s largest reef system – in fact, the largest thing on Earth made by living organisms, stretching for 2,600km along the coast.

Its myriad of islands and tendrils teem with fish, also supporting dugongs, dolphins, turtles and shellfish – and because of all that, a tourist trade worth several billion dollars per year.

The flood waters emerging from Brisbane itself are not a major concern, as the reef lies further north.

But northern rivers are also seeing flow rates way above normal.

As the water floods into the seas west of the reef, it inevitabl...

A supposedly dangerous fishing method in the Philippines that uses compressors was featured in a new documentary aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The BBC documentary

“Hope spots” is a term I learned as Sylvia Earle gave the TED talk that helped her earn the creation of Mission Blue, a movement to raise awareness about ocean conservation.

The work she’s done this last year through Mission Blue was also a significant part of why she earned our Person of the Year award.

Currently, Sylvia and a team of scientists including Edith Widder and Carl Safina, are in the Gulf of Mexico using a submarine to explore and document areas east and west of the oil spill site to judge the impacts from the disaster and the status of local ecosystems.

She was kind enough to take a moment to answer a few questions we had for her regarding marine conservation, and in particular, her take on “hope spots.”

TH: Why do you call marine preserves “hope spots?”

SE: “Hope spots” a...

A major US report into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has called for wide-ranging reforms of the oil industry to prevent a repeat of the disaster.

The report comes from a US presidential commission investigating the spill.

The panel also said the US needed to expand and update drilling regulation and establish an independent drilling safety agency.

The April blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and caused one of the worst oil spills in history.

The Macondo well, about a mile under the sea’s surface, eventually leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, damaging hundreds of miles of coastline before it was capped in July.

The findings came in the final report of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, which President Barac...

Now that the weather is cooperating, this is prime time to go whale-watching off Southern California, especially when you consider that Pacific gray whales are being spotted in concentrations not seen locally in years.

Volunteers with the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project on the Palos Verdes Peninsula logged daily counts of 38, 25 and 24 gray whales in a three-day span ending Sunday.

The overall count of 178 southbound grays, since Dec. 1, places the project’s count three times above last season’s count through the same period.

This does not imply there are more gray whales than the estimated 18,000-20,000 mammals that trek annually from the Bering Sea to mating and nursing grounds off Baja California. But it seems to imply that more of them are sticking close to the coast.

This is...

When Resorts World Sentosa won the bid to build Singapore’s first integrated resort in December 2006, it promised a Marine Life Park (MLP) that would put the Republic on the world map as the region’s leader in marine research, conservation and education.

The MLP has on board today a team of professionals and animal experts who have been working to ensure that its development follows top-notch international practices and that it will eventually gain accreditation from a reputable international body.

Even before it opens, the MLP has put its pledge on conservation into practice. In May 2008, MLP launched the $3.2 million Marine Life Fund for marine-life research, education and conservation projects.

In December 2008, the fund made its first disbursement to WildAid for anti-poaching patrol...

A tuna has sold at auction for a record 32.49m yen in Tokyo, nearly $400,000 (