The Ocean News Podcast

In this special edition recording of Oceanographic's Roundtable, we dissect recent news that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)  - the ocean mechanism responsible for moving heat around the planet - could lead to “devastating and irreversible impacts” for countries around the world.

A rare, red-listed seabird is being put at risk by Scotland’s annual guga hunt, a Freedom of Information request from animal campaign group Protect the Wild has revealed.The controversial annual tradition of hunting young gannets for their meat dates back to the 15th century, but recently it has come under fire from environmental campaigners and conservationists in recent years for being ‘outdated.’

In this special edition recording of Oceanographic's Roundtable, we dissect a new bylaw shielding Sussex coast from bottom trawling, meaning that nearly a third of Sussex's inshore waters are now protected, safeguarding rare chalk reefs, seahorses and centuries-old marine habitats

The island has nearly quadrupled the area of its seas protected from damaging fishing practices — and those working closest to the project say it could offer a blueprint for ocean conservation far beyond Jersey's waters.

Scientists have found a marked resurgence in seabed marine life nearly a decade after protections against bottom trawling and dredging were put in place in an area off the Scottish coastline, which they say underscores the need for better protections.

Iceland is on the verge of resuming commercial fin whale hunting this summer, with a single ministerial decision now standing between declared government policy and what conservationists are calling irreversible harm.Speakers, Vala Arnadottir, Katrin Oddsdottir, Inga Thordar, and Luke McMillan join Oceanographic's Rob Hutchins to discuss and dissect this critical news story.

Iceland is on the verge of resuming commercial fin whale hunting this summer, with a single ministerial decision now standing between declared government policy and what conservationists are calling irreversible harm.

Coral reefs face catastrophic collapse. Thermal tipping points for widespread, irreversible dieback have already been passed at 1.2–1.4°C of global warming.In this special edition recording of Oceanographic's Roundtable, we dissect the warning that without rapid emissions cuts, restoration, biobanking, and accelerated discovery through Ocean Census, we risk losing irreplaceable coral reef biodiversity, which underpins climate resilience, medicine, and human survival.

Researchers were analysing the geochemistry of the cores, to get an insight into historic wind speeds on the island, when they found layers of ancient bird poo preserved in the peatland.This bird poo, or guano, now gives them a window into 8,000 years of seabird history, in one of the most important seabird breeding sites on Earth: Bird Island is home to vast colonies of wandering albatrosses, petrels and penguins. 

This recording is taken from our Oceanographic Roundtable panel session.A new community screening initiative is bringing the facts about climate change and nature loss directly to the British public – and organisers want elected representatives sitting in the audience when it happens.

Scientists tracking gray whales in San Francisco Bay have found that nearly one in five individuals identified there died in its waters after becoming victims of vessel strikes, starvation, and a migration route that was never meant to pass through one of the world’s busiest ports.

On a foggy March morning, Eva Cahill spoke to the National Trust’s project manager Katy Gilchrist, and countryside manager Matt Wilson, to get a sense of the work being done in Essex's Blackwater Estuary to protect one of Britain's most storied, and most threatened, landscapes

The deep-sea covers more than half of the planet’s surface, yet less than 0.001% of it has ever been visually explored – an area approximately a tenth of the size of Belgium.A new roadmap identifying 10,000 sites for deep-sea visual exploration, unveiled this week, is about to change that. Eva Cahill talks to National Geographic Explorer Katy Croff Bell about the team's ambition.

This episode is a special recording from Oceanographic's Roundtable panel event. Bottom trawling undermines local food security, nutrition and livelihoods in coastal communities, according to a new global study.The destructive fishing practice involves towing nets to catch fish and other marine species living on or close to the seabed. It accounts for over a quarter of total global marine fish catches, and a commonly sold narrative is that the practice is critical to feed a growing population.However, this new report finds that bottom trawling reduces the availability and accessibility of fish to coastal communities and diverts good-quality, nutritious fish to global markets.

This episode is a special recording of an Oceanographic Roundtable online panel event.The WMO's 2025 climate report confirms the hottest eleven years on record, record ocean heat content, accelerating sea-level rise, and greenhouse gas concentrations at their highest in 800,000 years.

