In a win-win for commercial fisheries and marine wildlife, researchers have found that using lighted nets greatly reduced accidental bycatch of sharks, rays, sea turtles, and unwanted finfish.

Ratifying its global commitments, the Government of Colombia has recently declared Isla Ají a new marine protected area (MPA). Spanning 24,600 ha (95 square miles), this important and beautiful nature reserve will serve to protect threatened wildlife and safeguard the wellbeing of local coastal communities who depend on the area for food and their livelihoods. 

Just in time for Penguin Awareness Day (Thursday, January 20^th), the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Argentina Program has released amazing underwater selfie video recently taken by a male Gentoo penguin fitted with a special camera.

The Government of Bangladesh has declared a new marine protected area (MPA) spanning 1,743 square kilometers (672 square miles) around Saint Martin’s Island, a region which represents 1.5 percent of Bangladesh’s exclusive economic zone.

The National Assembly of Nicaragua has recently passed legislation declaring Corn Islands a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) under the category “Seascape and Landscape Protected Area.”

Two WCS-supported Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – Cuba’s Parque Nacional Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) and Kisite Mpunguti Marine National Park in Kenya – have been designated as Blue Parks, a prestigious recognition for their global importance, as well as the exceptional quality of the science-based conservation and management standards in place to protect them. 

A new, widespread study of the global state of marine coral reef wilderness by WCS, NGS, and university collaborators found that remote ocean wilderness areas are sustaining fish populations much better than some of the world’s best marine reserves.

A new study finds that that some large whale species (humpback, fin and minke whales) use the waters off New York and New Jersey as a supplemental feeding area feasting on two different types of prey species.