Exciting to be here with @dialogueearth.bsky.social colleagues. Full house...

Double-take detail in this interview with Edith Heard, head of the Crick

Her French husband decided against getting a spouse visa because of the UK's "intrusive" immigration rules

If that's happening with one of the UK's most senior scientists, how many others are being put off completely?

The slow pace of ratifications of the WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement The celebrated “consensus” agreement finally entered into force—partially—on September 15, 2025, over three years after it was originally agreed. Speaks volumes for governments’ commitment to susta…

Tomorrow’s opening session ends with a short ceremony to mark ratifications of the 2022 Fisheries Subsidies Agreement. @noiweala.bsky.social had wanted all members to ratify by this meeting. There's little chance of that now. So the agreement still doesn’t apply to a quarter of world fishing

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Finance cannot be an afterthought for the high seas treaty The treaty could be a huge win for ocean conservation, but the world needs to turn words on paper into action on the water, writes the president of Palau

"With the treaty now in force, financial obligations are no longer hypothetical."

Incredibly pleased to have this important piece from the President of Palau, Surangel Whipps Jr, about the high seas treaty on @dialogueearth.bsky.social

dialogue.earth/en/ocean/fin...

One million square kilometres of ocean gains full protection in Chile - Oceanographic Chile expands full protection across 946,571km² of ocean around the Juan Fernández and Nazca-Desventuradas marine parks.

Pure #OceanOptimism: 🇨🇱 granted full protection to 360,000km² of 🌊 around Juan Fernández & Nazca-Desventuradas marine parks, creating one of the world’s largest fully MPA & surpassing 50% ocean protection. #30x30
oceanographicmagazine.com/news/one-mil...

New research published in Nature, analysing 33,000 fish populations across the Northern Hemisphere, found that fish biomass declines by around 7.2% for every 0.1°C increase in seabed temperature per decade. In some cases, losses reached nearly 20% in a single year.

It got worse. This line hit me really hard:
"the movie Silent World (1956) by J. Y. Cousteau depicts a striking picture of flourishing marine life with fish abundances that have since been severely reduced by human exploitation and appear now impossible to retrieve, even in the most effective MPAs"

Marine protected areas marginally offset anthropogenic declines in tropical reef fish contributions to nature and people - Nature Ecology & Evolution The effectiveness of marine protected areas remains uncertain. Studying 2,800 tropical reefs, the authors of this study show that marine protected areas have compensated for only a small portion of hu...

Found the abstract of this paper by @uflandrin.bsky.social et al quite depressing:
"even if we drastically increase our protection efforts across the ocean...we cannot expect short-term socio-ecological benefits to counterbalance a long history of human footprint"

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you!

What a Lego ship says about the state of the ocean in 2026 A toy container vessel speaks to seemingly intractable problems facing the marine environment, writes Daniel Cressey

Six years ago I noticed Lego were putting toy marine debris into ocean sets. It took me a while to get round to writing about it.

Thanks to my colleagues @dialogueearth.bsky.social for believing in this slightly left field piece.

dialogue.earth/en/ocean/wha...

This seems fine. Can't see any reason we'd need more atmospheric measurements at the moment.

If the mission "no longer offers value for money" then fine - but maybe the money should be earmarked for something similar but better?

Alkaline mineral dissolution can impair embryonic development in the Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas), raising caution for ocean alkalinity enhancement Abstract. Ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) is a promising marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approach aimed at mitigating climate change by increasing

For those interested in ocean alkalinity enhancement / mCDR / geoengineering:
"relatively modest levels of olivine dissolution, within the ranges feasible for OAE, can impair embryonic development of oysters, likely due to the release of trace metals such as nickel"

academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...

As the Gulf conflict widens, so does its environmental footprint Environmental strain is growing in a region already vulnerable, leaving some countries with little capacity to cope

“The picture is very concerning. Thus far our monitoring has identified that a wide range of environmentally problematic sites have been targeted by conflict parties, in particular fossil fuel and military facilities.”

dialogue.earth/en/nature/as...

Why Europe barred China from flagship Horizon research programmes Fresh restrictions could result in China being less open with foreign collaborators, say some researchers.

Is it too optimistic to see some hope in the fact that the EU is keeping climate and biodiversity research ties with China open, even while shutting down other bits of Horizon cooperation?

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Hey you! Did you know that #fishing is one of the deadliest professions in the world? But labor laws are extremely shitty when it comes to stuff happening far away and under unclear jurisdiction. Something good just happened, though. 👇

#Fisheries #CapeTownAgreement

Nottingham move to cut academics' protected research time to 25%, as staff-student ratios rise, brings strong warning from the UCU branch - this "threatens Nottingham's status as a research-intensive institution".

Seafood fraud: There might be something fishy about your flounder Seafood is so vulnerable to fraud that one in five products may not be what is claimed, warns the UNFAO

Fish fraud! Do you know all nine types?

dialogue.earth/en/food/seaf...

Job losses at research-intensive universities double in two years - Research Professional News Exclusive: Scale of redundancies revealed branded a “disaster” for UK research capacity

Job losses at UK research-intensive universities double in two years.

Exclusive: Scale of redundancies branded a “disaster”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Jobs Mexico and Central America Regional Editor at Dialogue Earth

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We are hiring a Mexico and Central America Regional Editor to join our editorial team.

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The implications of overshooting 1.5 °C on Earth system tipping elements - a review

"Global warming must peak below 2°C, return to below 1.5°C as quickly as possible (i.e. within this century), and to around 1°C thereafter to limit tipping point risks".

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Latest on the consequences of the UK's decision to scrap two international physics projects.

The "UK would not anymore be considered a reliable partner in the field of fundamental physics—and that is a big change," an Italian physicist tells me.

A roadmap towards monitoring walruses from space Abstract. Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) are experiencing rapid habitat change, concomitant with dramatic sea ice declines in the Arctic. Reduction in sea ic

Love this paper title:
A roadmap towards monitoring walruses from space

academic.oup.com/icesjms/arti...

From @bas.ac.uk / @ptfretwell.bsky.social / and others

Predation by Mammal‐Eating Bigg's Killer Whales (Orcinus orca rectipinnus) May Shape the Unique Social Structure of “Resident” Fish‐Eating Killer Whales (O. o. ater) in the North Pacific Click on the article title to read more.

Killer whales eating other killer whales? Is there any animal with a more appropriate name?

"we present direct evidence of conspecific predation on resident killer whales"

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Nature journal headline: Marine protection in the Azores: a triumph for conservation and sustainability

Science journal headline: Ineffective marine protected areas in Azores

Good to see the Nature vs Science rivalry is still going strong.

On a serious note - I'm hoping to visit the Azores later this year. Hoping to get to the bottom of how good the protection there really is. Who should I talk too?

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Trump abandons international climate, biodiversity and energy bodies Dismay as US president orders withdrawal from 66 bodies working on climate, global governance and other issues

Belated post - new (last week) on @dialogueearth.bsky.social

dialogue.earth/en/climate/t...

We will be following up, so if you think any of the agencies being abandoned deserve more attention than they are currently getting, please drop me a line.

It's the 3rd of January 1939, your name is professor James Smith and you are staring at a drawing of a fish. It's not a regular fish. It is a completely impossible fish.

Upside-down jellyfish "slept at night and napped at midday in both the laboratory and the natural habitat".

I need to be more cnidarian in 2026.

Does anyone know where the claim that plastic fishing gear / monofilament could potentially survive 600 years in the ocean originated?

Have been trying to find an original source and only come up with grey literature statement and unreferenced comments in papers.