On January 8, 2025, Chile denied environmental permits for Andes Iron’s controversial $2.5 billion Dominga iron and copper mining project, citing impacts on biodiversity and potential spills of fuel or iron ore concentrate in an area that is home to species such as the Humboldt penguin and cetaceans.

January 5, 2025 – A Russian dolphin rescue group says a fuel oil spill from two Russian oil tankers in distress near the Kerch Strait on December 15, 2024, may have killed 32 cetaceans, the vast majority of which were endangered Azov dolphins.

As reported by the National Geographic Society on January 4, 2025, famed orca mother tahlequah gave birth to her fourth child in late December 2024 and passed away just before the New Year in 2025. tahlequah had sparked global attention for orca conservation in 2018 by swimming on her back for 17 days with her…

According to a January 3, 2025 news release, Japan’s major whaling company, Mutual Ship, plans to increase its whale meat supply by 30% in 2025, expected to reach more than 2,000 tons, and has issued a new fishing quota for large, resource-rich fin whales for the first time in half a century.

In 2024, a 13-meter-long adult male sperm whale stranded tragically on a beach in Nova Scotia, Canada, with 300 pounds of fishing gear stuffed in its stomach, which severely interfered with its ability to eat, causing it to lose weight and ultimately strand itself.

On December 16, 2024, a 3-year-old North Atlantic right whale was found trapped in fishing gear and wandering in the waters off the Outer Banks Islands in North Carolina, USA. With its head and mouth tightly entangled in several fishing lines and two buoys in tow, its fate was not promising. In the same week,…

A globally rare Longman’s beaked whale was stranded in the waters of Tai O, Hong Kong. There were various bleeding wounds on its body, which were suspected to be caused by the friction between the whale’s body and sand and stones. Moreover, a large canvas bag was found in its digestive system. In the end,…

Recently, a mass dolphin stranding was reported in Novorossiysk, Russia. A large number of dolphins were stranded on the beach, and the local authorities and rescue organizations responded quickly and rushed to the scene at the first time to carry out rescue operations. At present, the cause of the incident is still under in-depth investigation,…

Marine noise pollution has always been a problem and has become worse over the past 20 years, as shown by the dramatic increase in noise levels in Vestfjord, north-west Norway, which has seriously disrupted cetacean positioning, feeding and communication, and may even be a contributing factor to mass strandings of whales.

Police in Greenland, a self-governing territory of Denmark, released Paul Watson, a prominent American anti-whaling activist, on December 17th local time, rejecting an extradition request from the Japanese authorities. The release of Paul Watson, who is the founder of the Sea Guardians Association and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, and who has been working against…