North Atlantic right whales show real signs of recovery this year: Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans reports the critically endangered population appears to be stabilizing after a decade of decline, now estimated at roughly 384 whales including about 70 breeding females. This season logged over 680 visual and 2,000 acoustic detections in Canadian waters, plus 23 calves born, the highest calving count since 2009. DFO's own assessment stays careful: the decline has halted, but the population is far from recovered, and even a single mortality of a breeding female could meaningfully set back the gains. We break down what's driving this good season and why the fishing closures and vessel-speed measures behind it still matter.
Then, our Ocean People Profile: meet Dr Richard Unsworth, Associate Professor at Swansea University and Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Project Seagrass. Unsworth built a 20-year research career around an ecosystem most people have never heard of, seagrass, turning "no one knows what seagrasses are" into a global science and restoration charity, the UK's first seagrass nursery, and a citizen-science app called Seagrass Spotter. We also cover his team's most recent setback: an August 2026 marine heatwave that wiped out a 500,000-seed restoration planting in North Wales within days, and the new site they've identified to try again.
Finally, we dig into the "forgotten fauna": sharks and rays that live part or all of their lives in rivers and estuaries rather than the open ocean, and have been left out of almost every conservation framework built for their marine relatives. Roughly 60 species of sharks and rays depend on inland waters worldwide, and researchers estimate as many as 75% of non-marine sharks and rays in the Indo-Pacific region are threatened with extinction, a rate running close to double that of marine species. We look at why this entire category has fallen through the cracks between ocean and freshwater conservation.
Takeaways:
DFO reports North Atlantic right whales estimated at roughly 384 individuals, including about 70 breeding females, with the population's decline appearing to have halted after a decade of losses.
The 2026 season recorded over 680 visual detections and more than 2,000 acoustic detections in Canadian waters, plus 23 calves born, the highest calving count since 2009 (independently confirmed by NOAA Fisheries).
Of those 23 mother-calf pairs, 20 were returning mothers, and 13 had last calved in 2021 or 2022, a shorter reproductive interval than the recent 7-to-10-year average and a sign of improving reproductive health.
DFO credits 15-day fishing closures covering roughly 2,000 square kilometers as essential to this season's numbers, and stresses those measures need to stay in place.
Dr Richard Unsworth, Associate Professor at Swansea University, co-founded Project Seagrass in 2013 with two of his master's students, building it into a global seagrass science and restoration charity with over 140 published papers.
In August 2026, a rapid marine heatwave wiped out a 500,000-seed restoration planting at Traeth Crugan in North Wales within days; the team has identified a new, more temperature-resilient site near Holyhead to try again.
Roughly 60 species of sharks and rays depend on rivers, estuaries, and other inland waters worldwide, and an estimated 75% of non-marine sharks and rays in the Indo-Pacific region are threatened with extinction, nearly double the extinction rate of marine species.
Existing shark and ray conservation frameworks are built almost entirely around ocean-dwelling species, leaving freshwater and estuarine species chronically under-assessed and under-protected.
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