Ocean Conservation & Tidalpunk

In April this year, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo announced the launch of a national petrochemical city project in Mavanza village in Vilankulo district of Inhambane province. The coastline of Inhambane province, or the Inhambane seascape, is a globally important area that conservation groups have previously urged the government of Mozambique to protect for its threatened marine mammals, seabirds and sharks.

The $2 billion petrochemical city project, expected be completed by 2028, will be built by the Hong Kong-based Phoenix International Group, Chapo said at the launch. The project will include thermal power stations, refineries, maritime terminals, units to produce polymers and fertilizers and residential areas with schools and hospitals, Chapo said.

“The fact that a quarter of the way through the 21st century a ‘national petrochemical city’ is being planned in a globally significant and highly sensitive area for biodiversity is shocking enough,” Tim Davenport, Africa director of the nonprofit Re:wild, told Mongabay by email. “But a development of this magnitude … demonstrates abject short-termism, a failure to understand the true value of nature, and a grave disregard for some of the region’s most disadvantaged communities.”

The Inhambane seascape is globally recognized as a critical area for conservation. The seascape includes islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary, home to more than 2,000 species of fish and several threatened species of sharks, rays, skates, sawfish and sea turtles. The Bazaruto Archipelago also hosts the last known viable population of dugong (Dugong dugon) in East Africa, with only a few hundred left.

In October 2024, Re:wild and several international conservation organizations published an open letter in response to a slew of mining projects planned along the Inhambane seascape. The organizations noted that according to the government’s mining cadastral map portal, more than 70% of the Inhambane coastline had been marked for some form of mining. In their letter, the organizations urged Mozambique’s political leaders to protect the seascape and to invest in projects that benefit the local communities, “instead of allowing foreign corporations to unsustainably extract Mozambique’s natural resources and irreversibly destroy Inhambane’s environment.”

At the launch of the national petrochemical city, Chapo said the industries will maintain high international environmental standards. However, Davenport said he’s skeptical environmental standards will be met given the previous track record of foreign companies on Mozambique’s coasts.

In 2024, the Mozambican anti-corruption NGO, the Public Integrity Center, accused a Chinese-owned company, Haiyu Mining, of environmental transgressions along the coast of Angoche district, “despite initial promises just like these,” Davenport said. “It is impossible to see how an industrial plant of this size — financed by an external nation with huge leverage over Mozambique — will have anything other than calamitous environmental impacts locally and regionally. Anyone, not least Mozambicans, who has any concern for nature, biodiversity or social justice should be deeply concerned by this project.”

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In a study published today in Science Advances, researchers from the Ocean Discovery League reveal that only a minuscule fraction of the deep seafloor has been imaged. Despite covering 66% of Earth's surface, the deep ocean remains largely unexplored.

The deep ocean, defined as being deeper than 200 meters

"As we face accelerated threats to the deep ocean—from climate change to potential mining and resource exploitation—this limited exploration of such a vast region becomes a critical problem for both science and policy,"

The study: How little we’ve seen: A visual coverage estimate of the deep seafloor

• The latest “report card” on Mesoamerica’s coral reefs made clear that 2024’s hottest-ever recorded summer temperatures devastated some of the region’s most iconic reef sites.
• But against all odds, a reef in Tela Bay on Honduras’s Caribbean coast, composed largely of critically endangered elkhorn corals (Acorpora palmata), displays remarkable health.
• Known affectionately as “Cocalito,” this patch of coral is raising urgent questions about what qualities endow coral with heat resilience and whether they can be harnessed to help save other reefs.

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A 426-foot-long electric ship, called China Zorrilla after the famous actress from Uruguay, launched from Tasmania this week.

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• Coral restoration is vastly outpaced by degradation, while intensifying climate stress, prohibitive costs, poor site selection and lack of coordination make large-scale restoration currently unviable, a new study has found.
• The scale-cost mismatch is staggering: Restoring just 1.4% of degraded coral could cost up to US$16.7 trillion, while current global funding is only US$258 million.
• The study found most projects assessed prioritize convenience over ecological value, restoring easily accessed reefs instead of climate-resilient or biologically strategic ones, undermining long-term outcomes.
• Researchers say standardized data and smarter planning are urgently needed to ensure that global coral restoration is scientifically informed and strategically targeted, and not merely symbolic.

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• A resident population of blue whales has for many years lived in the coastal waters of Sri Lanka, but in recent years sightings of the animals have declined rapidly.
• With multiple pressures on these massive creatures — from ship traffic on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, to disturbance from whale tourism, pollution and surface sea temperature rise and climate change — there are several possible factors for the disappearance of the whales.
• Sri Lanka’s leading marine researchers agree that increasing sea temperatures in the North Indian Ocean, warming at the fastest rate of any of the world’s oceans, have likely pushed the whales to new waters.

