The Times and Metro report the police, fire crews and the RNLI have worked through the night to try to free a whale stranded in the River Thames in south-west London. The whale, believed to be a baby Minke, was spotted in Richmond Lock yesterday evening – and has since been moved. A vet will now assess whether it is strong enough to be released back to sea.
Tag Archives: marine
UK to support plans for new global treaty to ‘turn tide’ on plastic pollution
The Guardian reports Lord Goldsmith says Britain, the second biggest per capita producer of plastic waste, could play leading role in tackling crisis. Britain has thrown its weight behind a new global agreement to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, which Lord Goldsmith said would go “far beyond” existing international agreements.
Joanna Lumley blasts wind farms for turning dolphins deaf
THE TIMES reports the actress is campaigning for an end to the detonation of submerged bombs during the construction of wind farms, after fears that the blasts deafen marine mammals. She has joined with conservation charities to say that this approach is “crazy”. A vast quantity of live explosives still lies in the seas around Britain, many dumped by Nazi bombers that failed to find their targets.
Bottlenose dolphins photo by Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith under creative commons.
Jellyfish bloom reports soar from Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides
The Guardian reports busy beaches and warm, calm seas fuel sightings of lion’s manes, compasses and moons. From a “mile-long” swarm in Devon to warnings to swimmers in the Outer Hebrides, it seems jellyfish are difficult to ignore this summer.
High temperatures, calm and warm seas and packed beaches have resulted in large numbers of reports of jellyfish blooms around the UK coast, and combined with a glut of the plankton on which they feed, some are reaching record sizes, experts said. At the fishing town of Brixham, Devon, one kayaker and photographer witnessed what he described as a mile-long mass of compass jellyfish. They have also been spotted in large numbers along the Cornish coast.
Supertrawlers ramp up activity in UK protected waters during lockdown
The Guardian reports fishing time in first half of 2020 almost double that in whole of last year, Greenpeace says. Supertrawlers vastly stepped up their fishing in the UK’s protected waters during the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year, while most of the UK’s smaller vessels were confined to port.
£2.5m project to help Solent wildlife will also tackle climate change
Photo of short snouted seahorse (one of two UK species) by prilfish under creative commons.
Portsmouth News reports the stretch of water between the Isle of Wight and the mainland has been identified as one of five spots in the UK to benefit from a £2.5m project funded by Natural England and the EU. Seahorses, native oysters, stalked jellyfish and seagrass are among the wildlife that will be protected by the new Recreation Remedies scheme.
Tim Ferrero from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust welcomed the news. He said: ‘Seagrass beds are an immensely important type of habitat for both people and wildlife.
Kelp! Sir David Attenborough rides to the rescue of seahorses
THE TIMES reports Sir David Attenborough has been drawn into a row with fishermen over plans to ban them from trawling to allow the creation of breeding grounds for seahorses and other rare sealife. The broadcaster is backing the restoration of a vast “underwater forest” of kelp in one of Britain’s biggest marine rewilding projects. Dense thickets of brown kelp, a type of seaweed, are an ideal nursery and feeding ground for seahorses, cuttlefish, lobster, sea bream, bass and many other species.
River Thames home to 138 seal pups, finds annual count
The Guardian reports it has been a highway, a sewer and was declared biologically dead in the 1950s but the River Thames is now a nursery for 138 baby seals, according to the first comprehensive count of pups.
Scientists from ZSL analysed photographs taken from a specially-chartered light aircraft to identify and count harbour seal pups, which rest on sandbanks and creeks around the Thames estuary, downstream from London, during the summer, shortly after they are born.