Marvee Sambajon

A major international meeting has agreed on new rules to protect more than 70 species of sharks and rays, marking a significant step forward for global marine conservation. These measures will tighten trade regulations, helping to reduce pressures from overexploitation.

A rare bright spot for whales: Decades of conservation pay off for endangered population in Canada Populations of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus), playful animals that resemble large dolphins, stretch across the Atlantic Ocean, with each group of whales living year-round in a…

Northern bottlenose whales have struggled to rebound even decades after whaling bans.

But a population off Canada’s east coast is finally recovering after the Gully submarine canyon became a Marine Protected Area in 2004 — a rare marine conservation success.

Solving the Mystery of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt: 5 Surprising Truths This blog post and the “Deep Dive” podcast, created by NotebookLM, are based on “Equatorial upwelling of phosphorus drives Atlantic N2 fixation and Sargassum blooms” by Jung et al. (2025). De…

Great Atlantic Sargassum blooms are fueled by enhanced phosphate upwelling during the negative phase of the Atlantic Meridional Mode (AMM): 🌊🧪 ocean2climate.org/2025/12/08/s...

Understanding plankton biodiversity and ecosystem change by applying machine learning – A CASE studentship (SERVO) Applications are invited for three 3.5 year PhD studentships: Understanding plankton biodiversity and ecosystem change by applying machine learning. The...

🌊 Funded PhD Opportunity: Advancing Plankton Imaging & Machine Learning to Transform Marine Biodiversity Monitoring 🔬🌍 www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/resear...

MBARI researchers discover remarkable new species of swimming sea slug • MBARI A new nudibranch species is the first known to inhabit the ocean’s midnight zone and has unique adaptations for life in this environment.

"While most sea slugs use a raspy tongue to feed on prey attached to the seafloor, the mystery mollusc uses a cavernous hood to trap crustaceans like a Venus fly trap plant."

(from last year, but still v cool)
🦑 www.mbari.org/news/mbari-r...

Proliferation of a bloom-forming phytoplankton via uptake of polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria under phosphate-limiting conditions academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a... #jcampubs 🌊

The Queen of Limu! 😍 #PhycologyFriday 🌊🦑

Cosmopolitan marine bacteria facilitate a vast phytoplankton-derived sulfonate-based carbon flow through sulfoquinovosidases www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊

Spinner's and Spotted's and Humpbacks, Oh My! Read the full story here: buff.ly/2Rv8Wgz
Video by Nicole
This is an encounter from 2015.
#WhaleTales #dolphins

Babycams confirm Moreton Bay as nursing ground for humpback whales On Quandamooka Sea Country (Moreton Bay), a team of multi-disciplinary scientists have captured unique footage that cements the popular bayside site's importance as a humpback whale nursing and restin...

Fresh from the field - we confirmed that humpback whales are nursing in Moreton Bay, Australia! 🇦🇺
phys.org/news/2025-11...

@susanbengtsonnash.bsky.social @lbejder1971.bsky.social + Augusta Hollers, William Gough, Raphael Mayaud
@griffith.edu.au @universityofhawaii.bsky.social #marmam

Ocean microplastics can drift for years or sink rapidly: Analysis reveals two distinct pathways Publishing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers at Kyushu University report that they have developed a new method to more accurately analyze the distribution of small microplastics in the ocean at various depths.

Small ocean microplastics follow two main pathways: some drift for decades at mid-depths, while others sink rapidly to the deep sea, with concentrations reaching up to 10,000 particles per cubic meter. doi.org/hbc8v9

Reef protections are slowing crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks - Oceanographic Reef zoning and fisheries reforms along the Great Barrier Reef have helped curb crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and protect coral.

One of the most extensive marine conservation initiatives ever undertaken on the Great Barrier Reef is starting to deliver some positive impact,helping to reduce the scale of crown of thorns starfish outbreaks thanks to increased levels of reef protections. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/reef-pr...

Quality of marine protected areas is critical to achieving global biodiversity targets - npj Ocean Sustainability Summarising CBD target 3 to “30 × 30” emphasizes area coverage, but conservation success depends on MPA quality. Many existing MPAs are under-protected, and rapidly designating new areas risks creatin...

🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨

🌊 Prioritizing #strictly or #fully protected MPAs is essential to achieve #meaningful biodiversity #outcomes.

🏆 Quality-focused strategies ensure that global targets benefit both #nature and #people, rather than merely meeting numerical goals.

📰 doi.org/10.1038/s441...

🌊

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles wit...

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people's bodies. Her bosses halted her work.

