Ocean News

“This year may be remembered as the ‘summer of the shark hunt’,” stated Christopher Neff, University of Sydney doctoral research student studying the politics of shark attacks. Neff added, “Shark bites are terrible events and for a third time this year Western Australia has endured another tragedy. But there is…

From the 15th to 23rd of October, members of the Shark Alliance in Europe are running a week of activities for supporters and other shark enthusiasts to find out more about shark conservation and to add their voices to those demanding that policy makers secure the future health of shark…

Andrea Marshall, who heads up the Ray of Hope project, was in Ecuador recently to satellite tag mantas and try to shed some light on an intriguing mystery: could mantas from aggregation sites on the mainland be traveling all the way to the Galapagos, almost 1000 km from shore? Along…

SOSF-sponsored marine podcast Naked Oceans is back for a second series, with this month’s episode focusing on life and death in the ancient seas. Listen in to learn about how life emerged from the oceans – and how it almost came to an end, as well as what the past…

The prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival concluded last week, and we’re proud to announce that The Riddle Solvers: The Shark Riddle won the award for best children’s program! The program was co-produced by Sisbro Studios and Save Our Seas Foundation. The Shark Riddle follows the a brother/sister riddle solving…

A few days ago, the government of the Marshall Islands passed fishing regulations that have created the world’s largest shark sanctuary. The sanctuary covers nearly 2 million square kilometers of the Pacific ocean, extending the global area where sharks are protected to roughly 4.6 million square kilometers. The move follows…

The recent shark incident in Cape Town, South Africa, has again catapulted the relationship between people and sharks into the public eye. In light of the recent attention, we have published two articles examining the subject in-depth: The first is by SOSF project leader Christopher Neff, which looks at the…

As a result of the incident at Fish Hoek beach yesterday, 28 September, The City of Cape Town has compiled a report of the incident, which we are reproducing below in full: Introduction At approximately 12.30 on Wednesday 28 September 2011, a 43 year old male, Mr. Michael Cohen was…

Since September 2009, Palau is the world’s first shark sanctuary. With half of the world’s oceanic sharks at risk of extinction, conservationists regarded this move as "game-changing". The sanctuary comprises about 600,000 sq km (230,000 sq miles) of ocean, an area about the size of France. President Toribiong also called…

Mr Branson made an appeal against the consumption of shark fins to a group of 30 of China’s richest and most influential business people in Shanghai. Every year, the fins of up to 73 million sharks are harvested and sold, most of which end up on the menus of luxury…

Earlier this month, an Australian surfer died in a tragic shark incident, reigniting the debate on using shark nets to protect swimmers as well as provoking calls to hunt and kill the animal responsible. Christopher Neff, a SOSF-sponsored researcher who is looking at how communities in Australia, South Africa, and…

This week the first episode of the second series of ‘Naked Oceans’ was podcasted. The subjects for this exciting programme:: Is there such a thing as sustainable whale hunting? And even if there is, are we likely to see an end to the moratorium on commercial whaling? We find out…

US-based conservation group Shark Savers reports that the California state Senate has passed a historic bill banning trade in shark fins, following similar bans by Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon earlier this year. California AB 376 makes it unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer for sale, trade, or distribute…

Deep-sea fishing, particularly bottom trawling, is one of the most destructive and inefficient ways of fishing. Though it provides less than 1% of seafood consumed globally, fishing fleets looking to capitalize on previously unexploited deep-sea fisheries are moving further and further off-shore, sometimes trawling in waters more than a mile…

Some very exciting news from Bahamas-based Manta Ray Cognition project leader Csilla Ari – it appears that newly-introduced manta at the Atlantis Aquarium may be of a previously-undescribed species! As she writes on her blog: After watching the two huge manta rays while snorkeling with them for hours I realized…