Ranger

This week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature began its 10-day World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. Thousands of people representing academia, NGO's, businesses and governments are attending the event in order to debate, learn and voice their opinions on the environment.

As a part of the event, Oceana's Ranger catamaran is participating in Sailing to Barcelona, which is a gathering of marine conservation vessels in the Spanish port city. Xavier Pastor, the Executive Director of Oceana Europe, joined the Director of Fundacion Biodiversidad at a press conference today where they shared the most important aspects of the Ranger's expeditions and displayed many beautiful underwater images taken by Ranger's crew.

In the famed Tokyo fish market, a single Bluefin tuna can fetch $100,000.

The crew of the Oceana Ranger had to take an impromptu break late last week when a wild bottlenose dolphin named Gaspar befriended Ranger's ROV.

Gaspar lives among the fjords, or "rias," of Galicia, on Spain's northern coast, and he is something of a local celebrity among the people there. His newfound friendship with the ROV has interrupted the crew's work, but according to what we've heard, everyone is enjoying the distraction.

To view more photo's from the Ranger 2008 expedition, please click here. To donate on behalf of the Ranger 2008 expedition, please click here.

Great news: French driftnetters have been stopped in their tracks by the European Court of Justice! They're no longer allowed on the water, which will result in 25,000 bluefin tuna being saved this season alone. See Oceana's run in with French driftnetters and read our press release on the victory for more info.

Oceana divers documenting the state of ecolog

I've heard of a ghost fish, but "ghost fishing"? Turns out it doesn't even involve actual fish. ...

After a fishing boat pulls up anchor, the hooks and lines and nets lost or dumped into the ocean stay behind, for years even. Not only is that trash in our oceans, it's a threat to the surrounding marine life.

For instance, the unlucky seabirds that were living around a remote island off the coast of Scotland: They drowned in discarded fishing nets, scientists have pulled hooks and fishing line from their bellies. And it's still happening.

Everyone knows ocean pollution is rotten, but fishing can be pretty dirty too.

In the early summer of 2007, Oceana's Ranger catamaran was threatened by a fleet of French driftnetters.

Just in time for the summer vacation season, the jellies are back, and their numbers are as big as ever.

Researchers aboard Oceana's Ranger have already spotted flocks of these slimy, easy going invertebrates drifting with the currents. A lack of coastal rain water running into the ocean has eliminated the usual buffer that keeps jellies away from swimming beaches.

It's official - and unanimous. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to protect from bottom trawling some 180,000 square miles of previously unexploited ocean floor in the Bering Sea, particularly in the North.

The area is home to 26 species of marine mammals, including whales and walruses, as well as 450 species of fish and million of seabirds that flock to region from all seven continents.