WHALING BAN
An international commission issued a binding ruling on March 31, 2014 banning whale hunt in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The Hague-based International Court of Justice said in a 12-4 ruling that Japan was at breach of its international obligation by issuing permits to catch and kill minke whales and issuing hunting permits related to humpback and fin whales within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, established by the International Whaling Commission. Japan can't appeal the court's ruling which dismissed Tokyo's argument that its whaling program was meant for scientific purposes.
Japan to File New Plan to Resume Whale Hunting
In what was supposed to be the last nail in the coffin for Japan's whaling program near Antarctica because of a caustic ruling by the Hague-based International Court of Justice on March 31, 2014 turned out to be nothing more than a year-long postponement of the country's research whaling program as Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on April 18, 2014 that it would file a new application to the International Whaling Commission for its research whaling program for 2015.
Japan to File New Plan to Resume Whale Hunting
In what was supposed to be the last nail in the coffin for Japan's whaling program near Antarctica because of a caustic ruling by the Hague-based International Court of Justice on March 31, 2014 turned out to be nothing more than a year-long postponement of the country's research whaling program as Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on April 18, 2014 that it would file a new application to the International Whaling Commission for its research whaling program for 2015.
ARCTIC
20% More Loss of Ice Sheets Reported in New Research
The recent research on the volume of ice sheets in Greenland pushes the world to an unchartered territory in future as the consequences will not only be limited to sea level rise, but to influence the ocean water circulation pattern. The research was published in Nature on January 17, 2024. Earlier researches and findings had estimated a loss volume of 5,000 gigatons of ice sheets during study period (1985-2022), equivalent to 26-foot tall ice coverings for a Texas size place. The new research based on more precise measurements of retreat (melting at a faster rate than forming) and calving (breaking off the edge of massive ice sheet) on the periphery shows that an additional 1,034 gigatons might have been lost.
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Protesters Use Kayaks to Show Displeasure against Arctic Drilling
As Royal Dutch Shell's 400-foot-long, 300-foot-tall Polar Pioneer drilling rig, docked in the Elliott Bay next to the Port of Seattle Terminal 5, was set to begin its voyage for pre-exploration preparatory work in the Arctic Ocean, thousands of environmentalists on May 16, 2015 protested against the company in an innovative way by paddling hundreds kayaks in the vicinity of the rig.
Trump Administration Releases ANWR Drilling Plan
Trump administration's Interior Department on September 12, 2019 issued the finalized version of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling plan that would allow energy companies to tap 1.56 million acres of the 19-million acre refuge.
As Royal Dutch Shell's 400-foot-long, 300-foot-tall Polar Pioneer drilling rig, docked in the Elliott Bay next to the Port of Seattle Terminal 5, was set to begin its voyage for pre-exploration preparatory work in the Arctic Ocean, thousands of environmentalists on May 16, 2015 protested against the company in an innovative way by paddling hundreds kayaks in the vicinity of the rig.
Trump Administration Releases ANWR Drilling Plan
Trump administration's Interior Department on September 12, 2019 issued the finalized version of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling plan that would allow energy companies to tap 1.56 million acres of the 19-million acre refuge.
Biden Administration to Conduct New “Environmental Impacts” Analysis of ANWR
Hours after being sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, President Joe Biden signed an executive order—one of dozens such orders to undo several Trump-era policies—to pause on the leasing process of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and instructed the Interior Department to review the previous lease-granting process. After more than seven months of review, the Interior Department found “multiple legal deficiencies” in Trump-era review process. The Bureau of Land Management announced on August 3, 2021 that it would begin a public process to determine the scope of the review and identify major issues related to the leasing process as part of an endeavor to “conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of potential environmental impacts of the oil and gas program".
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ANTARCTICA
U.K. Gives Licenses for Pricey Chilean Seabass, Squaring off against Key Ally
The Dallas Morning News reported in its June 26, 2022, edition that U.K. had quietly issued licenses for fishing Chilean Seabass off the coast of South Georgia, an uninhabited island on the periphery of Antarctica. For the first time, the Chilean Seabass fishing will go without any catch limit from the 26-member Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR. U.S. criticizes the U.K. action to issue licenses in the Spring of 2022 without seeking catch limit from CCAMLR as irresponsible at best and illegal at worst.
Largest Iceberg on the Move
The Dallas Morning News reported in its February 9, 2024, edition that the world's largest iceberg was moving at the rate of 0.62 miles per hour towards South Georgia Island. Iceberg A-23A broke off the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to the northeast of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in 1986. The Rhode Island-size iceberg was stuck in the ocean for more than three and half decades before beginning to loosen in early 2020s, and by March 2023, it was freely floating. A-23A is the oldest and largest iceberg, and weighs nearly 1 trillion tons.
The iceberg is on its way towards South Georgia Island, a no-human island, but enriched ecosystem that's home to many endangered species, variety of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Its productive water nurtures a vibrant supply of Krill, prey for Fur Seals. There is abundance of support system for Penguins, Seals and Seabirds in the near ideal climate of South Georgia Island.
OCEANS (GENERAL)
Third U.N. Ocean Conference Begins with Hope for Treaty Ratification
The third U.N. Ocean Conference began in Nice, France as President Emmanuel Macron on June 9, 2025 called a healthy ocean crucial to biodiversity and sustainability. At the heart, is the so called High Seas Treaty adopted in 2023. To become effective, the treaty requires ratification from 60 nations. As of today, at least 55 nations have ratified the High Seas Treaty of 2023, with another 15 expected to do by the end of 2025. The treaty will allow nations to conserve areas of oceans which are in the ungoverned, international zone, accounting for two-third areas of the world's oceans.
Healthy oceans are key to human survival as 50% oxygen we breathe comes from the oceans, they also absorb 30% of carbon emissions and 90% of the excess heat produced by those emissions. Only 2.7% of the oceans are now immune from the destructive extractive activities, according to Marine Conservation Institute. The goal of the international community is a lofty pledge of so called "30-by-30", implying 30% of the land and ocean areas aimed at for conservation by 2030. Without implementing High Seas Treaty of 2023 rigorously, it will be hard to meet the lofty goal of "30-by-30".
