Scientists examining levels of ocean noise in the Bering Sea—an important migratory seascape for whales, walruses, seals, and other acoustically sensitive animals—have confirmed that the presence of sea ice plays a central role in the soundscape of these Arctic waters.

A growing concern is that the disappearance of sea ice due to a changing climate could mean a marine realm increasingly filled with shipping and other human-related ocean noise, according to scientists from Southall Environmental Associates, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and other groups in a new study.

The Government of Bangladesh announced the declaration of the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the northern Bay of Bengal to safeguard critical spawning grounds for the country’s most valuable fish species and some of the world’s largest populations of endangered dolphins, porpoises, sharks, rays, and marine turtles.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) applauds Governor Cuomo and the New York State Senate and Assembly for their leadership in banning single-use plastic bags in this year’s budget. 

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club has announced donations totaling over $60,000 to local nonprofits in the Coney Island community, including a $20,000 donation for the New York Aquarium’s local marine conservation efforts.

WCS scientists in our Global Conservation Program and in our zoos and aquarium issued a list of nine iconic wildlife species that are recovering in 2019 due to conservation action.

A coalition of major public aquariums has announced that they are opposed to the federal government’s pending issuance of permits to allow repeated seismic blasting along the East Coast in search of offshore oil and gas. Marine scientists are concerned that the prolonged and extreme noise pollution introduced into already highly stressed ocean environments will disturb marine life from tiny plankton to commercially valuable fish stocks and even giant whales.

The WCS Myanmar Program released a video celebrating its 25th year of conservation.Watch the video here.

WCS Executive Vice President for Public Affairs John Calvelli issued the following statement concerning rescission of the U.S. National Ocean Policy:

February 16, 2017 – Scientists and government officials met at the United Nations on Wednesday, February 15th to consider possible solutions to a global problem: how to protect whale species in their most important marine habitats that overlap with shipping lanes vital to the economies of many of the world’s nations.

December 14, 2016 – Marine scientists have discovered that two species of dolphin in the waters off Bangladesh are genetically distinct from those in other regions of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, a finding that supports a growing body of evidence that the Bay of Bengal harbors conditions that drive the evolution of new life forms, according to a new study by the American Museum of Natural History(AMNH), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and the cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (Universidade de Lisboa).