Missed out on June 2023’s ocean news? Here’s a glimpse into what went down in Davy Jones’ Locker this month.

Sections

Animals and Plants
Climate Crisis
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Marine Technology
Oceanography
People and the Sea

Animals and Plants

• Areas of the ocean that are rich in marine life are having a bigger impact on our ecosystems and the climate than previously thought, new research suggests. Observations made by scientists at The University of Manchester found that the primary source of urea – a nitrogen-rich compound, vital for the growth and development of living organisms – comes from the ocean. The observations reveal an important but unaccounted for source of reduced nitrogen and offer the first-ever observations of gaseous urea in the air. Read more.
  
  

• Glass sponge genome furnishes insights into evolution of biomineralization. Researchers led by geobiologist Professor Gert Wörheide have decoded the genome of Aphrocallistes vastus, a reef-building glass sponge found off the coast of British Columbia. The genome of suggests that silica skeletons evolved independently in several groups of sponges. Read more.
  
  

• The number of species of the green alga sea lettuce in the Baltic Sea region and Skagerak and is much larger than what was previously known. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have surveyed 10,000 kilometres of coast and found twenty species of sea lettuce. Read more.
  
  

• Caribbean seagrasses provide about \$255 billion in services to society annually, including \$88.3 billion in carbon storage, according to a new study. The study has put a dollar value on the many services – from storm protection to fish habitat to carbon storage – provided by seagrasses across the Caribbean, which holds up to half the world’s seagrass meadows by surface area and contains about one-third of the carbon stored in seagrasses worldwide. Read more.
  
  

• New research from Florida State University published in Frontiers in Marine Science found that extreme concentrations of microplastics could increase the temperature of beach sand enough to threaten the development of incubating sea turtles. Read more.
  
  

• A Minke whale has made a remarkable appearance in the waters off Cardigan Bay, Wales, marking the first sighting of its kind in a decade. The discovery took place on June 15 during a line transect survey conducted by the Sea Watch Foundation, approximately ten miles off the coast. Read more.
  
  

• The second sighting of a white whale off Queensland’s coast within weeks has ocean watchers wondering if it could be Migaloo, the elusive albino humpback who has not been seen in three years. Read more.
  
  

• More than 30 previously unknown RNA viruses in sea lice have been identified. Sea lice are parasitic copepods (small crustaceans) found in many fresh and saltwater habitats, and have been implicated in the decline of wild salmon populations. The research sheds greater light on the types of viruses being carried by sea lice, and how the viruses and host are interacting. Read more.
  
  

• You know instantly when someone is speaking to an infant or small child. It turns out that dolphin mothers also use a kind of high-pitched baby talk. A study published Monday found that female bottlenose dolphins change their tone when addressing their calves. Researchers recorded the signature whistles of 19 mother dolphins in Florida, when accompanied by their young offspring and when swimming alone or with other adults. Read more.
  
  

• A species of nemertean worm discovered by a Clemson University marine biologist five years ago affects the reproductive performance of Caribbean spiny lobsters, a critical species in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Read more.
  
  

• Pioneering analysis of deep-sea corals has overturned the idea that ocean currents contributed to increasing global levels of carbon dioxide in the air over the past 11,000 years. Read more.
  
  

• Researchers estimate that gray whales feeding off the Oregon Coast consume up to 21 million microparticles per day, a finding informed in part by feces from the whales. Read more.
  
  

Climate Crisis

• Research team predicts Arctic without ice by the end of 2030s if current increasing rate of greenhouse gas emission continues. Read more.
  
  

• A marine heatwave off the west coast has led to a spike in sea temperatures up to 5C higher than normal. Read more.
  
  

• Deadly coral disease is spreading as global temperatures warm, and it’s likely to become endemic to reefs the world over by the next century, according to new research. Read more.
  
  

• Similar to the expeditions of a hundred or two hundred years ago, the Tara Pacific expedition lasted over two years. The goal: to research the conditions for life and survival of corals. The ship crossed the entire Pacific Ocean, assembling the largest genetic inventory conducted in any marine system to date. The team’s 70 scientists from eight countries took around 58,000 samples from the hundred coral reefs studied. Read more.
  
  

• Lessons from ‘The Blob’ will help us manage fisheries during future marine heatwaves Read more.
  
  

• A New York experiment is part of a commercial race to develop ocean-based technologies to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Read more.
  
  

Fisheries and Aquaculture

• A new study found that while a piece of legislation designed to foster the sustainability of marine fisheries is sometimes blamed for being too stringent – leading to what some politicians call ‘underfishing’ – the law is not constraining most fisheries, and there are various other reasons that lead to certain fish species being less fished. Read more.
  
  

• ICES application of genetics expert group celebrates thirty years! Starting out life in 1992 as the Working Group on Application of Genetics in Fisheries and Mariculture (WGAGFM), the group works on management themes spanning from commercial fisheries to ecosystems, recreational exploitation, and mariculture. Read more.
  
  

• Canada’s commercial Redfish fishery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has been closed since 1995 to help redfish stocks rebuild to healthy levels. Since that time, Redfish stocks have rebounded significantly, and the Government of Canada is positioned to re-open the Unit 1 Redfish commercial fishery in Atlantic Canada and Quebec in the near future. Read more.
  
  

• Digesting fish waste can allow circular fish and vegetable farms (aquaponics) to produce biogas that can be fed back into the energy system of these farms. This also generates excellent nutrition for plants, according to new research from the University of Gothenburg. Read more.
  
