Clockwise from top left: a jellyfish-like hydrozoan (Aglantha digitale); a Pacific sea gooseberry (Pleurobrachia bachei); a new ctenophore species; a swimming crinoid known as a sea lily; the Beroe ovata ctenophore, with another comb jelly (Biolinopsis) in its stomach; and a Limacina helicina, a swimming snail known as a sea devil. Photograph: Leonid Moroz/University of Florida, as seen in the Guardian.
Welcome to OCF’s insights from the marine and coastal sector. This week we have summarised the most relevant stories for you from a range of Marine and Coastal Sectors, including; Fisheries; Offshore Wind; Offshore Industries; Conservation; Climate and Marine Pollution and more.
Fisheries
The Securing Sustainable Inshore Fisheries – Northern Regions workshop took place last week. The workshop aimed to bring different perspectives together to help build a common understanding of why the UK is losing a high rate of inshore fishing boats, and establish areas of agreement about what can feasibly be done to address the loss. The outputs from both the Poole and Whitby workshops, along with next steps and future plans, will be written in a full report.
Key EU Fisheries Stakeholders have demanded a deep-sea mining moratorium amid Norway’s licensing preparations. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) have expressed strong support for the Long Distance Advisory Council’s (LDAC) recent stance calling for a moratorium, citing significant concerns about both the environmental and socio-economic risks. Norway is currently the only European nation to consider deep-sea mining in international waters, although a Canadian mining company has also announced plans to apply for an International Seabed Authority deep-sea mining licence in the North Pacific.
The European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Hamburg, where members engaged in a comprehensive agenda covering critical topics for the European fisheries sector. The event featured a ranger of expert presentations addressing the pressing challenges of facing the industry, focusing on a German perspective.
Tony Delahunty, a long-standing member of the Board, has been appointed as Interim Chair for the Marine Management Organisation from 8 November 2024 until 7 August 2025.
The recent adoption of the revised Distant Water Fisheries Development Act by Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries demonstrates the country’s strong commitment to sustainable fisheries and transparent seafood supply chains, and represents the most significant progress by any country in implementing these recommendations.
Offshore Wind
The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has announced the online launch of new guidance documents relating to the managed introduction of Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) to the State’s maritime area, with specific focus on the interaction between ORE and Seafood sectors. Meanwhile, the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East MP Seamus Logan has urged the UK Government to avoid any moves to link fishing with energy in any trade negotiations with the European Union.
Sweden has rejected permission for 13 proposed offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea, citing a clash with defence interests, blocking some of the world’s largest planned projects. Meanwhile, it has given the go ahead to an offshore wind farm on the country’s west coast that will produce around 5.5 Twh of electricity a year. The CEO of Orsted said the offshore wind industry has solutions that would address Swedish defence concerns. The right of centre government has mainly focused on nuclear power, aiming to build the equivalent of 10 full scale reactors by 2045.
UK innovation centrе the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult released a report outlining a new approach to environmental monitoring and consenting for the offshore wind sector with the aim of speeding up deployment. The report advocates for adopting a Regional Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (REMP) to assess the environmental impacts of offshore wind projects at a regional level, moving away from the current approach of project by project evaluation.
A new report introduces an alternative monitoring approach for the offshore wind industry, driven by a regional ecosystem-based monitoring programme (REMP) supported by innovative technologies. The report aims to accelerate the delivery of dramatic increases in offshore wind deployment needed to meet the UK’s Net Zero targets.
The UK must build offshore wind farms at a pace “far exceeding previous records” to fulfil hopes of taking fossil fuels off the grid by 2030, according to a new report by the National Energy System Operator (NESO). The Labour government took control of National Grid’s electricity system operator, which became NESO last month. The UK connection queue has enough projects to hit 54GW by 2030, but NESO said that reaching even the lowest level of 43GW “will be challenging.”
Ahead of the U.S. election major players in the wind energy sector, Orsted and Vestas, said demand for green power in the United States would grow regardless of who the country’s next president would be. Despite Trump vowing to ban offshore wind specifically with an executive order on the first day he’s in office, which many think could pose a substantial setback for an industry, others think Trump will only be able to slow the transition that is well under way. The CEO of Oceanic Network took the opportunity to recall the Trump administration laid out the fundamental framework for the modern offshore wind industry.
The Dongfang Electric Corporation just rolled the world’s largest single-capacity offshore turbine (26MW) off the production line in Fujian Province, as offshore wind could become one of China’s most affordable renewable energy sources.
The offshore wind energy industry has increasingly been facing a host of problems, most recently a shortage of the submarine power cables needed to bring their power to shore. Additionally, unexpected wind and solar droughts in countries that are increasingly dependent on renewables pose a threat to system reliability, said Chinese, Canadian and US academics in a paper published in Nature. This was seen recently in a spike in day-ahead prices and power imports as a result of low wind generation in Europe.
Taiwan and the European Union (EU) have reached a consensus to suspend a WTO dispute concerning Taiwan’s offshore wind power localisation policies.The EU is Taiwan’s largest investor and fourth-largest trading partner, with extensive involvement in Taiwan’s offshore wind projects.
