Science
In 2025, scientists officially identified over 300 new freshwater fish species, highlighting the largely unexplored diversity of rivers, lakes and wetlands.
Research in Fiji’s Shark Reef Marine Reserve reveals that bull sharks form long-term social bonds and selectively associate with certain individuals, demonstrating more sophisticated social behaviour than previously recognised.
Scientists have uncovered unexpected moulting areas for emperor penguins in Antarctica.
Fisheries
A traditional Indonesian practice called sasi laut, which temporarily restricts fishing in certain areas to allow marine life to recover, could guide more sustainable fishing today.
On Cairo’s Nile, fishermen are now gathering and selling plastic waste instead of fish, earning a higher income from bottles and trash, supported by an initiative that rewards river cleanup.
“For decades, a large share of industrial effort has been propped up by public money. One influential analysis of high-seas fishing found that governments subsidized high-seas fleets by about $4.2 billion in 2014 – more than the estimated net economic benefit of that fishing – and that without subsidies, as much as 54% of the high-seas fishing grounds currently exploited would have been unprofitable at the prices and costs prevailing at the time.”
UK Overseas Territories
Researchers have discovered the earliest known audio of a humpback whale, recorded near Bermuda in 1949.
Listen to the amazing sounds of thousands of penguins calling to one another in South Georgia.
“There are some places you visit, and then there are places that stay with you long after you leave. South Georgia is one of those places. Among all the destinations I have travelled to across the world, few have felt as surreal, as untouched, and as overwhelmingly alive as this remote island in the South Atlantic.”
Marine Protection
Brazil has established a vast new marine protected area, Albardão Marine Park, covering over 1 million hectares to safeguard endangered dolphins and preserve important ancient fossil sites.
New research shows that artificial waterways such as dams and drainage channels may provide short-term safe havens for endangered freshwater mussels, helping sustain their populations as natural habitats decline.
Sharks near Eleuthera in the Bahamas have been found with drugs like caffeine, painkillers and cocaine in their blood.
Shipping noise from a planned waterway on the Amazon’s Tapajós River could disrupt the communication and social interactions of giant river turtles.
After the recent deaths of around 900 fish in a polluted Cambridgeshire waterway, Steve Barclay MP has challenged the lack of prosecutions.
Conservation
Researchers have created a minimally invasive way to track breeding male sea turtles by analysing DNA from the sperm on a single egg.
The grey seal colony at Orford Ness in Suffolk has reached its highest-ever numbers of pups and adults this pupping season, showcasing their remarkable population growth.
Juvenile smalltooth sawfish have been observed returning to a historic nursery in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, indicating the endangered species may be starting to recover in parts of its former habitat.
Atlantic puffins have returned to the Firth of Forth this spring, signalling the start of their breeding season and bringing joy to local communities, especially amid a wider crisis along Western Europe’s Atlantic coasts, where harsh winter storms, food shortages, and climate-related pressures have led to an unprecedented die-off of seabirds, including puffins, guillemots and razorbills.
Climate Crisis
Researchers have discovered intense underwater heatwaves in the South China Sea during winter, revealing hidden warming that could threaten marine ecosystems more severely than surface temperatures indicate.
A team is preparing to study Greenland’s fjord glaciers this summer to investigate how melting ice and freshwater flows could trigger a key climate tipping point.
The UK is set to cut its climate funding for developing countries by around 14 per cent, bringing annual support down to about £2 billion while redirecting aid toward new priorities.
Essar, the operator of the Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, UK, has acknowledged nearly 500 violations of environmental rules from 2018 to 2020, including releasing cyanide above legal limits into nearby rivers.
Plastics
Research shows that penguins are more likely to pick up and swallow white plastic than other colours.
Misc
This week’s wildlife photos.
Over 30 short‑finned pilot whales became stranded on a beach in central Indonesia last week, raising concerns about marine ecosystem health and the warning signs such mass strandings may indicate.
“Throughout Peru, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks have killed at least 36,000 South American sea lions, 17,400 southern elephant seals and 1,000 South American fur seals.”
