While pursuing her PhD studies with Sea Around Us, Veronica Relano-Ecija, engaged in an artistic project to raise awareness about climate change and sea-level rise.
Marine sharks and rays ‘use’ urea to delay reproduction
Urea – the main component of human urine – plays an important role in the timing of maturation of sharks, rays and other cartilaginous fish.
A new study by researchers with the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries found that high urea concentrations common in cartilaginous fish, particularly oviparous marine species, allow them to mature and begin to reproduce at a larger fraction of their maximal size.
Planet vs. Plastics – Ghost nets
Under the campaign slogan of ‘Planet vs. Plastics,’ Earth Day 2024 is focused on environmental activists’ commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60 per cent reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040.
Even though the Sea Around Us research doesn’t focus on ocean pollution, there is an evident connection between fisheries and the littering of our oceans.
To illustrate this connection, the above video presents some of the alarming figures related to gear abandoned at sea, which remains in the oceans and often continues to capture fish and other marine animals in a process commonly referred to as ‘ghost fishing’.
Respiratory stress response that stunts temperate fish also affects coral reef fish
Coral reef fish –like the fish in other marine and freshwater ecosystems – are likely to reach smaller maximum sizes and start reproducing earlier with smaller and fewer eggs as climate change continues to warm up the ocean.
A tiny fish reclaims its space in the Sea Around Us database
A recent Fisheries Centre Research Report reviews two Indo-Pacific anchovy genera (Encrasicholina and Stolephorus) with respect to their fisheries, contribution to food security and as important baitfish for tropical pole-and-line fisheries.
A magical weekend of scientific learning and exploring scenic Bamfield
By Anna Luna Rossi.
It takes about six hours, departing from Vancouver, to reach the Bamfield Marine Science Centre, where was held the 45th annual Pacific Ecology and Evolution Conference (PEEC). Three of those hours consist of sailing on the MV Frances Barkley – a 65-year-old heritage ship originating in Norway that started its current route in 1990 – through the Alberni Inlet from Port Alberni to Bamfield, almost reaching the open ocean in Barkley Sound.
Over 100 NGOs, citizen groups and top figures launch coalition for ocean protection
As the French city of Nice begins preparations to host the high-level 2025 United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources), over 100 non-governmental organizations, academic units, celebrities, and civil society collectives have joined forces to launch the Citizens’ Coalition for the Protection of the Ocean.
Snappy explains how warmer waters from climate change affect fish
Snappy, a snapper living in tropical waters, is the protagonist of a video created to observe World Water Day 2024.
Through his story and in very simple terms, we explain how warmer water than that to which fish are used becomes an aggressor of sorts that impacts internal biochemical processes and forces the fish to stop growing at a smaller size than it would normally do in optimal habitat conditions and move poleward.
Get to know the women in the Sea Around Us
For International Women’s Day 2024, we want our audience to get to know the women in the Sea Around Us in a context that goes beyond science and their professional selves.
UBC researchers launch Africa-UBC Oceans & Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program
University of British Columbia researchers Dr. Rashid Sumaila and Dr. Daniel Pauly have launched the Africa-UBC Oceans & Fisheries Visiting Fellows Program, whose goal is to inspire exceptional young African researchers to develop ocean and freshwater sustainability solutions.
The fellowship is aimed at early-career academics from sub-Saharan African universities and research institutes who are interested in engaging with leading researchers at UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries to facilitate diverse, equitable, mutually beneficial research collaborations.
Scientists push WTO to ban fisheries subsidies
Fisheries scientists and marine biologists working in all corners of the world, from Canada to Australia, from Malaysia to Nigeria, and from Brazil to Monaco, are once again making a call to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to approve additional regulations that eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.
Unilateral efforts to combat illegal fishing may spur piracy in certain regions
Certain policies and policing measures taken by countries to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing drive local actors to engage in piracy, new research has found.
A poster to celebrate the Sea Around Us 25th anniversary
In July 2024, the Sea Around Us turns 25 years old.
During this quarter-century, the project has been dedicated to examining the impacts of fisheries on the marine ecosystems of the world. It has been and remains instrumental in ocean conservation.
Belizean fishers want changes in policy and practice to revert declining catch trends
Belizean fishers’ experience in the water confirms the declining trends in fishery catches – and, therefore, in fish populations – uncovered by the Belize Fisheries Project (BFP), of which the Sea Around Us is a member together with Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI), the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative (HRI) and MRAG Americas.
Researchers can now access integrated dataset of groundfish biodiversity
An international team of researchers gathered in the FISHGLOB Consortium has released a new dataset that presents standardized information from publicly available scientific bottom trawl surveys conducted in the waters of 18 countries from 1963 to 2021 and covering over 2,100 fish species.
Shark alert: Global study documents increasing trend in shark mortality, identifies pathways to save threatened species
Sharks have persisted as powerful ocean predators for more than 400 million years. They survived five mass extinctions, diversifying into an amazing variety of forms and lifestyles. But this ancient lineage is now among the world’s most threatened species groups due to overexploitation in poorly regulated fisheries and the proliferation of wasteful finning practices.