Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil’s isolated peoples

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 08:00:17 +0000

Exclusive: Solar-powered units reciting biblical passages have appeared in the Javari valley, despite strict laws protecting Indigenous groups

Thousands of tons of invasive seaweed ‘overwhelming’ Spanish beaches

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 04:00:11 +0000

Alga from south-east Asia is major threat to biodiversity, say experts as they warn of environmental catastrophe

Thousands of tonnes of an aggressive invasive seaweed from south-east Asia are piling up on the beaches of the strait of Gibraltar and Spain’s southern coast in what local environmentalists say is a major threat to the region’s biodiversity.

Since May, the local authority in Cádiz has removed 1,200 tonnes of the alga Rugulopteryx okamurae from La Caleta, the city’s most popular beach, including 78 tonnes in a single day.

Rare water world: Australia’s Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre from the air – in pictures

admin — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 00:00:06 +0000

The vast salt lake in the South Australian outback is dry for most of its life, having only filled to capacity three times in the past 160 years. So when water does arrive, this enormous landscape becomes a riot of colour

Call to make wet wipe producers pay for polluting England’s waterways

admin — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 06:00:45 +0000

Water firms claim wet wipes, which shed microplastics and cause blockages, are main source of sewage pollution

Wet wipe producers should be charged to remove their pollution from England’s waterways, the author of a government review into reforming the sector has said.

‘The sorest my legs have ever been’: hordes to descend on Hackney for litter-picking world cup

admin — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 06:00:45 +0000

The public-spirited sport of spogomi is catching on across Britain, which boasts its world champion team

Armed with gloves, metal tongs and plastic rubbish sacks, hordes of determined litter-pickers will descend on Hackney Marshes in east London this weekend.

Spogomi, a Japanese litter-picking sport, has come to the UK. Invented in 2008, it was intended as a competition to encourage people to clean up public spaces. It is now played in schools across the country as people gamify collecting rubbish.

‘Excellent size’: UK blueberry crop up nearly a quarter after warm spring

admin — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 05:00:47 +0000

New technology also helps fruit yield, while strawberry, raspberry and blackberry output has risen

British blueberries are the latest fruit to benefit from the warmest spring on record, with the harvest up by almost a quarter so far this year.

Growers say the weather has produced an early crop with more and larger berries, while new varieties can bring higher yields and better resilience. About 5,133 tonnes are expected by the end of August, up significantly from almost 4,187 tonnes by the same point last year.

“Our fish are not your marine biodiversity”: tensions in integrating fisheries into the BBNJ Agreement

admin — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 26 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00142-5

“Our fish are not your marine biodiversity”: tensions in integrating fisheries into the BBNJ Agreement

Two top Noaa officials linked to Trump’s ‘Sharpiegate’ incident put on leave

admin — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 22:18:59 +0000

Two men led inquiry into 2019 debacle involving incorrect hurricane projections that tarnished federal agency’s record

Two high-ranking officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were placed on administrative leave on Friday, fueling speculation that the Trump administration was retaliating against them for actions taken during the president’s first term.

US heat dome causes dangerous conditions for more than 100 million people

admin — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:17:51 +0000

High temperatures and humidity across north-eastern coast increase risk of heat exhaustion, illnesses and death

More than a 100 million people in the US will face dangerous conditions over the weekend as a heat dome that has scorched much of the center of the country nudges eastward.

‘It’s spectacular’: volunteer Dorset divers see summer of surging seahorses

admin — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 14:54:03 +0000

After efforts to make conditions better for the elusive creatures in Studland Bay, sightings are greatly increasing

The divers emerged from the water smiling with satisfaction. They had found what they were looking for in the undersea meadows off the south coast of England.

“Seahorses are tricky to spot,” said Mark Fox. “The seagrass sways and they blend into it pretty well. It helps if it’s sunny and not too choppy but you have to get your eye in. When you see them, it’s brilliant.”