Conservation

The ocean is not a backdrop. It is an ecosystem under extraordinary pressure - from warming, acidification, plastic, and overfishing - and the people working to defend it are doing some of the most important work on the planet. These are stories about ocean conservation: the science, the initiatives, and the reasons to remain hopeful.

35 stories

Conservation

World Krill Day 2026: The Animal Everything Depends On

86 species. Every ocean on earth. The animal that feeds whale sharks, whales and the world's biggest fishery.

Conservation

World Oyster Day 2026: The Most Damaged Reef on Earth

Oyster reefs filter the water, raise the fish and slow the waves. We lost 85 percent of them before we thought to measure it, and they can come back.

Conservation

International Mangrove Day 2026: Blue Carbon Turns Ten

Ten years of Blue Carbon: How mangroves store more carbon than rainforest, raise the reef's next generation, and where restoration works.

Conservation

Coral Reef Awareness Week 2026: The El Niño Year

El Niño is back, 84% of reefs have bleached, and I know what that looks like on the descent. Here's the honest version.

Conservation

Hammerheads Just Won the Highest International Protection There Is

Ecuador wrote the proposal. Panama backed it. Hammerheads just got Appendix I, the strongest protection this treaty offers.

Conservation

World Orca Day 2026: The Pods Where Every Whale Has a Name

World Orca Day is a reminder that even the ocean's top predator is not safe from us, and why protecting orcas means protecting us all.

Conservation

World Shark Day 2026: Sharks Killed 9 People, We Killed 100 Million

World Shark Day: celebrating and protecting the apex predators that hold the whole ocean in balance, and challenging the myths that put them at risk.

Conservation

Are Sea Turtles Still Endangered in 2026?

The green turtle just came off the threatened list, the first comeback of its kind in four decades. Two species are still waiting.

Conservation

What Is the Coral Triangle? The Reef That Feeds 120 Million

Coral Triangle Day is 9 June. The Amazon of the Seas spans six nations and holds more marine life than anywhere on earth.

Conservation

Ocean Conservation in 2026: What Is Actually Working

The first World Oceans Day under the High Seas Treaty. Ten days to Mombasa. The state of the ocean and what divers can do about it.

Conservation

World Reef Day 2026: The Year 84% of Reefs Bleached

Year four of the fourth global bleaching event, 84% of reefs hit. What conscious people and divers can actually do about it.

Conservation

The First Biodiversity Day Under the High Seas Treaty

Sixty-six percent of the ocean has been significantly altered. Today is the first biodiversity day under the new High Seas Treaty.

Conservation

The Ocean Cleanup in 2026: 50 Million Kilos Pulled

About 1,000 rivers carry 80% of ocean plastic. The Ocean Cleanup has now intercepted 29 million kilograms before any of it reached the sea.

Conservation

The 'Protected' EU Waters Still Being Bottom-Trawled

Sixty percent of EU Marine Protected Areas are still being bottom-trawled. A 250,000-signature petition just landed in Brussels.

Conservation

Papua New Guinea: A Marine Highway the Size of the UK

Papua New Guinea's new Western Manus MPA covers 214,000 km² of the Bismarck Sea, the largest no-take reserve in Melanesia's history.

Conservation

Iceland Whaling 2026: 318 Whales, and the Faroes Still Hunting

Forty years after the moratorium, two North Atlantic nations are still killing whales. What 2026 looks like, and why it still matters.

Conservation

Verde Island Passage: The 2026 Fight to Protect It

A 2026 Filipino coalition is pushing Congress to give the world's most biodiverse marine corridor full ENIPAS protection.

Conservation

Five Weeks to Mombasa: Why Our Ocean 2026 Matters

The 11th Our Ocean Conference lands in Mombasa on 16 June, the first time on African soil. What divers should watch.

Conservation

David Attenborough at 100: What He Did for the Ocean

Seven decades of filmmaking changed how the world sees the sea. What David Attenborough actually did for the ocean.

Conservation

The People Who Guard Malpelo's Shark Sanctuary Year-Round

A tiny crew lives year-round on a catamaran off Colombia, guarding the world's most important shark sanctuary.

Conservation

Mission Blue Unites the Ocean Champions of Southern Africa

From Mozambique's mantas to South Africa's whale routes, Mission Blue united the ocean champions of a continent.

Conservation

Egypt's Great Fringing Reef Is Now Officially Protected

Egypt just protected 2,000 km of Red Sea reef, the coral system scientists call earth's most climate-resilient.

Conservation

Why Ghana's First Marine Reserve Matters for the Ocean

Ghana declared its first marine protected area, guarding spawning grounds and turtle nesting on the West African coast.

Conservation

Rapa Nui's Sacred Sea Becomes a Mission Blue Hope Spot

The sacred waters of Easter Island are now a Hope Spot, protected by Indigenous governance for generations.

Conservation

The High Seas Treaty Just Entered Force. What Now?

The High Seas Treaty is in force. The door to protecting international waters is open, and the hard part starts now.

Conservation

Deep-Sea Mining Is Much Closer Than Most People Realise

The world is close to mining the deep ocean floor, before we have any idea what lives down there.

Conservation

Cabo Pulmo: Where Fish Biomass Climbed 460% in a Decade

A fishing village closed its bay and fish biomass climbed 460%. The strongest case ever made for no-take reserves.

Conservation

The Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event

The longest, most severe bleaching event ever recorded, and why reefs are running out of time to recover.

Conservation

The Shark Fin Trade Has Not Stopped

Around 11,000 sharks are killed every hour for their fins, and reef surveys show the toll is still climbing.

Conservation

What Sunscreen Does to Coral

Common sunscreen ingredients harm coral DNA at parts per trillion, and most places still have no rules on them.

Conservation

Seagrass Is Disappearing Faster Than Coral

It stores carbon faster than rainforest and raises most reef fish, yet we have lost half of it in a century.

Conservation

Ghost Gear: The Nets That Keep on Killing

Lost fishing nets keep killing sharks, turtles and rays for decades. They are a tenth of all ocean plastic.

Conservation

How Coral Gardening Is Bringing Reefs Back from the Brink

Growing coral from the survivors and replanting it on dying reefs. How coral gardening is quietly working.

Conservation

Ocean Plastic: The Scale and the Solutions

Eight million tonnes a year, most from ten rivers. An honest look at what is actually working against ocean plastic.

Conservation

Marine Protected Areas: Why Protection Actually Works

Fully protected reefs hold 600% more fish. But most MPAs are paper parks. What separates the ones that actually work?