The Liberian container ship MSC ELSA 3 sank due to a mechanical failure about 38 nautical miles southwest of Kerala, India, with 640 containers on board, including 13 containers of hazardous materials (containing chemicals such as calcium carbide) and large quantities of plastic pellets (nurdles). The incident resulted in the leakage of oil and the…

New international research warns that if greenhouse gas emissions continue, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a key current system that regulates the global distribution of heat and whose weakening has already led to anomalous sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic and accelerated melting of Arctic sea ice, could collapse at any time after…

On 21 May, South African fishermen from Portnolloth, in conjunction with environmental organizations, launched a lawsuit to halt oil and gas exploration activities by the British company TGS and the French company Total on the west coast. The plaintiffs point out that the Environmental Impact Assessment report underestimates the harm to marine life from noise…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed on May 24 local time that it is drafting a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. coal- and gas-fired power plants. The plan will be released after an interdepartmental review. The EPA argues in the proposed regulations that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse…

Globally, 8 million tons of plastic still enter the sea each year, 70% of which sinks to the bottom. Despite plastic bans in Iceland and the European Union, pollution is increasing in developing countries due to inadequate recycling facilities. 2025 will see the World Conservation Congress discussing a proposal to “Reduce Open Propeller Injury”, which…

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has partnered with Ecuador to establish a microplastics monitoring center in the Galapagos Islands to analyze seawater and sand samples through nuclear derivatization techniques. About six tons of overseas plastic waste wash ashore in the archipelago each year, threatening unique biodiversity. While traditional monitoring methods have struggled to collect…

On May 17, a hydrogen sulfide leak occurred at the refinery of Japan’s largest oil company, Citation, in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, killing one person and seriously injuring two others. Hydrogen sulfide gas entered Osaka Bay through atmospheric deposition, causing the pH value of surface seawater to plummet to 5.2 (normal range: 7.5-8.6) over an…

Microplastics have posed a hidden threat to ecosystems such as the Mariana Trench by altering deep-sea microbial communities and material cycling, a team from China’s South China Agricultural University warns in a paper published in Science. The study found that deep-sea organisms are more sensitive to the cumulative effects of pollutants due to their slow…

A team of researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has found that microbial communities attached to plastic waste (interplastic) may trigger the spread of pathogens across ecosystems. 1 gram of marine plastic waste has a microbial biomass that is 10 times greater than 1,000 liters of seawater, and carries pathogens that can spread globally…

On May 7, 2025, Japan launched the fourth round of Fukushima nuclear sewage discharge plan to the sea, and the cumulative discharge has exceeded 50,000 tons. Although TEPCO claims that the treated nuclear wastewater “meets international safety standards,” Chinese customs recently intercepted 24 batches of imported Japanese aquatic products with excessive levels of radioactive substances,…