Offshore Industry
Several energy industry trade groups issued comments following Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency, from traditional oil and gas-related groups to offshore wind energy organisations.
Conservation
There is disagreement amongst the ministers in Iceland’s caretaker government over whether or not they will approve an application from Hvalur hf., Iceland’s last active whaling company, to continue hunting fin whales indefinitely. A temporary ban on fin whale hunting was issued on the day the hunt was to begin, in June 2023, which was later ruled unlawful. A coalition of conservation and animal welfare groups are urging Iceland’s president to step in and stop any plans the prime minister has to issue a whaling licence to Europe’s last whaler before the Icelandic election at the end of the month.
The largest dam-removal project in US history has finally been completed, after four dams that were originally erected in 1912 were dismantled on the Klamath River in September 2024. For the first time in more than one hundred years chinook salmon have migrated through the tributaries.
An article in Mongabay summarises how the oceans fared at the COP16 biodiversity conference in Columbia.
In Monaco, 90% of the coastline and shallow habitats have been modified or changed by human disturbance. Researchers went to study the Larvotto marine protected area (MPA) that sits right along the city’s coastline, established in 1976 and a critical habitat for fish species in the Mediterranean, to see if urban MPAs have a reserve effect. They found Species richness and biomass were significantly higher for artificial rocky substrates in the Larvotto MPA compared to unprotected areas, however there was no significant difference between protected and unprotected P. oceanica meadows.
A Università degli Studi di Palermo project has successfully rallied fishers to reduce endangered shark and ray bycatch and secured greater protection for the rare summer gathering of mating and birthing eagle rays. Thanks to the vital data collected, the marine protected area authority has introduced new regulations, protective measures, and a code of conduct for recreational ray-watching. This effort has led to the area’s designation as an Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) by the IUCN. Spanning over 700 km², the zone is recognised as essential to the survival of endangered elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean.
A rescue mission was launched in Loch Fyne after a humpback whale became tangled in creel lines anchored to the seabed. The lines were successfully cut from the whale by British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), and it quickly swam away.
Climate
In 2023, 77% of the world’s coral reefs were exposed to ocean temperatures that can cause coral bleaching, a record-breaking level reported by researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Nearly one in five people (20%) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), totalling around 8.5 million, are now exposed to coastal and inland flooding. Inhabitants of the smallest countries globally, contributing least to climate change, already bear the brunt of its devastating consequences and the burden is likely to worsen. For three of the countries, the Bahamas, Guyana, and Tuvalu, this proportion trebles to more than 60% of the population, according to the findings.
Business leaders, ambassadors, industry experts and representatives from the COP Troika governments of the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Brazil joined discussions hosted by the U.K. government on Wednesday 6 November to galvanise climate action ahead of COP29. The discussions were chaired by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Development Minister Anneliese Dodds and Environment Secretary Steve Reed. The 3 roundtables were focused on financing the transition to renewable energy, accelerating investment for projects improving climate resilience, and the global treaty to end plastic pollution.
An article in the Conversation argues that UN climate summits still matter, particularly the smaller, lower-profile gathering called “subsidiary bodies” of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or SB for short. SB meetings take place between each Conference of the Parties (Cop) and are held in the same small venue in the German city of Bonn every year. Their focus is on negotiations and side events, with more chances to speak directly to negotiators including diplomats, heads of state, and UNFCCC staff.
A new study has provided fresh insights into the ocean’s role in climate during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, an enigmatic interval of change in climate cycles that began about one million years ago. While previous theories linked the transition through the Earth’s ice ages to a significant weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), this research discovered ice age intensification was influenced primarily by changes around Antarctica. It is suggested that as the Antarctic Ice Sheet expanded, it enhanced the ocean’s capacity to store carbon, leading to lower atmospheric CO2 levels, colder climates, and prolonged ice age cycles.
A recent paper showed that a thin layer at the ocean surface called the “ocean skin”, a layer thinner than a human hair, increases this ocean CO₂ uptake by about 7%. That sounds like a small difference, but this additional uptake is equivalent to the CO₂ absorbed by the entire Amazon rainforest each year.
Science
Marine scientist Edwina Tanner and a small group of collaborators at the WhaleX Foundation are attempting to create synthetic whale poo, which they say could fertilise the ocean and sequester carbon.
A new study reviewed the science underlying different approaches accounting for allochthonous organic carbon, to address an ongoing debate whether organic carbon sequestered out with the blue carbon project and transported to its present location (allochthonous) should be counted as ‘additional’. The paper concluded there are currently no robust scientific approaches to define an appropriate apportioning of allochthonous OC for discounting in the calculation of additionality in carbon projects.
Scientists use new technology to sequence the DNA of microscopic ocean creatures for the first time, with a mission to classify, observe, sequence and map 80% of the sea’s smallest creatures to learn more about ourselves, and the health of the planet. They are unlocking plankton’s secrets onboard sailing boats rather than engine-powered vessels, as it is associated with lower costs, low carbon, and no vibration so work can be carried out more precisely.
