June 1, 2020 By Nancy Lord Hakai Magazine
The endangered beluga whales living in Alaska’s Cook Inlet are still declining in number, despite protections put in place 20 years ago and the adoption of a recovery plan in 2016. The latest population estimate—released in January, based on a survey from June 2018—is only 279 animals, down from 328 just two years before. The federal agency in charge of whale management, the National Marine Fisheries Service, has called the trend “concerning.”
June 1, 2020 By Christopher Flavelle The New York Times
A billion-dollar program to protect cities from climate change is at risk of failing because of the pandemic.
May 31, 2020 By Allison Hirschlag The Washington Post
The Great Barrier Reef covers nearly 865 million acres off the coast of Australia, which means approximately 350 billion starfish inhabit it. The starfish, the most fertile invertebrate in the world, stripped 150 reefs of coral within the Great Barrier system and damaged 500 more in just a few years.
May 31, 2020 By Lynda Mapes Seattle Times
The coronavirus pandemic has upended and refocused orca field research in Northwest waters this season. Some scientists are beached. Others are investigating the effect on endangered southern resident orcas of suddenly much quieter home waters in the Salish Sea, the transboundary waters between the United States and Canada including Puget Sound.
May 29, 2020 By Laura Parker National Geographic
Managers of the American fisheries operating in the Pacific Ocean have asked President Donald Trump to open four national marine monuments to commercial fishing—a request that could inhibit protections in areas set aside, in part, for dwindling fish populations to renew themselves.