World Manta Day, created to celebrate the big rays divers love to see and raise awareness of the threats they face, is back on Tuesday,
Conservation
Immerse yourself in the vital world of marine conservation. We bring you up-to-date news, initiatives, and breakthroughs in the fight to protect our oceans and their rich biodiversity.
From preserving coral reefs to safeguarding endangered species, we cover the urgent challenges and uplifting victories in the ongoing journey to conserve our underwater world.
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Fall-out from the carving of people’s names onto corals on the Philippines’ diving destination of Bohol has continued, with the authorities now convinced that one
Fears that the Maldives was set to ditch its hard-won reputation for shark and ray protection by once again sanctioning destructive longline fishing have been
Graffiti carved into plate corals off the popular tourist island of Bohol in the Philippines has shocked local divers. A 50,000 peso reward (about £675)
With PADI and its conservation charity the PADI AWARE Foundation hoping that their Dive Against Debris programme will be included in next year’s inter-governmental Global
The British Sub-Aqua Club is encouraging its members, whether scuba divers or snorkellers, to get involved with its upcoming initiative the Great British Underwater Litter
Captain Paul Watson has been told by a Danish court in Greenland that because he is considered a flight-risk he must remain in jail –
Scientists have pushed back hard against what they regard as a complacent assessment by the United Nations of the level of threat posed to the
Captain Paul Watson has been held in prison by Danish police ever since his ship arrived in Greenland on 21 July. The veteran anti-whaling campaigner
The Diving Museum in Gosport has been closed during 2024 for restoration of its “damp Grade II* listed building” but has ambitious plans to reopen
The most threatened reef fish are also the ones that are most overlooked by both scientists and the general public, according to a team of
Training agency PADI and its conservation charity the PADI AWARE Foundation are aiming to have their Dive Against Debris programme adopted into the Global Plastics
In response to the current major global coral-bleaching event, London-based environmental media company Earthrise is running a campaign fronted by Avatar actor Bailey Bass to
The PADI AWARE Foundation says it is distributing more than US $500,000 this year for its 2024 Mission Hub Community Grant Programme. From sea turtle
US conservation charity Shark Angels is once again running its World Oceans Day Online Scuba Auction to raise funds for its work in helping to
Only a third of the world’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are capable of offering real protection on a global scale – even though they are
Artificial intelligence has been used by the the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to reveal 119 new ocean biodiversity hotspots in the western Indian Ocean –
The world is currently experiencing its fourth global coral-bleaching event, the second to have occurred in the past 10 years. Scientists from the USA’s National
This approach could restore the UK’s coastal kelp forests, say CATHERINE WILDING of the Marine Biological Association and HANNAH EARP of Newcastle University Kelp spores
A new study of 51 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in more than 30 countries across North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania has
Dr Andrea Marshall, co-founder and principal scientist of the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF), has suffered a serious stroke and is in intensive care, having survived
A bag containing more than 1kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of around £400,000, has washed up onto a Tobago beach near the
Sculptor and diver Jason deCaires Taylor is renowned among scuba divers and snorkellers for his underwater installations around the world – as well as some
The inaugural Great Seagrass Survey, carried out by scuba-diving, snorkelling and strolling volunteers from last May, is now reported to have revealed 185 hectares of
Scuba divers have recovered deep-lying sponges containing data likely to escalate concerns about the rate of global-warming. Scientific analysis of the skeletons of these long-lived
An award-winning conservationist documentary-maker is asking for help from the diving and underwater-photography community in supplying video footage of killer whales. Ran Levy-Yamamori, who runs
Every February as Valentines Day encourages people around the world to splash out and share the love, the event has an unfortunate impact on the
International conservation bodies have expressed their concerns about Norway’s decision to become the first country in the world to authorise deep-sea mining. Not content with
A pair of elderly manatees that have been held at the failing Florida theme park Miami Seaquarium since they were captured as calves in the
UK scientists have discovered the deepest-known evidence of coral reef bleaching, at depths to around 90m at two atoll sites in the Indian Ocean’s Chagos
UK marine biologist and scuba diver Emily Cunningham has been presented with a Women of the Future award for her work in ocean conservation. The
An “amazing” increase in seagrass cover has been reported in south Cornwall’s Cawsand Bay by the UK-based Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT), following the installation of
Climate change isn’t the only existential threat to the coral that make up Australia Great Barrier Reef, it seems – a scientific team has just
Welsh marine biologist Callum Hobbs, 26, was the scuba diver selected to travel to Indonesia as 2023 UK Advocate for what is claimed to be
The world’s most remote marine-science base – that’s the claim for a facility just opened by the UK government in the South Pacific’s Pitcairn Islands.
