Water & Oceans

"A hydrophone reveals a vital Antarctic feeding and breeding ground for the world’s second-largest whale."

"As the drought worsens across the West and ushers in an early fire season, cattle ranchers are among those feeling the pain. Their hay yields are down, leading some to make the hard decision to sell off animals."

"Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon, once they enter the Pacific Ocean, are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California."

"The move would reverse a major Trump administration rollback of pollution rules. But many coal plants will be allowed to send toxic wastewater into rivers and streams while the agency writes the new regulations."

"The Great Barrier Reef will not be placed on a list of world heritage sites “in danger” after a global lobbying effort from Australia against the proposed listing."

"Fishermen say their concerns, from safety issues to how offshore wind will alter the ocean environment, aren’t being meaningfully considered by regulators".

"Forced to reckon with a worsening drought, California’s water regulators are preparing to forbid thousands of farmers from tapping into the state’s major rivers and streams."

"In Costa Rica, Panama, and elsewhere, COVID-19 lockdowns caused suddenly desperate people to begin poaching sea turtle eggs and meat, threatening hard-won conservation achievements."

"Toliver and Jessica Tucker are used to the dark, oily water, the bulging eyes, the gray flesh decaying to a pulp in the city’s bayous. They have even become accustomed to the smell — God, the smell — of all the rotting fish in gruesome flotillas, victims of a toxic Red Tide in Tampa Bay."