The lush and bountiful forests dotted along the United States’s eastern coastline are slowly being replaced by ‘ghost forests’, recognisable by clusters of greying trunks, and skeletal dead trees – and researchers have said that these forests may hold the key to understanding how coastal forest ecosystems respond to climate change.

For first time in its history, the Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition has come to a venue in the UK. In this Friday special episode of the Ocean News Podcast, Community Editor chats with exhibition curator, Nick Ball, and the ocean photographers and 2025 finalists, Kaushik Subramaniam and Jenny Stock.

For decades, the "plastic crisis" was defined by what we could see: ghost nets, stranded whales, and islands of floating debris. But a groundbreaking global study, published this month in Nature Geoscience, has shifted the lens to the invisible.In this special episode, we dive into a massive meta-analysis of over 2,300 seawater samples that reveals a startling reality: there is virtually no corner of our ocean untouched by human chemical fingerprints. From synthetic fragrances and UV filters to "forever chemicals" (PFAS) and pharmaceuticals, the ocean has become a global repository for our industrial output.This episode is a recording of an Oceanographic Roundtable online panel eve.t

The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed history. That is the stark conclusion of the World Meteorological Organisation’s State of the Global Climate report for 2025 – a document that confirms the unprecedented speed and scale of planetary change now underway with consequences that will outlast every living generation. Access the full report here.

Climate change has been driving whales closer to shore and into the lines of California's crab fishermen. Now, a technology born from top secret Navy operations offers a fruitful solution for both In this episode of the Ocean News Podcast, editorial assistant Eva Cahill sits down with Dr Geoff Shester, Oceana’s Senior Scientist and Fishery Innovation Director, to discuss this technology.

Deep-sea or critical ecosystems on land do not need to be sacrificed to limit global warming to 1.5°C, according to a new report from Institute for Sustainable Futures (UTS), in collaboration with Greenpeace International.

Coastal communities in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, have been facing a growing environmental and public-health crisis since December 2025. Thousands of fish and other marine organisms have washed ashore dead, while hundreds of residents – many of them children – have fallen ill. Four months later, authorities have yet to identify the cause. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support relief efforts.

Once fully implemented, the designation will bring the total fully protected area in the region to 946,571km², making it the third largest fully protected marine area in the world, behind the Ross Sea and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

In this episode, Eva Cahill examines a formal dossier of evidence submitted by Greenpeace International to the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The evidence alleges that The Metals Company (TMC) has been operating in bad faith, utilising exploration data gathered under international licenses to bypass global frameworks for a unilateral U.S. mining permit.

Scientists have discovered ANCIENT CORALS and fragile deep-sea life on a previously unexplored seamount on Lord Howe Rise, confirming it as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem and strengthening calls for a permanent bottom trawling ban.

Listen to the concluding episode of our special mini series on Women in Marine STEM, celebrating International Women's Day on Sunday 8th March. In this episode, Eva Cahill sits down to talk with Dr Elvira De Eyto from the Marine Institute about her 20 year career in the marine science sector.

After Channel 4’s Dirty Business exposed the human toll of sewage pollution, public outrage has surged, with campaigners demanding urgent government action to reform Britain’s privatised water industry.

In 2022, a Russian whale researcher made a startling discovery on Bering Island off Russia’s Pacific coast: a severed killer whale fin marked with the teeth of another killer whale. Two years later, it happened again, just two kilometres from the original find. 

As climate change rewrites the rules of the ocean, one of the most iconic species on the US West Coast is facing a new and deadly challenge. In this episode of the Ocean News Podcast, we dive into groundbreaking research recently published in PLOS Climate that explains why humpback whale entanglements are surging, even as their populations recover.

In this episode of the Ocean News Podcast, editorial assistant Eva Cahill sits down with PhD researcher Marianne Glascot for the second instalment of our Women in STEM series. With a background in organisational development and a previous career at HSBC, Marianne brings a unique, late-career perspective to academia. She shares her journey from environmental physics to a PhD at the University of Sussex, offering a candid look at the evolving culture of science today.

For the first time in 180 years, giant tortoises are once again roaming the Galápagos, as 158 were released in Floreana Island this month – which conservationists say will strengthen the island’s land-sea ecosystems.

