Once upon a time, eel was Sweden’s most common fish. It was found everywhere but was fished so heavily that it is now on the verge of extinction. The eel population is now one per cent of what it was in the 1950s. According to researchers, we must stop fishing for eel if it is to have a chance of survival, but fishermen disagree.
In October 2022, a British-American couple, Kyle and Maryanne Webb, were sailing their yacht through a remote area of the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Seychelles, just south of the Saya de Malha Bank, the world’s largest seagrass field.
Overfishing is when we catch more fish than can be born. This leads to a steady decline in populations. Overfishing is a threat to marine fish – but there may be a bigger threat. Listen to scientist Mark Erdmann talk about how climate change and overfishing are linked.
Gör det någon skillnad för torsken om den fångas av en krok i munnen eller av ett garn? Utanför den norska kusten släpper forskaren Marco Vindas och hans team ner burar, nät och långlinor för att ta få svar på den frågan. Vilken fångstmetod är sämst och vilken är bäst – för torsken. Nu har han svaret.
Greenhouse gas emissions have made the oceans increasingly acidic. Now, according to a new report, ocean acidification has exceeded the limit considered safe for marine life for the first time. ‘The consequences could be really serious,’ says Albert Norström, associate professor at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.
For the people of the Pacific Islands, the sea is life, it provides most of their food, it regulates their climate. It’s a familiar friend, but for these low-lying island nations, rising seas are now threatening their very existence. Ironically, this threat has its origins far away, where emissions from industries that have enriched the world’s most powerful industrial nations are the biggest contributors to the changes that make Elson Kelen, a community leader on Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, fear for the future of his children and grandchildren.
A new report by the country’s intelligence chiefs states that the nation’s security is threatened by the climate crisis, something that the Guardian was the first to report on. And the threat, they say, is much closer in time than we realise.
Even the ancient Greeks held the yellow-striped mullus – or, in short, the mullus – in high regard. With rising sea temperatures, it has been appearing on the Swedish west coast in autumn for several years now. However, spawning and reproduction have never been recorded in Swedish waters. But there are many indications that the mullet can now be considered a resident and reproducing species. Many shallow bays along the west coast have been swarming with its fry this summer.
Far out on the islands of the Stockholm archipelago, Elina Thorson and her team from SVA (the Swedish National Veterinary Institute) collect samples from dead seals to find out how the seals are actually doing. The question is what impact climate change and reduced ice cover are having on their health. Better than expected, as it turns out.
The Baltic Sea porpoise is currently endangered, with its population at historically low levels. The EU wants Sweden to implement measures to save it. But it turns out to be more difficult than expected.
A Swedish company has been authorised to investigate the possibility of extracting mineral nodules from the seabed in the Gulf of Bothnia. They are said to be important for the green transition. Researchers will now provide answers to how the extraction would affect the organisms living at the bottom of the sea.
It sneaks out oil and fills Russia’s war coffers. It is suspected of spying on Sweden. And it is feared that at any time it could cause a huge environmental disaster. Russia’s so-called shadow fleet – with a thousand anonymous ships – has grown explosively and poses a threat in several ways in the Baltic Sea.
Documentary filmmaker Johan Candert is at Bikini Atoll, diving into a strange sea. 80 years ago, the US detonated 23 nuclear bombs here, wiping out all life. But what Johan sees is a sea that is recovering. Life is coming back. This story was first published a year and a half ago. Since then, Johan […]
In 2015, an infamously-scofflaw fleet of more than 70 bottom trawlers from Thailand fished in the Saya De Malha Bank, a submerged plateau the size of Switzerland that lies in the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Seychelles. The trawlers dragged their nets over the ocean floor, scooping up various types of forage fish, as well as brushtooth lizardfish, round scad, and sharks. Their catch would be turned into protein-rich fishmeal that gets fed to chickens, pigs, and aquaculture fish.
For the past decade, the mining industry has argued that the ocean floor is an essential frontier for precious metals needed in the batteries used in cell phones and laptops. As companies eye the best patches of ocean to search for the precious sulfides and nodules, widely dubbed “truffles of the ocean,” the waters near the Saya de Malha Bank—a submerged plateau the size of Switzerland in the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Seychelles—have emerged as an attractive target.
The British military has found sensors off the UK coast that are believed to be Russian attempts to spy on the country’s nuclear-armed submarines, reports The Sunday Times.
When researchers talk about ‘missing data,’ they are referring to replacing previously estimated values with actual, real values in various explanatory models. This can be particularly important in climate change models. Even though approximate values provide a good picture of future climate change, the more reliable the measurement points are, the more robust the model becomes.
Does it make any difference to cod whether they are caught by a hook in their mouth or by a net? Off the Norwegian coast, researcher Marco Vindas and his team are lowering cages, nets and longlines to find the answer to that question. Which fishing method is worst and which is best – for cod? Now he has the answer.
Everything we do in the high sea, risks causing damage that cannot be repaired. That’s what a group of leading scientists say in a recent article published in the journal Nature. They say it’s damaging biodiversity, affecting the climate, and creating huge inequalities in how resources are shared. It is time, they write, that we decide to save the ocean.
US President Donald Trump has put the axe to the US National Weather Service (NOAA). The hijacking affects both international climate research and local forecasts, experts and staff warn. – It will cost us many lives, a former senior manager told TT.
In the fall, we reported on the sensational return of the blue mussel along the Swedish west coast. The mussel beds have spread to an extent where we have to go back in time to find an equivalent. But this has also created conditions for another species that feeds mainly on mussels – the common starfish, Asterias rubens. They have now invaded the mussel beds in an almost explosive way. And they have been joined by other species in the clam feast. Clams have a sophisticated way of escaping from predators, but starfish, on the other hand, have developed a counter-weapon. Join us on the battlefield of the west coast!
There have been rumours of large mysterious jelly balls floating around in the sea. For a long time, they have puzzled scientists. From northern Norway to the Mediterranean, around 100 records have been made since 1985. And three of these in Sweden. Our underwater photographer Tobias Dahlin has now made a fourth find, in the Gullmarsfjord in Bohuslän on the Swedish west coast, and he had his camera with him. We also meet Halldis Ringvold, a Norwegian marine biologist, who in 2021 revealed what’s really hidden inside the meter-long wondrous balls.
Researchers have now established that the harbor seals in the Kosterhavet area are becoming increasingly scarce. Last year, only half of the females gave birth to pups. This is according to research from the University of Gothenburg, following this year’s seal count. – We were very surprised. These low numbers cannot be dismissed year after year, says Karin Hårding, professor of zoological ecology at the University of Gothenburg and the leader of the project.
On the rocks in Bohuslän live small, discreet shells with special properties. Snail-collecting scientists have now received clues about what is crucial for species’ survival.
