Thunder gone under: The story of the world’s longest maritime chase

By Jonathon Gatehouse and Amanda Shendruk16 April 2015 (Maclean’s) – The captain of the MV Thunder didn’t go down with his ship. Instead, he stood cheering and applauding in a life raft as the 62-m fishing trawler sank beneath the glassy surface of the Atlantic, 200 km off the coast of Gabon. Then he and […]

Pacific sardine industry shutdown as species collapses – ‘The population isn’t replacing itself’

By Kelly House10 April 2015 (The Oregonian) – Updated at 6:55 p.m. on 13 April 2015: The council has canceled the upcoming season. Pacific coast sardines are facing a population collapse so severe that Oregon’s multimillion-dollar sardine industry almost certainly will be shut down this summer. Anticipating fishermen will pursue anchovies instead, ocean conservationists are […]

Poaching vessel, the ‘Thunder’, sinks in suspicious circumstances, after longest pursuit of high-seas poachers in history – Crew rescued by Sea Shepherd activists

6 April 2015 (SSCS) – At 1152 GMT today, the notorious poaching vessel, Thunder, sank at 0˚ 20′ North 05˚ 23′ East inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sao Tome. The Sea Shepherd ships Bob Barker and Sam Simon are in the process of rescuing the entire crew of 40, including the captain, officers, […]

Overfishing of Atlantic by EU nations continues, studies show

Environmental groups say countries are not fishing sustainably and quotas are too high 25 March 2015 (Associated Press) – Two studies from environmental groups show European Union nations continue to overfish their Atlantic waters despite commitments to fish sustainably and stay within safe scientific limits. The studies obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press ahead of […]

Pursuit of notorious poaching vessel Thunder enters record 100th day – Sea Shepherd calls on Navies to intercept ‘slave’ ship

By Captain Paul Watson27 March 2015 (Facebook) –  DAY 100: The Pursuit of the Thunder. The Bob Barker and the Sam Simon are both on the tail of the world’s most notorious toothfish poacher. A pursuit that has covered over 10,000 nautical miles over three oceans, the Southern, the Indian, and now the South Atlantic, […]

Graph of the Day: Californian anchovy (Engraulis mordax) depletion, 1950-2012

25 March 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – The Pew Charitable Trusts support excellent ongoing research on the state of the oceans, and recently Pew’s Paul Shively wrote a good story on the current mass-starvation event among California sea lions (“Starving pups: It’s more than a sea lion problem”). Mr. Shively observes that in addition to sardines, […]

Sea lion strandings on San Diego beaches reach record numbers – ‘They’ve been very malnourished and in some cases, bags of bones’

By Dave Schwab26 March 2015 (SD News) – A surprising influx of malnourished and dehydrated sea lions has SeaWorld San Diego and its trainers working overtime to nurse them back to health before returning them to the wild. More than 550 marine mammals have been rescued so far in 2015, which is more than double […]

Starving pups: It’s more than a sea lion problem

By Paul Shively23 March 2015 (Pew Charitable Trusts) – Here on the West Coast, sea lions evoke plenty of emotions. Some people love them, while others see them as a nuisance. Whatever your view, it’s unsettling to see hundreds of emaciated sea lion pups turning up along the California coast in what could be one […]

Surprise finding heightens concern over tiny bits of plastic polluting our oceans

By Lynne Peeples23 March 2015 (Huffington Post) – Scientists are looking for — and finding — little bits of plastic in a lot of places lately: ice cores, deep sea sediments, coral reefs, crab gills, the digestive system of mussels, even German beer. Now, new research suggests they need not actually be searching for the […]

Graph of the Day: Sardine (sardinops) depletion, 1950-2012

22 March 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – You may have noticed the ongoing mass-starvation event among California sea lions. (“Why are California sea lion pups starving?”; “Sick sea lions flood shelters in California – Pups wash ashore all along the coast amid what scientists say are strains on the ocean”) The sea lions are starving because […]

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