Sea Shepherd has launched its 2026 Antarctic campaign to document industrial krill fishing near key whale feeding grounds. The mission will gather scientific data, increase public scrutiny and inform international policy amid growing pressure on the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

“I've been asked so many times whether I was the assistant of the researcher. Even after explaining, no, that's me, I've been asked again: are you the assistant?” says George Short, a female Marine ecologist working with the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Canada has unveiled a sweeping new plan aimed at reducing deadly whale entanglements while safeguarding the future of its coastal fisheries. Earlier this month, Fisheries and Oceans Canada released its Whalesafe Fishing Gear Strategy – a five-year national framework designed to lower the risk of entanglements.

Loggerhead turtles are successfully adapting to warming temperatures by breeding earlier, but depleting ocean productivity is causing a major decline in their reproductive capacity.

Jessica Rowe and Miriam Payne - the aptly named duo behind Seas the Day - have returned to the UK having completed their ocean odyssey - an unsupported and non-stop row across the Pacific Ocean. Hear their tale of inspiration and determination on the Ocean News Podcast.

A parliamentary bill introduced in Aotearoa New Zealand is seeking to fundamentally reshape how whales are protected in law, proposing that cetaceans be recognised as legal persons with inherent rights. It’s a move that could shape our approach to nature rights across the globe.

A UK government consultation wants to secure the "long-term viability" of fish stocks to "protect coastal economies", but environmental groups like Oceana have warned government proposals are INADEQUATE, and have done little to “deliver REAL CHANGE for our seas”

Scientists in Colombia - in partnership with NatGeo Pristine Seas - have documented and photographed some of the ocean's most ancient residents... ctenophores, an ethereal species as old as the ocean and as equally hypnotic.

In this episode, Eva Cahill speaks with Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of Jacques Cousteau, about his new mission to move coral restoration from a charitable endeavour to a global commercial success. As the CEO of VoyaSea ReGen, Philippe explores why the current "one square kilometre" pace of restoration is insufficient and how emerging technologies like 3D printing and AI can rebuild reefs as critical coastal infrastructure at an industrial scale.   Photo by EarthEcho International

In this episode, Editorial Assistant Eva Cahill, dives deep into a new study that shows the efficacy of regulations, and calls for new legislation to limit the growing use of new PFAS. Photography by Vincent Kneefel  

Supermarket giant, Tesco has suspended salmon supplies from Bakkafrost's Portree farm after footage captured in Skye was released, showing diseased fish being dumped in the sea while live salmon were left to suffocate before being shredded.

In this episode, Eva Cahill takes us to Shoreham Port on Britain's south coast, where a groundbreaking "living sea wall" is transforming artificial structures into thriving marine habitats. We hear from University of Brighton researcher Isaac Doyle about how textured panels and "vertipools" are boosting biodiversity by creating ecological niches for local species.

In this episode, Oceanographic's Community Editor Rob Hutchins sits for a chat with musician Richard Walters and Blue Marine Foundation's Louise MacCallum to talk all things music, art, conservation and - of course - the voice of Jeremy Irons.

In this episode, Eva Cahill explores the high-stakes mission to collect first-of-its-kind data on a glacier that, if it collapses, could raise global sea levels by 65 centimetres. With thanks to the British Antarctic Survey Team for all additional audio clips in this podcast, to see the full video, head to their website.  

In this episode, we explore the hushed release of a critical report from the UK government that makes clear - in no uncertain terms - that global biodiversity loss is a threat to national and international security around the world.

In this episode, we explore a new scientific report detailing a climate-driven octopus surge off the southwest UK and how, as warming seas facilitate transport across the English Channel, these highly intelligent predators are reshaping local marine ecosystems.

In this episode, Eva Cahill dives into news that campaigners have called recent reports into the Alaskan Pollock Industry into stark question, claiming that their 2025 report failed to account for the fishing industry’s negative environmental impact, while overstating the economic benefits for everyday Alaskans.      

In this episode of The Ocean News Podcast, Editor Rob Hutchins chats with Valentina Crast, a Danish animal rights activist who has worked for more than a decade on ending the Faroese grindadráp.

In this episode, Editorial Assistant Eva Cahill covers the landmark upcoming expedition led by Professor Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), set to launch in April 2026. The mission focuses on "dark oxygen" oxygen produced on the seafloor in total darkness, which was first detected in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone; an area now being sized up for deep-sea mining.