Water & Oceans

"It is not just at sea that North America’s smallest marine mammals with a huge appetite are benefitting the ecosystem"

"The grounded Japanese ship that leaked tons of oil near protected areas off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius has split apart, officials said Saturday, with remaining fuel spreading into the turquoise waters."

"Pacific walruses have begun massing onshore in Alaska on a Chukchi Sea beach, one of the earliest of the now-annual congregations at that site yet recorded, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Walruses were spotted on July 29 a beach near the Inupiat village of Point Lay and numbered about 5,000 as of Aug. 5, said Andrea Medeiros, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Sharks have more complex social lives than previously known, as shown by a study finding that gray reef sharks in the Pacific Ocean cultivate surprising social networks with one another and develop bonds that can endure for years."

"The Trump Administration wants to change the definition of a showerhead to let more water flow, addressing a pet peeve of the president who complains he isn’t getting wet enough."

"A groundbreaking, multibillion-dollar watershed protection plan launched more than two decades ago by New York City and rural partners sufficiently protects the city’s drinking water supply from contamination, according to the findings of an expert panel."

"Developers want to build a vast hydroelectric power facility that would flood sacred lands, threaten waterways and put habitats at risk"

"Mauritius’ Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Wednesday nearly all remaining oil had been removed from a damaged Japanese ship, which leaked about 1,000 tonnes in a threat to tourism already hurt by the coronavirus pandemic."

"New emails detail drained ponds, salvaged fish and a tense relationship with the Department of Homeland Security."

"A government assessment recently obtained by an environmental group appears to link a well the group says is used in U.S.-Mexico border wall construction to low water levels in wildlife habitats at an Arizona refuge with endangered species."