In April 2025, Greenpeace launched a protest in the waters of Fukushima to demand an end to the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and to push the shipping industry to switch to hydrogen fuel. The organization joined scientists to develop a “Cetacean Sonar Disturbance Early Warning System” to reduce ship collisions through satellite…

On April 13, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) requiring ocean-going ships with a gross tonnage of more than 5,000 tons to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The new framework introduces a fuel greenhouse gas intensity standard and a global carbon pricing…

Macao Polytechnic University and Zhanjiang Municipal Government organized the “Love Earth Clean Beach Action” to clean up plastic trash and discarded fishing nets on the beach respectively. Zhanjiang volunteers found dead horseshoe crabs during the campaign, which led to increased protection of rare species in the area. Such activities are spreading globally through the International…

Global marine plastic pollution reaches 199 million tons by 2025, with 33 billion pounds of new plastic entering the sea each year, and plastic is expected to weigh more than fish by 2050. 80% of marine pollution comes from agricultural runoff, sewage discharges, and 20% from industrial fishing. The average daily intake of 43.6 kilograms…

March 2025 study shows that ocean acidification (pH 7.6) causes a decrease in calcium-ATPase activity in the outer coat membrane of yellow clams, impairing their shell formation. At the same time, gill carbonic anhydrase activity increased, suggesting that organisms are attempting to respond to environmental stress by regulating acid-base balance. If acidification continues, the collapse…

On April 10, 2025, Japan launched the twelfth round of nuclear contaminated water discharge, with a single discharge of 7,800 tons and a cumulative total of more than 86,000 tons, and in 2025 it plans to discharge 54,600 tons. Radioactive substances such as tritium and cesium-137 are spreading through ocean currents, and the concentration of…

Global chemical recycling technology for waste plastics has entered the industrialization stage, and it is expected that if the chemical recycling rate reaches 30% by 2035, 108 million tons of oil resources can be saved, which is equivalent to recreating two Daqing oil fields. Sinopec, Shell and other enterprises have carried out demonstration projects at…

The Trump administration in the United States is pushing a deep-sea mining plan that bypasses UN agencies and allows mining companies to extract manganese- and cobalt-rich polymetallic nodules in international waters. The move has been criticized as a “travesty of multilateralism” that could cause irreversible ecological damage: mining would destroy deep-sea habitats, sediment plumes could…

The 83rd session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 83) will take place from 7 to 11 April 2025 at IMO headquarters in London. The meeting will address a number of important topics, including combating climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships, reviewing short-term mitigation measures, and improving ship energy efficiency. In…

In April 2025, China and France issued a joint statement committing to strengthen cooperation on marine conservation under the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The two sides will work together to promote the entry into force of the High Seas Treaty, protect 30% of marine areas by 2030, and develop rules for…