Pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019 were compared against scientific study that used satellite imagery to count slicks
Just 474 out of more than 90,000 oil slicks from ships around the world were reported to authorities over a five-year period, it can be revealed, and barely any resulted in any punishment or sanctions.
The figure, obtained from Lloyd’s List by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations, shows the pollution incidents reported between 2014 and 2019, compared against a scientific study using satellite imagery that counted the number of slicks from ships over the same period.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/29/2025 - 03:00
07/29/2025 - 02:56
Ofwat finds company breached its legal obligations in how it operated its wastewater treatment works
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The water regulator, Ofwat, has ordered Anglian Water to pay £62.8m over failures in managing its wastewater treatment works and network that meant it was unable to cope with sewage flows.
The regulator found that the company, which supplies water to 7 million customers across the east of England and Hartlepool, “failed to operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater assets adequately”, leading to a breach of its legal obligations.
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07/29/2025 - 02:00
Research shows difficulties ahead for ministers if they are to keep manifesto pledge to extend riverside public access
Campaigners in Devon are calling for a right to the riverbank after finding their local river, the Dart, has 108 separate owners, with an eighth of it owned via offshore companies.
Locals used site visits, angling maps, Companies House records and Land Registry data to find out who owns the River Dart.
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07/29/2025 - 01:03
Independent MP Jacqui Scruby says she saw ‘fresh koala scratchings on trees just metres from clear-felling’ in parts of proposed Great Koala national park
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The Minns government has lost its way on environmental policy, according to the New South Wales opposition, the Greens and a member of the crossbench, after government data revealed a 40% surge in land clearing across the state.
The report is the latest headache for a state government under pressure over conservation concerns, including continued logging in a promised koala park in the state’s north and the failure of a koala translocation project in the state’s south.
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07/28/2025 - 23:01
Government launches licensing round for 52 fossil fuel blocks, potentially undermining a flagship conservation initiative and affecting an estimated 39 million people
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is opening crucial gorilla habitats and pristine forests to bids for oil and gas drilling, with plans to carve up more than half the country into fossil fuel blocks.
The blocks opened for auction cover 124m hectares (306m acres) of land and inland waters described by experts as the “world’s worst place to prospect for oil” because they hold vast amounts of carbon and are home to some of the planet’s most precious wildlife habitats, including endangered lowland gorillas and bonobo.
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07/28/2025 - 19:59
Authorities relocated 80,000 residents from China’s capital after registering rainfall of up to 543 mm in some districts
More than 30 people have been killed by heavy rain and flooding in Beijing and a neighbouring region, state media have reported, as tens of thousands more were evacuated from China’s capital.
State broadcaster CCTV said that as of midnight on Monday, 28 people had died in Beijing’s hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown.
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07/28/2025 - 12:24
Environment secretary says Defra will be launching changes to post-Brexit scheme for sustainable farming
Farmers in England will get new payments for cleaning up the waterways near their land, the environment secretary has said.
Agricultural pollution affects 40% of Britain’s lakes and rivers, as fertiliser and animal waste washes off the land into waterways.
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07/28/2025 - 10:00
Two huge swarms have made themselves at home inside author Pip Harry’s house – but learning to live together revealed bees can be excellent housemates
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As a child, I was allergic to bees. Just one sting on my fingertip could swell my whole arm. I was allergic to most things – dust, cat hair, pollen – and was always clutching an inhaler, sniffling into my sleeve and keeping a safe distance from stinging insects.
As an adult, when my family bought our first house, a mid-century gem nestled in thick bushland on Sydney’s northern beaches, I wasn’t expecting a visit from my former nemesis. But one warm spring day, we heard the unmistakable hum of 20,000 of those honey-producing insects.
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07/28/2025 - 10:00
Undocumented migrants form the backbone of the ‘salad bowl of the world’ – Trump’s crackdown has led to hyper-vigilance
Driving into the Salinas valley, about two hours south of San Francisco, hand-painted signs fly by, advertising cherries, pistachios, avocados and garlic.
From above, the valley looks like a quilt stitched together out of a thousand shades of green – the fields of lettuce, spinach and strawberries that give the region its nickname, “the salad bowl of the world”.
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07/28/2025 - 05:00
Microplastics have been found in the placentas of unborn babies, the depths of the Mariana Trench, the summit of Everest and the organs of Antarctic penguins. But how do they travel through the world, and what do they do to the creatures that carry them? Here is the story of how plastic contaminates entire ecosystems – and even the food we eat. Illustrations by Claire Harrup
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