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• The Metals Company (TMC) has submitted its first application to commercially exploit seabed minerals in international waters, along with applications for two exploration licenses, under the U.S. regulatory authority.
• The contentious move follows a recent executive order from the Trump administration that directed the U.S. government to fast-track deep-sea mining in an effort to secure supplies of critical minerals for the U.S.
• Both TMC and the U.S. have faced international pushback over these plans, with both the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) and China criticizing them as potentially violating international law because only the ISA has the authority to permit mining in international waters.
• While the U.S. regulator and TMC say they will manage environmental risks, critics say deep-sea mining could cause significant and potentially irreversible damage to marine ecosystems.

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Negotiators are calling for involvement in the agreement’s decision-making process, not just an acknowledgement of their presence.

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• Mongabay Latam and Data Crítica examined and compared official data of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, including satellite images by scientists studying oil spills and evidence compiled by fishing communities. Their analysis found that most oil spills are not reported.
• Occasionally, even the spills that are reported are played down. The volume of the Ek’ Balam oil spill in 2023 — the most serious spill in Mexico in recent years — was under-reported by 10 to 200 times, according to calculations performed by scientists using satellite images of the disaster.
• Between January 2018 and July 2024, the government of Mexico initiated 48 sanctioning processes against oil companies, but fines were only imposed in fewer than half of those cases. And only eight of those fines have been paid.
• Fishers are demanding oil companies release actual data and take responsibility and the government take action to protect their environment and livelihood.

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• El informe “Evaluación de la Salud Ecológica del Golfo de California” revela una preocupante disminución de poblaciones en niveles tróficos superiores a lo largo del Golfo de California.
• El escrito fue compilado por la organización Nueva Generación de Investigadores del Desierto Sonorense (N-Gen), en colaboración con la estación de campo Prescott College Kino Bay Center.
• La mayor parte de los grupos evaluados, como aves marinas, ballenas, calamar gigante, cangrejos, estrellas de mar y peces están en deterioro.
• La productividad primaria básica, que alimenta la diversidad y abundancia del Golfo de California, se muestra estable.

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• artículo de Mongabay
• reportaje citado (PDF)

• The recent “Assessment of the Ecological Health of the Gulf of California” report shows a decline in several populations of animals throughout the narrow sea flanked by the Mexican mainland and Baja California.
• The report was compiled by the Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers (N-Gen) in the U.S. in collaboration with Prescott College’s Kino Bay Center field station in Mexico, and draws on long-term monitoring studies.
• Many of the assessed groups, such as seabirds, whales, giant squid, crabs, starfish and fish, are in decline.
• Basic primary productivity, which nurtures species diversity and abundance in the Gulf of California, remains stable.

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• Mongabay article
• report cited (PDF)

Today, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) launches a landmark report exploring the critical opportunities available to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the world under a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining.

Download the executive summary here

Download the full report here

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21241294

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21218983

Coral reefs around the world have been subjected to unprecedented heat stress since early 2023. A new report finds heat-related coral bleaching has damaged corals in more than 80 countries, making it the most extensive bleaching event ever recorded, with no clear end in sight.

Between January 2023 and April 2025, heat stress impacted 84% of coral reefs worldwide, from the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean to so-called supercorals in the Red Sea, an area previously believed to be resilient to damage caused by extreme temperatures.

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21218330

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Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday.

• The EU has agreed binding rules to reduce plastic pellet pollution, aiming to tackle up to 184,000 metric tons of annual leakage into the environment.
• Provisional measures will require companies to prevent spills, implement risk management, and report losses — but reliance on self-reporting may limit accountability, environmental groups argue.
• Campaigners have welcomed the deal but criticized loopholes, delays for maritime transport, and lighter rules for small businesses, warning these could undermine the regulation’s impact.

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• Norway’s plans to mine seabed minerals in Arctic waters remain in limbo after the first licensing round was delayed in December 2024. However, the government maintains that progress will resume soon, with a licensing round tentatively set for 2026.
• Some deep-sea mining companies have faced significant financial struggles due to the delay, with one company going bankrupt and another slashing costs; yet, other firms remain optimistic, insisting the industry’s future is still secure.
• Experts warn that considerable knowledge gaps must be addressed before deep-sea mining can proceed, particularly regarding environmental impacts.
• In Norway, the industry also continues to face heavy opposition from environmental groups, the fishing sector, and several political parties.

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