A recent study investigated how California’s shrinking Salton Sea, due to water needs transitioning from the Colorado River to San Diego, is contributing to regional dust pollution as Salton’s shoreline recedes. They estimated the shoreline loss averaged 12.53 metres/year between 2002 and 2017, and more than tripled to 38.44 metres/year between 2017 to 2020. Between 2030 and 2041 the shoreline is estimated to retreat 22 metres in total, contributing to increased dust pollution. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand water management strategies and how to curtail potential environmental catastrophes from them.
Project CETI (the Cetacean Translation Initiative) is collecting ‘millions to billions’ of high-quality, highly contextualised vocalisations between sperm whales, to help shape our understanding of the ways in which this particular species speaks to one another. They are using a new ‘reinforcement learning framework’ in which robotics and artificial intelligence meet sperm whales for the first time.
The world of robotics has taken an exciting plunge with the latest iteration of MAB Robotics’ Honey Badger quadruped robot. This innovative machine is not just another land-dwelling robot dog; it is now making waves with its ability to walk underwater.
A whale that washed up near a coastal resort in Dorset has been formally identified as a Sowerby’s beaked whale, which is rarely seen at sea.The species is thought to inhabit deep ocean trenches in the North Atlantic, and may have starved to death as it was in the wrong location to feed, experts said.
Marine Pollution
A new pilot project, led by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), has successfully demonstrated a method to detect abandoned creel fishing gear a.k.a. Ghost fishing, which otherwise poses significant threats to marine life in Scottish waters. They used a combination of advanced side-scan sonar and remotely operated vehicles to identify and visually inspect areas suspected of containing lost gear, finding that sonar was particularly effective.
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists have made significant progress in understanding the origins of the mysterious black goo washing ashore on Sydney beaches. The analyses show that the material is not natural and cannot be attributed solely to an oil spill, and is most consistent with human generated waste, with the sticky spheres containing hundreds of different components, including molecules that derive from cooking oil and soap scum, PFAS chemicals, steroidal compounds, antihypertensive medications, pesticides, and veterinary drugs.
The anthropogenic share of marine oil discharge is much larger than previously thought. Analysis of more than 500,000 satellite SAR images from 2014 to 2019 has found over 450,000 oil slicks, with the vast majority originating from anthropogenic releases or discharges.
Defra held a roundtable ahead of the fifth session of negotiations to agree a global plastic pollution treaty (INC-5). Participants considered key elements that need to be included in the treaty text, focusing on the global rules and financing needed to address plastic pollution. Businesses involved in the roundtable have signed an accompanying statement calling for an ambitious and effective treaty. The statement is open for other private sector organisations to sign and non-private sector organisations to endorse from 6 November 2024 until the start of INC-5 on 25 November 2024.
More than 500 Caspian Sea seals, an endangered species in Kazakhstan, have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea over the past two weeks, with pollution or disease cited as possible causes. This species is at risk of extinction, only numbering an estimated 270,000 individuals.
A disturbing pattern of dolphin deaths and injuries to protected marine species along Goa’s coastline has triggered alarm among wildlife conservationists, prompting calls for urgent investigation and action. While the exact causes behind these marine deaths remain under investigation, experts suspect a complex interplay of factors including water pollution, entanglement in fishing nets, and potentially natural causes.
The Greek-flagged oil tanker MV Sounion, severely damaged by a Houthi rebel attack in August, has begun transferring its cargo of over a million barrels of oil at a safe berth in the port of Suez, Egypt. The transfer is expected to take three to four weeks to prevent an environmental disaster that could have been similar to the historic 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
An oil spill at Shell’s Brent Charlie platform in the UK North Sea has highlighted environmental concerns ahead of the government’s long-awaited decision on whether to allow the supermajor to leave offshore infrastructure in place.
Four crew members from the Netherlands-flagged dredger Vox Maxima have been charged under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 following an oil spill in Singapore on June 14. The spill released around 400 tonnes of fuel into the sea when the dredger collided with the stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel Marine Honour at Pasir Panjang Terminal, and has been described as the worst oil spill in the region in more than a decade.
Marine Media
Architect Lenka Petráková’s “The 8th Continent” proposes a self-sustaining structure to recycle ocean plastic and restore marine health.
Ocean advocacy groups have reacted with sadness and determination at Donald Trump’s US presidential election win.
Hear from the NOAA Fisheries scientist who identified Bryde’s whales as the source of a new whale call—biotwang—in the North Pacific. With Google AI and machine learning, they sorted through thousands of hours of acoustic recordings to identify these calls.
Opportunities
UNEP Webinar “Wave Goodbye to Plastic Pollution: A Journey from Source to Sea” -12 November 2024, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Bangkok time / 9:00 am – 10:30 am CET
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has launched an online survey inviting stakeholders to share their views on the issues they believe the Committee should prioritise in 2025, including long-term or emerging issues that may require scrutiny over the next five years.
A statement calling for an ambitious and effective global plastic pollution treaty is open for other private sector organisations to sign and non-private sector organisations to endorse from 6 November 2024 until the start of INC-5 on 25 November 2024. Should your organisation be interested, contact marinelitter@defra.gov.uk.