UK charity the Reef-World Foundation, which administers the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative to boost environmental responsibility among professional diving operations, has set up
Three years ago, Divernet reported on the worst-ever ecological disaster in the Indian Ocean diving destination of Mauritius – and now it turns out that
Miami Seaquarium has been accused of reneging on an undertaking to return to the ocean the male dolphin Li’i, the former tank-mate of the killer
There’s a little something added to every bottle of Salcombe Seahorse beer for the Seahorse Trust – and as a result the Devon brewery has
Philippine Coast Guard freedivers have removed a 300m floating barrier positioned by China’s own Coast Guard to stop Filipinos’ boats accessing a traditional fishing ground
A National Geographic Pristine Seas expedition has arrived in the Marshall Islands to dive four of the Pacific nation’s 29 atolls – including Bikini, where
The 2023 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit is being held at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida on 16 September, and anyone around the world aged
The expectations of conservationists that Iceland had carried out its last whale hunt have been dashed by a government decision to proceed with the delayed
A diver has been caught in the act of spearfishing illegally at Malta’s popular diving location Cirkewwa marine park by the HPF (Heritage Parks Federation)
Divernet reported in June that the Shark Trust’s Oceanic 31 touring exhibition of shark and ray illustrations, part of the UK charity’s Big Shark Pledge
The death in the USA of Lolita, the killer whale that at 57 had become the longest-lived in captivity, has provided an opportunity for animal
Scuba-diving hotspot Verde Island Passage in the Philippines has been described as the “centre of the centre” of marine biodiversity – and now it has
“This is probably one of the most high-risk, complex and dangerous missions we’ll do all year,” said diving supervisor Staff Sgt Chris Miller, after an
“One of the largest coral-restoration events in history” – that’s how pet-food and confectionary manufacturer Mars Inc describes “The Big Build”, an initiative that saw
Volunteer divers from Ghost Fishing UK are heading to Shetland on a six-day mission – to help its fishing community clear giant gill-nets abandoned by
The Kraken Rum has teamed up with marine-conservation charity PADI AWARE Foundation to open what it describes as the world’s first cocktail bar to accept
Plastics pollution on coral reefs increases with depth, derives mostly from fishing activities and gets even worse around Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). An international group
Volunteer GUE closed-circuit rebreather divers from five countries have teamed up to remove ghost fishing-gear from WW2 shipwrecks that had been menacing both marine life
Two PADI dive-centres based in Falmouth, Cornwall are celebrating the ninth PADI Women’s Dive Day with special events this Saturday (15 July). The training agency
Allonby Bay, the North East of Farnes Deep and Dolphin Head have become England’s first three Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) today (5 July), as
Twenty-one new eco-moorings have doubled the number installed at Studland Bay in Dorset to help safeguard its seagrass beds, which are home to two protected
The Green Fins environmental initiative has been launched in the Red Sea diving destination of Jordan, making it the 15th country in which marine-tourism operators
Scuba divers Rachel Lopata and Helen Webb, who co-funded the UK charity Sea-Changers in 2010, have both been made MBEs in King Charles’ first Birthday
The UK legal framework intended to protect marine mammals is “incoherent and not sufficient to effectively preserve these precious species”, according to a House of
Artists passionate about shark and ray conservation have been called in by the Shark Trust to contribute to a touring exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculptures
In what looks to be a momentous decision for the survival of large whales, Iceland’s fisheries minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir has decided to postpone the start
The bill to ban the import and export of shark fins in the UK has passed through the House of Lords, and is now set
Roger Payne, the US marine biologist credited with first identifying whale-song, and then using it to inspire the successful “Save the Whale” movement, has died
Overfishing is driving the sharks based on coral reefs towards extinction faster than previously realised, with the five main species so familiar to scuba divers
UK charity Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation has just received the biggest single donation in its 19-year history – in the form of a £20,000
Diving holidays around the world are up for grabs as US-based conservation charity Shark Angels holds its annual World Oceans Day Auction. A range of
International school students have responded to the challenge of producing art on the marine-conservation theme “The Sixth Extinction” in the 2023 Science Without Borders Challenge.
Welcome ammunition for conservationists pushing for more Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to be declared and enforced around the world: according to a new study, establishing