Now she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

(Published May 2024)

For the Science Communicators out there, how do you style your communication to fight back against sensationalism?

The news seems so sensational sometimes and I feel like clear and honest communication is really important.

I’m curious to hear from you!
#SciComm

Climate Viz of the Month October 2025 Hi everyone! Instead of designing a new special feature visualization, this next ‘climate viz of the month’ blog will focus on briefly summarizing the recent extremes in th…

October 2025 was the warmest October on record for the #Arctic. Arctic sea-ice extent is currently the lowest on record for late November. My newest 'climate viz of the month' summarizes some of this latest data: zacklabe.com/climate-viz-...

#ClimateChange #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData #DataViz

🦈 Good news for Oceanic whitetip sharks! Their protection level has been upgraded at the 20th Conference of the Parties (CoP20) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to Appendix I.

#oceanicwhitetip #shark #cop20 #cites #appendix1 #conservation
🌊

COP30 overlooked the deep ocean, protecting it must be a priority The Maldivian government reopened gulper shark fishing, carving a species-level exemption that weakens both protections and reputations.

🌊 COP30 overlooked the deep ocean, protecting it must be a priority

oceanographicmagazine.com/features/cop...

I loved the unintentional 360 view of these two chromodoris nudis. They obviously enjoyed each other's company, as I found them in the exact same spot the next day! #scuba #marinelife #underwaterphotography

The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action Despite the initial hope inspired by the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world is now dangerously close to breaching its target of limiting global multiyear mean heating to 1·5°C. Annual mean surface temper...

Anthropogenic Global Warming, Climate Extremes, Habitat Loss, Zoonotic Diseases, Fossil Fuel Pollution, & Health 🧵

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Plastic pollution: a crisis requiring systemic change Plastic pollution is worsened by warming climate and must be stemmed, researchers warn

✍️ Plastic pollution: a crisis requiring systemic change

Plastic pollution is worsened by warming climate and must be stemmed, researchers warn

By Brian McHugh

@yorkshirebylines.co.uk

YouTube video by Global Weirding with Katharine Hayhoe Climate vs Weather | Global Weirding

“It’s cold today—so much for global warming!”

Weather is like your mood, while climate is your personality. One cold day doesn’t disprove global trends. In fact, warming can even disrupt weather patterns and cause some of the wild swings we see today!

#MarineLife 🌊🦑

Cornerstones of Marine Protection Might Actually be “Blue Spots” A marine protection method described this week proposes spreading marine protection from areas where wildlife tourism already discourages activities that damage or degrade ecosystems, like fishing or ...

🌊🔵 Introducing Blue Spots! These are places that can accelerate marine conservation by concentrating efforts in areas where existing non-extractive economies—especially diving and wildlife tourism—already support biodiversity protection. Dive in to learn more. ⬇️ 💙🐠

Volcanic bubbles in Papua New Guinea a window into coral’s future - Oceanographic Natural CO₂ seeps in Papua New Guinea reveal how rising emissions may reshape reefs by 2100, leading to fewer corals and more fleshy algae.

🌊 Volcanic bubbles in Papua New Guinea a window into coral’s future

oceanographicmagazine.com/news/papua-n...

Cabo Verde seamounts oases of life🌋🐋🪸🌊

New collaborative article highlights Cabo Verde's seamounts biodiversity, ecological role and socioeconomic relevance.
@st.ieo.es @unibarcelonathe.bsky.social

Read more:
noc.ac.uk/news/seamoun...

📷 Luso/iMirabilis2/iAtlantic Project
📷 JacobGonzalez-Solis

Scientists Capture First Photos of Living Ginkgo-Toothed Beaked Whales, Study Confirms the Historic Moment Researchers from the Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, and the U.S. military's Naval Information Warfare Center successfully found and photographed living ginkgo-toothed beaked whales ...

🎉 INCREDIBLE SIGHTING Scientists have captured the first-ever confirmed live photos of the elusive Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale!

This rare moment gives researchers an exciting new opportunity to learn more about these mysterious deep-sea animals. 🌊🐋 people.com/researchers-...

It’s been three years since the HABs Watch Project was launched in the Philippines. Grateful to have met people from different institutions across the country, even more grateful to have them as friends, even though the project has ended and we have moved on to different paths and things.

#ICYMI: 🐋 📰 My latest #research with @emilyyeager9.bsky.social on the role of news media in marine conservation, this time about Rice's #whales. Worth reading even if you're not in whale science and conservation. Available #OpenAccess at bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews. 🐋 📰