Ocean Conservation News

A Canadian anti-whaling activist who has dodged arrest in Japan for more than a decade vowed at COP30 in Brazil to continue fighting for marine protection – taking aim in particular at deep-sea mining and Norway’s krill industry.Paul Watson urged delegates this week at the U.N. climate summit in the Amazon city of Belem to look beyond the world’s forests and remember that oceans also help to limit climate change, with phytoplankton producing much of the oxygen that we breathe.These photosynthetic organisms along with many ocean creatures are under threat…

Proactive measures supporting marine biodiversity create operational efficiencies and attract commercial incentives, according to a new Lloyd’s Register (LR) report, launched June 11 at the UN Ocean Conference 2025 in Nice, France.The Shipping Biodiversity Report offers practical, science-based guidance and potential actions for shipowners, operators, regulators and policymakers seeking to protect marine biodiversity while maintaining efficient operations.The report connects environmental impact with financial and reputational exposure.

The international treaty on the high seas, which focuses on conservation and sustainable use of maritime areas beyond national jurisdictions, has received sufficient support to take effect early in 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.Speaking at the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, Macron said 55 countries' ratifications of the treaty have been completed, around 15 are in progress with a definite date, and another 15 will be completed by the end of the year…

The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) will be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in the French city of Nice from June 9 to 13 with the aim of "accelerating action" on protecting the world's oceans.The conference will cover climate change, pollution, biodiversity and making humanity's access to marine resources more sustainable.The oceans are "not doing very well," UNESCO's head of marine policy Julien Barbiere said, citing increasing temperatures, sea level rise, pollution of various kinds and conflicts over fishing and mineral resources as main issues to be tackled during the conf

At COP 15 in December 2022, over 190 countries adopted a framework for action in support of the Convention on Biological Diversity.The framework includes 23 targets aimed at reversing habitat and species loss. Target 3, known as “30x30”, calls for the effective protection and management of 30% of the world’s terrestrial, inland water and coastal and marine areas by the year 2030.Put simply, says the Nature Conservancy, 30x30 is the biggest conservation commitment the world has…

Offshore vessel owner Maersk Supply Service, A.P. Moller – Maersk,  and The Ocean Cleanup have agreed to extend their collaboration to complete the validation of the system by The Ocean Cleanup which is said to be able to consistently capture significant quantities of plastic from the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup, which has established the plastic capture system said the next step for The Ocean Cleanup is to validate the system from an engineering and ecological perspective, allowing it to demonstrate to governments…

An oil and gas industry trade group, the state of Louisiana and Chevron on Thursday sued the Biden administration over its decision to withdraw acreage from an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico to protect an endangered whale.The suit is the latest dispute between the oil and gas industry and the administration of President Joe Biden over leasing federal lands and waters for energy development.Biden paused federal drilling auctions shortly after taking office in 2021 as part of his climate change agenda…

The UN’s 193 Member States have adopted a legally binding marine biodiversity agreement, the High Seas Treaty, following nearly two decades of fierce negotiations.Adopted by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), the “high seas” treaty aims at taking stewardship of the ocean on behalf of present and future generations, in line with the Convention on the Law of the Sea.The new agreement contains 75 articles that aim at protecting…