Ocean Mining News just got a major update: the U.S. Marine Minerals Administration has published a Proposed Leasing Notice for a potential minerals lease sale in federal waters off the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The agency frames the move as support for domestic critical minerals supply chains and…
Ocean Protection in Antarctica Needed: that's the message coming out of this year's krill fishery closure. The Antarctic Krill Fishery shut down early for the second year in a row on August 12, 2026, just one day after World Krill Day, after vessels hit the 620,000-tonne catch trigger limit [VERIFY]…
Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) are one of the biggest drivers of coral mortality across the Indo-Pacific, ranking second only to coral bleaching. In this episode of Ocean Decoded Live, host Andrew looks at why these native starfish, harmless in small numbers, become a serious threat to coral reefs when…
36 New Feeding Behaviours For Whale Sharks have been documented for the first time, thanks to camera tags attached directly to the animals themselves. Researchers Christine Barry (Murdoch University, Australian Institute of Marine Science) and Luciana C. Ferreira (AIMS) led the study, tagging whale sharks at a gathering site near…
Humpback Whales Are Back in the waters off Rio de Janeiro, marking one of the ocean's most remarkable recovery stories. Brazil's humpback population fell to fewer than 1,000 individuals by the late 1980s after centuries of commercial whaling, and has since rebounded to an estimated 30,000, according to Thiago Ferrari…
Mangrove Forest Conservation is having a genuinely surprising moment. On today's Ocean Decoded Live, host Andrew Lewin breaks down a new global study, reported by The Conversation and phys.org, that used four decades of satellite data to track mangrove forests worldwide. Mangroves are unusual coastal plants: their roots rise above…
Today on Ocean Decoded Live, we're covering two major ocean science and conservation stories. First, a new perspective piece published in the journal Coral Reefs reflects on the surge of renewed research into crown-of-thorns starfish, one of the biggest drivers of coral mortality across the Indo-Pacific. We break down what…
Coral Reefs Protected across a huge stretch of the Pacific just got a boost. Solomon Islands have become the latest Pacific nation to sign on to the Melanesian Ocean Corridor of Reserves (MOCOR), a massive transboundary marine protected area first announced by Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and Fiji at the…
Humpback Whales Return to Rio in numbers not seen in generations, and in this episode we're diving into two remarkable comeback and discovery stories from the ocean. Off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, humpback whales that were hunted to fewer than 1,000 individuals by the 1980s have rebounded to…
Coral reefs are full of famous partnerships, like the clownfish and anemone made iconic by Finding Nemo, or the pistol shrimp and goby that share a burrow. But in this clip, marine biologist and science communicator Andrew Lewin breaks down a newly documented relationship that's stranger and far less understood:…
Gray whale populations along the Pacific coast have dropped nearly 30% in just four years, from roughly 20,500 individuals in 2019 down to 14,526 by 2023, and 2026 is shaping up to be one of the deadliest years on record. In this clip, marine biologist and science communicator Andrew Lewin…
Story 1:https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/melanesian-nations-announce-intention-to-create-massive-ocean-reserve-corridor/ Story 2: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-good-news-coasts-climate-mangrove.html
Gray whale populations have decreased from 20,500 individuals to 14,500 individuals, why? A newly observed relationship between fish and tube worms on reefs.
