Tag - oceans

 
 

OCEANS

There are a lot of reasons for why the Pacific saury is becoming scarcer, including overfishing in international waters and changing ocean conditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Oct 23, 2023
A saury state: How the price of ‘autumn’s fish’ skyrocketed
A fish so cheap and abundant that even the cats would ignore it, the Pacific saury is becoming a sought-after dish as stocks dwindle.
An inspector from the International Atomic Energy Agency observes crates of fish to be taken as samples from Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2023
IAEA inspectors test Fukushima fish
China and Russia have banned Japanese seafood imports since the discharge began but Japan says it is safe, a view backed by the IAEA.
A landscape covered with ice in northern Greenland
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 19, 2023
Reversing warming may stop Greenland ice sheet collapse, study says
The melting of Greenland’s vast ice sheet is estimated to have contributed more than 20% to observed sea level rise since 2002.
Visitors walk along the Marina Barrage water catchment area in Singapore in 2009.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 10, 2023
Singapore fighting rising seas to save $50 billion in real estate
During a half-century of independence, Singapore has fought to expand its territory, inch by hard-won inch. On the tip of the Malaysian peninsula, the island city-state piled up sand to expand its coastline and reclaim land from the sea.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2023
IAEA says tritium below limit in second batch of Fukushima water
IAEA experts stationed at the plant took samples from the second batch of treated water on Tuesday before it was discharged.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2023
Japan begins releasing second batch of treated Fukushima water
The release, part of a decommissioning process expected to take decades, has stirred tensions with some neighboring nations.
Marine ecologist Salvador Jorgensen and his research assistant Dylan Moran observe a shark basking off a beach in central California.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 4, 2023
Climate change draws great white sharks north, threatening ecosystem
The main risk from these predators is not to swimmers and surfers, but to otters.
Tourists leave Ittoqqortoormiit, Denmark, after visiting the village on Aug. 20.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife
Oct 4, 2023
Inuit hunters blame cruise ships as narwhal disappear
While some view Arctic tourism as a means to reinvigorate the community, others worry it could destroy the last surviving Inuit hunting societies.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2023
Second round of Fukushima wastewater release to start next week
In the first phase around 7,800 tons of water were released into the Pacific out of a planned total of 1.34 million tons.
An iceberg floats near Two Hummock Island, Antarctica, in 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Sep 26, 2023
Antarctic winter sea ice at record low, sparking climate worries
Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice.
The Chinese Navy's nuclear-powered Long March 11 submarine takes part in a naval parade off the eastern port city of Qingdao, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, in April 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Sep 23, 2023
U.S. revives Cold War submarine spy program to counter China
The multibillion-dollar effort, known as the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System, comes as China ramps up activities near Taiwan.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2023
Solomon Islands leader ‘appalled’ by Japan on Fukushima water
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare warned of effects on his South Pacific archipelago.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel gives a speech at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 23, 2023
U.S. envoy to Japan slams China in speech and social media post
Rahm Emanuel posted pictures of Chinese boats he said were fishing near Japan despite Beijing’s seafood ban over the Fukushima water release.
Tuvalu's Finance Minister Seve Paeniu shows a picture of his grandchildren on his phone while attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 22, 2023
Tuvalu partners with Australia as rising seas threaten survival
The project will test a new U.N. blueprint under which one rich nation takes responsibility for raising funds to support a climate-vulnerable country.
Commercial fishermen form the word "SOS" to spread the message about ocean acidification caused by fossil fuel emissions, in Homer, Alaska, in 2009. Ocean acidification is one of nine planetary boundaries that determine life on Earth.
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Sep 14, 2023
Humanity pushing Earth far beyond ‘safe operating space’: study
Six of nine planetary boundaries — within which the world is livable for most species, including our own — are already deep in the red zone.
An activist in Seoul protests Japan’s plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 7, 2023
Anger at Fukushima’s wastewater; hope in its renewables
Good news and bad news out of Fukushima.
Packs of raw fish at a Japanese food store in Beijing prior to China's ban on Japan's seafood products
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
China takes its anti-science disinformation campaign to a new level
Japan can counter China’s disinformation on the safety of the Fukushima water release, and gain people’s trust, by sharing the data.
Journalists tour the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the tanks that contain contaminated water on Aug. 27
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2023
We need to put low-dose radiation into perspective
Public fear of the effects of low-dose radiation isn’t backed by science. The Fukushima water release shows, once again, that better education is needed.
A fisherman rows his boat ashore in Cochin, Kerala, India.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 6, 2023
India bets on seaweed’s future as food industry appetite grows
Grains are the backbone of food security in India, but seaweed advocates trumpet its dietary benefits, diverse uses in processed foods and sustainability.
A lifesaver keeps watch at Sunset Beach in Chatan, Okinawa prefecture. Around 6 billion metric tons of sand and other sediment are extracted from the ocean every year, wreaking havoc on coastal communities and biodiversity.
ENVIRONMENT / Oceans
Sep 6, 2023
Extracting sand from world’s oceans devastates biodiversity: U.N.
The United Nations Environment Program warned that the scale of dredging was growing, with dire consequences.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival