Peru approves the creation of long awaited marine protected area

Experts have called the creation of the Grau Tropical Sea National Reserve, which took more than 10 years to be approved, a milestone as it is rich in biodiversity. Read more here.

Whaling: Japan is determined to keep hunting whales. And now it has a brand new ‘mothership’

Wearing a toy whale hat, whale tie and a whale motif shirt, Hideki Tokoro spends much of his days thinking about the world’s largest mammals. But he doesn’t want to protect them. He wants to hunt them. Read more here.

In Belize, flawed conservation measures threaten small-scale fishers’ livelihoods

“If Belize is to live up to its image of a conservation-forward country and blue economy maven, both fisheries and marine protected areas management decisions must be made based on sound scientific advice and on the feedback of the communities,” a new op-ed says. Read more here.

NFL players team up to promote ocean conservation

Six players have teamed up with Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, for the fourth annual My Cause My Cleats initiative, which allows players in the NFL to showcase causes that are important to them. Read more here.

Great Barrier Reef bleaching crisis ‘like a bushfire underwater’

It’s too soon to tell if the heat-stressed corals of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive their fifth mass bleaching in eight years, but the marine scientists who monitor the reef’s health are already despairing. Read more here.