08 Apr 2025

Image description: A plastic bottle, polystyrene and driftwood on a sandy beach. Image by Catherine Sheila/ Pexels.   Not a single inch of the Mediterranean is clean  A new study has shone a light on one of the highest concentrations of deep-sea litter ever detected at the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists captured […]

08 Apr 2025

Image description: Close-up shot of hands holding an angling rod. Photo by Laura Stanley / Pexels.   Weighing up to 100 kg and stretching the length of a dinner table, flapper skate are at the centre of one of the largest citizen-science projects in British waters. The Guardian recently reported how sea anglers in Scotland […]

08 Apr 2025

Image description: A fishing boat at sea during sunrise.   EU push to link fisheries with broader political deal The transitional agreement on fisheries is due to expire in mid-2026, triggering concern that the EU may attempt to leverage access to shared waters in exchange for concessions elsewhere. The UK government has so far rejected […]

01 Apr 2025

Canadian deep-sea mining firm, The Metals Company (TMC), has formally initiated a process under the U.S. Department of Commerce to apply for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits under existing U.S. legislation, the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980 (DSHMRA). The Company said that following extensive legal diligence on DSHMRA, regulations and other […]

01 Apr 2025

The UK government’s environmental regulator has started patrols along the coast to help protect the endangered European eel from illegal poaching. The Environment Agency’s Fisheries Enforcement Officers have started patrols along the Morecambe Bay and North Lancashire coastlines in the north-west of England to help protect the critically endangered European eel from illegal poaching.   […]

01 Apr 2025

A conservation group is challenging the UK government in a London court over dozens of North Sea oil and gas exploration licenses that it says could put marine protected areas and climate stability at risk. Oceana UK said licenses granted by the previous Conservative government in May 2024 were unlawful as they don’t account for […]

01 Apr 2025

The UK government’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) intends to establish a Marine Recovery Fund (MRF) for use by relevant offshore wind activity across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Once operational, it will be a voluntary mechanism that organisations undertaking relevant offshore wind activities (such as developers or plan promoters) can pay […]

01 Apr 2025

The Blue Marine Foundation will appeal a ruling by the UK’s High Court that dismissed its challenge to the government’s fishing quota allocation system, which the conservation group claims has led to the collapse of fish populations and the decline of coastal communities. Blue Marine went to court at the start of March 2025 to argue […]