Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Lynx could return to Scotland – but can rewilders win over wary Highlanders?

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:32:02 +0000

With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affected

Could lynx, the elusive wild cat driven to extinction in Britain more than 1,000 years ago, become the new Loch Ness monster? “Whether Nessie’s there or not, she draws tourists,” said Margaret Luckwell, a resident of Moray, Scotland. “It would be the same with lynx. I’d love to see a lynx in the wild.”

Most US coal plants could meet air pollution rules. Trump weakened them anyway

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 12:30:17 +0000

EPA found only 27 of 219 plants needed upgrades; 71 later got exemptions as Donald Trump scrapped mercury limits

Almost all coal-fired power plants in the US had the ability to comply with rules limiting their emission of dangerous pollutants such as mercury that can cause brain damage in children. Despite this, Donald Trump’s administration decided to demolish the standards anyway.

Week in wildlife: rescued dolphins, a white whale and a precious kākāpō chick

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 08:00:36 +0000

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

Seals, shipwrecks and a screaming swallower: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026 – in pictures

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 06:00:33 +0000

The annual competition draws thousands of entries from across the world and brings together images from below the water’s surface that show the diversity and challenges of subaquatic life

All photographs courtesy of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026

Identifying suitable mussel cultivation sites in European offshore waters—an assessment for co-location with the wind industry

admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00187-0

Identifying suitable mussel cultivation sites in European offshore waters—an assessment for co-location with the wind industry

Judge sides with salmon against Trump administration in hydropower ruling

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:26:08 +0000

Federal judge in Oregon rejects bid to overturn Biden-era agreement to protect endangered fish populations

Drax to stop burning controversial Canadian wood within next year

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:27:56 +0000

Yorkshire plant has been criticised for taking material from some of British Columbia’s most environmentally important forests

The owner of Drax power plant has started reducing the amount of Canadian wood pellets it burns, and will stop burning trees from British Columbia entirely within the next year.

The FTSE 250 company Drax Group said its Canadian wood pellet plants, which once supplied millions of tonnes of biomass to be burnt in its North Yorkshire power plant, had cost the company almost £200m in financial impairments last year.

Democrats urge dropping plan to double gas exports as US energy prices soar

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:00:17 +0000

Families are ‘struggling with cost of heating their homes’, letter says as Trump repeatedly pledges to slash utility bills

As energy prices for US households soar nationwide, Democratic and progressive lawmakers are calling on the energy department to end its plan to double exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

US ‘bullying’ could scupper carbon levy on shipping, warn experts

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:46:25 +0000

Panama joins smaller nations in dropping support for policy aimed at cutting maritime emissions

US “bullying” over a proposed carbon levy on shipping appears to be paying off, experts have said, after Panama reversed its support for the measure.

‘A gift that falls from the sky’: why farmers are using Etna’s ash as fertiliser

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:08 +0000

Falling volcanic ash has for years been viewed as a nuisance. But a Sicilian project has discovered its agricultural potential and wants to spread the word

In the Sicilian town of Giarre overlooking Mount Etna, Andrea Passanisi, a tropical and citrus fruits producer, uses an unusual fertiliser on his 100-hectare (247-acre) stretch of land: volcano ash.