  

• A team of researchers analyzing almost 400 coral reefs found significantly declining numbers of certain shark species, warning that they face a risk of extinction because of overfishing. Read more.
  
  

• Small-scale and traditional fishers make the greatest contribution to Indonesia’s total fish production, driving the country’s rise as one of the world’s top fishing nations. In an effort to strengthen this base, the government is expanding a modernization program that should help fishers boost their productivity, achieve sustainability standards, and improve their overall socioeconomic welfare. Read more.
  
  

• Seas at Risk are extremely displeased with the European Fisheries Ministers who, they say, “irresponsibly failed to abandon environmentally destructive fishing practices for the benefit of the planet, citizens and fishermen. Seas At Risk is appalled by the lack of ambition of the Fisheries Ministers, who did not align on the European Commission’s attempt to shift to low-impact fisheries, protect sensitive species and move away from bottom trawling in marine protected areas.” Read more.
  
  

• Many of the world’s largest aquatic food producers are highly vulnerable to human-induced environmental change, with some of the highest-risk countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa demonstrating the lowest capacity for adaptation, a landmark study has shown. Read more.
  
  

• Iceland has suspended its planned hunt for fin whales this year, citing animal welfare concerns. On June 20, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the country’s minister of food, agriculture and fisheries, announced that the whale hunt was postponed because “the fishing method used when hunting large whales does not comply with the law on animal welfare.” Read more.
  
  

• An underwater robotic sorting device which helps fishing trawlers prevent bycatch by identifying and sizing fish and other marine life in real-time is being developed by researchers from Heriot-Watt University in partnership with Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability (FIS) and funded by the UK Seafood Innovation Fund. Read more.
  
  

Marine Technology

• ABB has announced a “revolutionary” electric motor-driven marine propulsion system that, it claims, breaks new ground for efficiency in the marine industry. Inspired by the dynamic movements of a whale’s tail, the system – called Dynafin – is the result of more than a decade of research, development, and testing. The first prototype is expected to be available in 2025. Read more.
  
  

• Tidal range schemes in the UK are financially viable and could lower energy bills say researchers. Read more.
  
  

• NOAA Deploys Drones In The Ocean And Atmosphere To Advance Hurricane Forecasting Read more.
  
  

• The JOIDES Resolution has been a stalwart in the earth and ocean science community since 1984. Her retirement is now set for 2024, four years earlier than initially expected. Read more.
  
  

• Seabed 2030 has announced its newest partnership with NORBIT Oceans, a leading provider of underwater imaging and mapping technology. Read more.
  
  

• The mysteries of the ocean abound. And now, a group of student researchers is trying out a new way to gain better and more accurate information – with a robot fish. The robot, named Belle, was created by students at the university ETH Zürich. They designed the fish so that it can swim underwater to film and collect samples without disturbing the natural environment. Read more.
  
  

Oceanography

• Water from the Pacific Ocean flows into the Indian Ocean via the Indonesia Archipelago thanks to a vast network of currents that act as a conveyor belt, transporting warmth and nutrients. Currents can sometimes form circular motions and these are known as eddies. An international group of researchers has modeled the impacts of eddies on the currents that carry water from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Read more.
  
  

• Hurricanes push heat deeper into the ocean than scientists realized, boosting long-term ocean warming, new research shows Read more.
  
  

• Researchers have published their study on the blue hole discovered off the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula coast back in 2021 Read more.
  
  

• Some of the most intense marine heat increases on Earth have developed in seas around the UK and Ireland, the European Space Agency (ESA) says. Water temperatures are as much as 3 to 4C above the average for this time of year in some areas. Read more.
  
  

• An analysis of oxygen levels in Earth’s oceans may provide some rare, good news about the health of the seas in a future, globally warmed world. A study analyzing ocean sediment shows that ocean oxygen levels in a key area were higher during the Miocene warm period, some 16 million years ago when the Earth’s temperature was hotter than it is today. Read more.
  
  

• Changes to the flow of the Labrador Current along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to Nova Scotia are leading to sudden warmings or drops in the oxygen levels of the waters in several regions including the St. Lawrence Gulf and Estuary. This change has dire consequences for marine ecosystems and fisheries. To better predict what could happen in the future, researchers from McGill University set out to answer the question: what controls the pathway of the Labrador Current? Read more.
  
  

People and the Sea

• Microplastics found in every sample of water taken during the Ocean Race. Concentrations of plastics in round-the-world race through remote ocean environments found to be up to 18 times higher than during previous event in 2017-18. Read more.
  
  

• ICES- the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea-have released their 2022 annual report Read more.
  
  

• A new study, led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), shows that limiting human activity in parts of the ocean can enhance the health of marine environments and the well-being of nearby coastal communities, highlighting the potential value of these marine protected areas (MPAs) in achieving multiple sustainable development goals around the world. Read more.
  
  

• Norwegian government now on board to safeguard friendly ‘spy whale’ known as Hvaldimir Read more.
  
  

• Should ships in the Gulf of Mexico slow down while crossing the habitat of one of the rarest whales on earth? That’s the question swirling around a new proposal to protect the roughly 50 Rice’s whales left in existence. Scientists and ocean advocates say it’s a no-brainer: There’s evidence that boats have struck and killed the whales. A speed limit and nighttime shipping ban in and around the whales’ habitat would curb deaths, they say. Read more.
  
  

• A coalition of leading environmental non-governmental organisations and networks has revealed that Ireland can save its ocean biodiversity by spending approximately €55 million between 2024 and 2030 to reach its targets of protecting 30% of our seas and ocean. Read more.