Canada has made another major commitment to nature conservation, proposing billions of dollars in funding to help protect ecosystems across the country. For ocean advocates, that sounds like great news. After all, Canada has the longest coastline in…
The ocean has reached an important milestone. Around 10% of the world’s ocean is now protected through marine protected areas and other conservation measures. That number represents years of work by governments, scientists, conservation organizatio…
It Is Easy to Feel Powerless Environmental news can feel overwhelming. Governments roll back regulations, corporations announce massive projects, and it often seems like ordinary people have little influence over what happens next. Many people assu…
The Conservation Question We Rarely Ask When people talk about ocean conservation, the conversation usually starts with problems. We hear about climate change, plastic pollution, overfishing, habitat destruction, and declining biodiversity. These c…
When most people imagine the ocean, they picture tropical waters. They think of coral reefs, colorful fish, and warm beaches featured in travel brochures and documentaries. Those ecosystems are certainly beautiful, but they represent only part of th…
The Ocean Ecosystem Most People Walk Past When most people visit the coast, they focus on the waves, the beach, or the horizon. Few stop to look closely at the small pools of water left behind when the tide goes out. These tide pools often appear q…
Sea Turtles in Canada? That Sounds Wrong When most people think about sea turtles, they imagine warm tropical beaches, crystal-clear water, and sunny coastlines. Canada is usually the last place that comes to mind. Yet every summer, some of the lar…
Most people hear the word shark and immediately picture danger. Big teeth. Dark water. A dorsal fin cutting through the surface. Popular culture has trained many of us to see sharks as something to fear before we ever learn anything about them. But…
Meet One of the Strangest Fish on Earth Imagine looking out across the ocean and seeing what appears to be a giant fish floating sideways at the surface. It barely moves. It looks injured, exhausted, or even dead. Most people would assume something…
The Ocean Beyond Borders The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet, yet a huge portion of it exists beyond the control of any single nation. These waters, known as the high seas, begin where national Exclusive Economic Zones end and stretch acro…
Everybody says they want to protect the ocean until the conversation turns to money, power, and control. That is the heart of this episode of How to Protect the Ocean. The High Seas Treaty sounds like something the world should have agreed on quick…
The High Seas Treaty is one of the most important ocean agreements in modern history. For the first time, the world has a framework to better protect biodiversity beyond national borders. That matters because the high seas cover nearly half of the …
Creating a marine protected area thousands of kilometres offshore sounds impressive. It sounds like the kind of bold ocean action the world needs. But there is one question that matters more than almost anything else: Who is actually going to enfo…
Almost half of the planet belongs to no country at all. That may sound impossible at first, but once you move beyond the waters controlled by individual coastal nations, you enter the high seas. These are the vast areas of ocean beyond national jur…
Forage fish are easy to overlook. They are small. They move in schools. Most people do not think about them unless they are used as bait, turned into fish meal, or seen washing ashore during a capelin roll. But these fish are not minor characters …
The Ocean Species Most People Ignore When most people think about ocean conservation, they usually picture whales breaching through the surface, sharks moving through deep blue water, or sea turtles swimming over coral reefs. Those animals have bec…
When most people think about important ocean animals, they picture whales, sharks, tuna, or salmon. Very few people think about sardines, anchovies, capelin, or herring. But these small fish may be some of the most important species in the entire …
One of the biggest problems in ocean fishing is not just whether we are catching too many predator fish. It is whether we are removing too much of the food that those predators need to survive. That food often comes in the form of forage fish. For…
Some of the most important animals in the ocean are fish most people never think about. They are not whales. They are not sharks. They are not tuna or salmon. They are forage fish. Forage fish are small schooling fish like sardines, anchovies, he…
Ocean conservation work often starts with passion. Someone sees a problem, whether it is plastic pollution, overfishing, habitat loss, shark conservation, coral reef decline, or community-led ocean protection, and they decide to act. But passion do…
Ocean conservation is often portrayed as meaningful, adventurous, and inspiring work. We see scientists diving on coral reefs, researchers tagging sharks, advocates speaking at global conferences, and communicators sharing incredible ocean footage o…
Ocean science can tell us what is happening beneath the surface, but that does not mean people will hear it. That is one of the biggest challenges in ocean conservation today. We often assume that once scientists discover something important, gover…
Marine scientists are trained to study the ocean. They collect data, monitor ecosystems, track wildlife, assess threats, publish research, and help the public understand what is happening beneath the surface. But behind the scenes, many ocean scie…
Ocean conservation is a multi-billion-dollar global effort. So why do so many marine scientists, nonprofits, and conservation organizations constantly feel like they are running out of money? That is the question at the heart of this episode of Ho…