Exclusive: Colin Simpfendorfer’s resignation from working group comes as conservationists lash expansion of lethal program they say ‘does nothing to improve beach safety’
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One of Australia’s leading shark researchers has resigned from his position of almost eight years advising the Queensland shark control program, as members of that scientific working group say they were “shocked” and sidelined by the state government’s decision to expand the lethal control of sharks.
Announcing an $88m shark management plan overhaul which would see shark nets and baited drum lines designed to kill target shark species rolled out at more beaches, and existing drum lines used more intensely, the primary industries minister, Tony Perrett, claimed this week that the Liberal National party’s strategy was backed by research.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/31/2025 - 15:00
05/31/2025 - 05:00
Visitors lament ‘tremendous shame’ as notice withdrawing public access appears after £30m sale of Bridehead Estate
For decades the lake and waterfall on the Bridehead Estate in Dorset have brought joy to visitors who used the permissive path to access a scene of pastoral loveliness that could have come straight from the pages of a Thomas Hardy novel.
But there was melancholy – and anger – among the hundreds, possibly thousands, who made final pilgrimages to the village of Littlebredy this week after it was announced that access to the public was being halted from 2 June.
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05/31/2025 - 00:00
Politicians reviled environmental minister Marina Silva in the senate this week, but new legislation is fuelling the fire
Political bullying is rarely as brutal as it was in Brazil this week when the environment minister Marina Silva was ambushed in a senate meeting. Her thuggish tormentors – all white male politicians on the infrastructure committee – took turns to publicly belittle the 67-year-old black woman, who has done more than anyone to protect the natural wealth of the country – the Amazon rainforest, Pantanal wetlands, Cerrado savannah and other biomes – from rapacious abuse.
One by one, they lined up to attack her for these globally important efforts. Decorum gave way to name-calling and sneering: “Know your place,” roared the committee head, Marcos Rogério, a Bolsonarist who cut Silva’s microphone as she tried to respond. The leader of the centre-rightPSDB, Plínio Valério, told her she did not deserve respect as a minister. The Amazonas senator Omar Aziz – from the Centrão party and a supporter of president Lula – talked over her repeatedly.
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05/30/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 31 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00126-5
What is an ecologically or biologically significant area?
05/30/2025 - 12:42
Sprat fishing has disrupted the food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins
A whale-watching company has abandoned tours off Ireland’s southern Atlantic coast and declared the waters an empty, lifeless sea.
Colin Barnes, who ran Cork Whale Watch, announced he was closing the company because overfishing of sprat has disrupted the marine food chain and diverted humpback, minke and fin whales as well as dolphins.
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05/30/2025 - 10:00
Floods, elections and frocks: here is Guardian Australia’s pick of the month’s most striking images
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05/30/2025 - 10:00
Greens leader accuses Albanese government of failing two climate tests: pollution on the rise and approving extension for North West Shelf
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Australia’s climate-heating emissions increased fractionally last year as pollution from fossil fuel power plants rose for the first time in a decade, and domestic air travel and use of diesel-powered cars and trucks hit record highs.
The jump in emissions was small – just 0.05% – due to falls in pollution from other sectors. But the direction was at odds with the Albanese government’s pledge to cut pollution to reach targets for 2030 and 2050.
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05/30/2025 - 10:00
High-profile Nationals and powerful forces in business and media are pushing back against climate action, posing a test of credibility for the new Liberal leader
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After another scrappy week for the faltering Coalition, Bridget McKenzie on Thursday called for the National party to stop talking about itself.
No sane observer of politics since the 3 May election could disagree, but the party’s Senate leader made the observation in an awkward setting: a Sky News interview.
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05/30/2025 - 08:04
Industry figures say allowing poultry imports that do not align with British production standards would be ‘betrayal’
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An imminent trade deal with Gulf states including Saudi Arabia could have a destructive impact for UK farmers, industry figures have warned, suggesting that any deal to import chicken would involve far lower welfare standards in the Gulf than British farmers must adhere to.
The £1.6bn deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – is expected to be signed soon, though the conclusion may be delayed until after Eid al-Adha in early June.
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05/30/2025 - 07:00
After historic seasons in last two years, blazes continue trend of warm, dry conditions intensified by climate crisis
Enormous early-season wildfires have erupted across the prairie provinces of Canada this week, taxing local emergency response and threatening a long stretch of dangerous air quality across eastern North America.
The country’s largest fires – the Bird River fire and the Border fire – remain completely uncontained in northern Manitoba. In Manitoba alone, wildfires have burned about 200,000 hectares already this year – already about three times the recent full-year average for the province.
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