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. 

“Shark Week” kicks off on July 11th, and just in time, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released five facts you probably did not know about shark conservation to raise awareness about this imperiled group of fishes and what’s being done to protect them. 

A powerful, long-term study from WCS adds scientific backing for global calls for conserving 30 percent of the world’s ocean. 

A team of marine scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has confirmed that southern Africa’s most threatened endemic shark – the Critically Endangered shorttail nurse shark (Pseudoginglymostoma brevicaudatum) – has been found to occur in Mozambique; a finding that represents a range extension of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles).

A recent study has uncovered a small area off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania harboring a vast array of ocean life. 

Diversifying the world’s portfolio of protected coral reefs is critical to safeguarding biodiversity for our oceans, says a 27-year study of Kenyan corals out now in the Journal of the International Coral Reef Society. Scientists emphasize that rather than continuing to protect the most charismatic and well-recognized corals and habitats, we must “spread our risk” by protecting a more diverse mosaic of reef habitats. Conserving uncommon coral varieties by establishing protected...

A team of scientists have discovered that a large area in the Indo-Pacific known as the “Coral Triangle” is surprisingly resistant to thermal stress from climate change, making it a sanctuary for corals amid the ongoing climate crisis.

A new study investigating the links between coastal communities and coral reefs in Kenya and Madagascar has found that access to education and markets can help mitigate acute vulnerabilities for communities struggling with poverty and reliant on ecosystems degraded by overfishing.

Good governance appears to be a prerequisite for local support of strong fisheries restrictions, the key finding in a recently published study of 16 fishing villages in East Africa that are struggling to achieve fisheries sustainability.

A study of East African coral reefs has uncovered an unfolding calamity for the region: plummeting fish populations due to overfishing, which in turn could produce widespread food insecurity.