Ocean News

New research published in Nature Climate Change magazine this month and funded in part by Save Our Seas Foundation warns that already rapidly deteriorating Mediterranean coastal ecosystems remain under significant threat from increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. A team of marine experts, coordinated by Plymouth University-based Dr Jason Hall-Spencer,…

The last two weeks, two teams of National Geographic visited our Shark Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa. One of the teams is the ‘crittercam’ team, that tries to attach cameras to the dorsal fin of a great white shark. The camera is programmed to be released after a certain…

Save Our Seas is the proud sponsor of the project The Shark Riddle, now a finalist for Best Children’s Program at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Our congratulations to Laura and Robert Sams! The Shark Riddle is a new episode of the children’s series called The Riddle Solvers. The…

The Pew Environment Group reports that Chile’s president has signed a law that bans shark finning – the practice of slicing off a shark’s fins at sea and dumping the animal, often still alive, back into the sea to die – in Chilean waters. The new law will help conserve…

Promising news for sharks – two weeks ago, leaders at the 15th Micronesian Chief Executive Summit passed a resolution (PDF) to begin the process of creating a regional sanctuary where shark fishing would be prohibited. The agreement, which also authorizes the development of a regional ban on the possession, sale…

Shelly Clarke, whose research has been vital to estimating the number of sharks killed yearly to supply the fin trade, has written a cogent article on why it’s important to use accurate numbers to support conservation efforts. Shelly makes a strong and clear case: I’m inevitably interrupted at this point…

In July 2012, the 12 th ICRS will welcome over 2,500 delegates from around to world to the tropical city of Cairns, Australia, to attend 1,500 talks and posters presenting the latest research on the world’s coral reefs. The Reef Sharks and Coral Reefs mini-symposium will focus on research into…

Save Our Seas Foundation-sponsored shark researcher Greg Skomal’s work, which involves tagging white sharks with satellite and acoustic tags to learn about when and why they approach local beaches, has made the news in Cape Code, Massachusetts. From the article: "Our primary focus is the feeding dynamics between sharks and…

The decline of large predators and other "apex consumers" at the top of the food chain has disrupted ecosystems all over the planet, according to a new wide-ranging review published this month in the journal Science. A team of 24 scientists from six countries analyzed research on a wide range…

SOSF West African manatee project leader Lucy Keith is currently blogging from the field in Congo: Mamiwata is an African name for a spirit believed to be embodied by the manatee. This blog chronicles my search for the elusive West African manatee, and my exploration to understand its biology, habitat…

The Marine Education Project in Seychelles hit the (Seychelles) media this week with the handing over ceremony of hundreds of SOSF books donated to the Seychelles Ministry of Education. SOSF CEOs Peter Verhoog and Georgina Wiersma were present to make the official presentation of the books to the Minister and…

Save Our Seas Foundation project leader Christopher Neff and colleagues have announced a new collaborative group aimed at connecting researchers in the humanities and social sciences interested in sharks and human-shark studies. Chris writes: The goal of the collaborative is to offer the chance for those in the social sciences…

The first 12-episode season of SOSF-sponsored podcast Naked Oceans, from Cambridge University-based Naked Scientists, has drawn to a close. We’re happy to announce that a second series is already in the works, but in the meantime, here is a recap of all the episodes so far: 1. July 2010. The…

West Australia’s Ningaloo Coast has been added to the World Heritage List, despite a push by petroleum giant Royal Dutch Shell to drill for oil and gas nearby. The federal government nominated Ningaloo for world heritage in January last year, but Shell’s plans to drill about 50km off the coast…

By now, we all know that the demand for shark fins is leading to a dramatic decrease in the number of sharks. It is also known that shark fins contain a lot mercury. And it is even worse: shark fin soup is not only bad for sharks, but also for…