Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Looking for Miracle: why have so many dugongs gone missing from Thailand’s shores?

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:03:55 +0000

The Andaman coast was one of very few places in the world with a viable population but then dead dugongs began washing up. Now half have gone

A solitary figure stands on the shore of Thailand’s Tang Khen Bay. The tide is slowly rising over the expanse of sandy beach, but the man does not seem to notice. His eyes are not fixed on the sea, but on the small screen clutched between his hands.

About 600 metres offshore, past the shadowy fringe of coral reef, his drone hovers over the murky sea, focused on a whirling grey shape: Miracle, the local dugong, is back.

The influencer racing to save Thailand’s most endangered sea mammal

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:58:31 +0000

Amateur conservationist and social media influencer Theerasak ‘Pop’ Saksritawee has a rare bond with Thailand’s critically endangered dugongs. With dugong fatalities increasing, Pop works alongside scientists at Phuket Marine Biological Centre to track the mammals with his drone and restore their disappearing seagrass habitat. Translating complex science for thousands online, Pop raises an urgent alarm about climate change, pollution and habitat loss — before Thailand’s dugongs vanish forever

The influencer racing to save Thailand’s most endangered sea mammal

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:58:17 +0000

Amateur conservationist and social media influencer Theerasak 'Pop' Saksritawee has a rare bond with Thailand’s critically endangered dugongs. With dugong fatalities increasing, Pop works alongside scientists at Phuket Marine Biological Centre to track the mammals with his drone and restore their disappearing seagrass habitat. Translating complex science for thousands online, Pop raises an urgent alarm about climate change, pollution and habitat loss — before Thailand’s dugongs vanish forever

Men charged with contract killing of Indigenous leader to go on trial in Peru

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:00:22 +0000

Prosecution over death of Quinto Inuma Alvarado seen as test of ability to curb attacks on environmental defenders

Five men are due to go on trial on Tuesday over the killing of an Amazonian Indigenous leader, in a legal case that could test whether Peru can hold perpetrators accountable for violence linked to illegal logging and drug trafficking in one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental defenders.

Antarctic penguins have radically shifted their breeding season – seemingly in response to climate change

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:01:13 +0000

Changing temperatures may be behind change in behaviour, which experts fear threatens three species’ survival

Penguins in Antarctica have radically shifted their breeding season, apparently as a response to climate change, research has found.

Dramatic shifts in behaviour were revealed by a decade-long study led by Penguin Watch at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, with some penguins’ breeding period moving forward by more than three weeks.

Intense geomagnetic storms could make auroras visible in southern US

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:51:05 +0000

Major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field may make northern lights visible far more south than usual

The aurora could be visible across Canada and much of the northern tier of US states on Monday night, and possibly even further south, following a major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field, a forecast shows.

The forecast, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s space weather prediction center, comes amid intense geomagnetic and solar radiation storms, said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the center.

Australia’s largest coal power plant to operate for an additional two years which green groups say is a ‘disaster’

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 23:46:21 +0000

Life of Eraring power station in Lake Macquarie extended to April 2029, Origin Energy says

Water firms could be let off pollution fines as part of government overhaul

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 22:30:06 +0000

Exclusive: Campaigners claim changes will let companies ‘off the hook’, as government prepares to unveil new white paper for water industry

Water companies could be let off fines for polluting the environment under changes announced in the government’s new white paper.

The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, hailed the changes as “once-in-a-generation reforms” featuring “tough oversight, real accountability and no more excuses”.

Bill Gates charity trust’s holdings in fossil fuel firms rise despite divestment claims

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:00:25 +0000

Trust had $254m invested in companies such as Chevron, BP and Shell in 2024, a nine-year record, analysis shows

The Gates Foundation Trust holds hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuel extractors despite Bill Gates’ claims of divestment made in 2019.

End-of-year filings reveal that in 2024 the trust invested $254m in companies that extract fossil fuels such as Chevron, BP and Shell. This was a nine-year record and up 21% from 2016, Guardian analysis found. Adjusting for inflation, it was the highest amount since 2019.

Scientists warn of ‘regime shift’ as seaweed blooms expand worldwide

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:00:21 +0000

Study links rapid growth of ocean macroalgae to global heating and nutrient pollution

Scientists have warned of a potential “regime shift” in the oceans, as the rapid growth of huge mats of seaweed appears to be driven by global heating and excessive enrichment of waters from farming runoff and other pollutants.

Over the past two decades, seaweed blooms have expanded by a staggering 13.4% a year in the tropical Atlantic and western Pacific, with the most dramatic increases occurring after 2008, according to researchers at the University of South Florida.