Newcastle-upon-Tyne University, Press Release, 14th November 2017: Animals from six of the deepest places on Earth have been found to contain man-made fibres and plastic in their stomachs, scientists have shown. These observations are the deepest possible record of microplastic occurrence and ingestion, indicating it is highly likely there are no marine ecosystems left that […]

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Surfers Against Sewage report, 14th September 2017: “This week we were thrilled to lead a delegation of cross-party MPs and charities to submit our Message In A Bottle petition, the UK’s largest petition — 267,554 signatures — calling for a deposit return system with more than quarter of a million signatures, to the Prime Minister. We […]

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www.gizmodo.co.uk reports, 5th August 2017: Measuring 8,776 square miles, this year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest ever recorded. A recent expedition to the Gulf of Mexico has yielded the largest “dead zone” ever recorded in the area. Measuring 8,776 square miles, this massive patch of oxygen depleted water is wreaking […]

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The Independent reports, 27th July 2017: Plastic micro-particles are getting into the flesh of fish eaten by humans, according to a new study. A team of scientists from Malaysia and France discovered a total of 36 tiny pieces of plastic in the bodies of 120 mackerel, anchovies, mullets and croakers. They warned that as plastic […]

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The Daily Telegraph reports, 18th May 2017: Plastic in the world’s oceans is a ‘growing ecological and human disaster’ which needs an urgent solution, the Prince of Wales said last night, as he launched a prize to find ways to tackle the crisis. The Prince of Wales’ said plastic had ‘altered the course of human […]

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The petition organisation, Avaaz, has announced May 2017 that it is running a worldwide petition to the United Nations to try to secure universal action to substantially reduce plastic pollution of the oceans. 100 MILLION plastic bottles are thrown away every day, choking our oceans in plastic waste. Governments meet in days to outline clean […]

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Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) have launched a campaign and petition to require deposits to be charged on plastic bottles and metal cans, thus providing a financial system and incentive to convert them into returnable items. Known as the “Deposit Return Scheme”, SAS explain the campaign: “A small deposit of between 10–20p is added to the […]

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Ian Jack, The Guardian, reports 8th April 2017: To witness the beginning or end of a great industry or a way of living isn’t unusual. Each generation has its list of comings and goings — great grandfathers who remember the advent of the motor car, grandmothers who recall the last factory hooter in Accrington, fathers […]

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Seven Seas Travel Magazine reports 25th February 2017: UN Environment launched an unprecedented global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter: microplastics in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic by the year 2022. UN Environment launches major global #CleanSeas campaign to end marine litter. Ten countries are already on board, as […]

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BBC News reports, 22nd February 2017: Particles of debris from car tyres are ending up in the ocean as “plastic soup”, conservationists warn. Micro-plastics from tyres and textiles are a bigger source of marine pollution than the breakdown of larger plastic waste in some areas, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Up to […]

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Terry Lilley reports, 13th February 2017: As a scientist we are trained to present facts. Good, bad or ugly. If you have been following my reporting (like 2 million other folks have been) over the last four years about the rapidly dying coral reefs along the north shore of Kauai then you may want to […]

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The Guardian reports, 13th February 2017: Scientists have discovered “extraordinary” levels of toxic pollution in the most remote and inaccessible place on the planet — the 10km deep Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean. Small crustaceans that live in the pitch-black waters of the trench, captured by a robotic submarine, were contaminated with 50 times […]

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The Herald (Scotland) reports, 23rd January 2017: Controversial plans to transfer up to nine million tonnes of crude oil between tankers at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth have been scrapped after the firm behind the scheme was ordered to withdraw its application. The Cromarty Firth Port Authority (CFPA) will have to prepare a new […]

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Oceana reports, 12th January 2017: Six hundred kilometres (360 miles) north of Santiago, Chile, the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve reverberates with the braying of 26,000 Humboldt penguins — around 80 percent of the species’ entire population. Sea otters and migrating blue whales glide through the waves close to colonies of nesting seabirds. This global biodiversitybiodiversity […]

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The Guardian reports, 19th December 2016: Southern Water has been fined a record £2m for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage, leaving them closed to the public for nine days. The Environment Agency called the event “catastrophic”, while the judge at Maidstone crown court said that Southern Water’s repeat offending was “wholly unacceptable”. The […]

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The Guardian reports, 24th November 2016: Tesco will have phased out microbeads from all its own brand cosmetics and household cleaning products within a month, it was announced on 24th November. While UK ministers recently said personal care products containing these tiny pieces of plastic will be banned from sale by the end of 2017, […]

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The Guardian reports, 9th November 2016: Algae on drifting plastic waste gives off a sulphur compound which smells similar to the krill many marine birds feed on, researchers have discovered. The findings could explain why certain birds — including albatrosses and shearwaters — which rely on their sense of smell for hunting, are particularly vulnerable […]

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The Guardian reports, 28th October 2016: The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed on Thursday to set a cap on the sulphur content of marine fuels, in a move that campaigners predict will save millions of lives in the coming decades. At a meeting of the IMO’s environment protection committee shipping officials agreed to cap the […]

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The UK Wildlife and Countryside Link reports, October 2016: This month Finland ratified the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention. Being the 52nd contracting party, Finland tipped the target of 35% world shipping tonnage and triggered entry into force by September 2017. We’ve been waiting a long time for this, as the convention […]

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