The most corrupt President in U.S. history calling in a favor from the most corrupt President of the most corrupt sports organization in the world. Surprising the whole planet wasn't sucked into this singularity of corruption.

I’m really keen to hear from skippers, crew, observers, fishing companies, anyone with a window into how these operations work on the water. Anything shared will be treated confidentially and used solely to improve my understanding of actual fishing practices. www.franciscoblaha.info/blog/2026/6/...

Mona Khalil dedicated decades of her life to protecting the sea turtles and coastline of Mansouri, southern Lebanon. This month, Israeli strikes killed her. Her loss is not only a loss for her family and community, but for the environmental movement in Lebanon, the region and beyond. 💔

FFS!

Explore some of the innovative digital tools, platforms, and solutions that are actively addressing the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution. Visit: https://www.unep.org/topics/digital-transformations/digital-accelerator-lab/digital-accelerator-lab-solutions

Dr. John Hampton hits (as usual) the nail on the head in this blog, where he quotes extensively from one of the jobs I'm most proud of, in my consultant career, the FFA / MRAG Quantification of IUU Fishing in the Pacific Islands Region - a 2020 Update www.iss-foundation.org/about-issf/w...

Fisheries and climate research would be hit hard in Trump’s proposed budget

I believe that Stalin's spokesperson said the same thing when asked about science policy changes under Lysenko's leadership: #ScienceUnderSiege

Fantastic piece on real life common resource management; the science, the lobbying, the politics...read if u want to know what's really like

How Argentina’s Getting Its Jaguars Back With the birth of a wild cub, a jaguar reintroduction project in the Gran Chaco Forest achieves its biggest milestone to date. by Lucila Pinto www.biographic.com/how-argentin...

Go the duskies! Great to see their coming back! Also coming back in WA...paper coming soon

These are only a few of the species we have encountered, but we found that overall deep-sea sharks are vulnerable to near-shore fisheries. Many of the sharks will not survive capture even if released, and they are often juveniles, pregnant, or mating. Thank you for coming to my talk! (9/fin)

Finally, most exciting of all, I successfully deployed 3 satellite tags on juvenile Atlantic sixgill sharks last year. The preliminary results indicate that they have very small home ranges and limited depth ranges, spending all of their time within the depth range of the fishery close to shore (8)

In Honduras, two gulper species occur in high concentration at 200 m depth during the day. This area has muddy water, and we have found that the temperatures are as much as 3 degrees cooler than in other locations in the region at the same depth. We encounter juveniles and pregnant females there. 7/

Gulper sharks tend to live in very deep water (>300 m), and are among the least productive species of sharks. Several species are endangered to extinction. We found that along the barrier reef and islands, pregnant females of one species come up to around 150 meters at night. (6)

For the sharks, we found that at least 12 species overlap with the depth range of the deepwater fishery. Deep-sea sharks tend to make vertical migrations, often coming into shallower waters at night to feed. Night sharks are the most normal looking sharks and they gather to mate in Belize. (5)

... what deep-sea sharks overlap with the fishery, and to what extent these sharks were landed and/or targeted by deepwater fishers. We found that there were 6 snappers and 3 groupers that live between 100-450 m that are the main targets of the fishery and all are at high risk of overfishing. (4)

A thing to know about the region is that the slope of the seafloor is very steep, so the deep sea is very close to shore. This means that in some areas, small-scale fishers can reach deep fishing grounds fairly easily from small boats. I wanted to know what they were targeting, ... (3)

My talk was entitled 'Vulnerability of deep-sea sharks to small-scale, nearshore deepwater fisheries in the Mesoamerican region'. For the past decade I have been using low cost methods to study deep-sea sharks and fisheries in Belize and Honduras. We use hand-deployed gear from small boats. (2)

I was supposed to present my research on deep-sea sharks in the western Caribbean Sea at #SI2026, but I was, er... let go from my job shortly before the conference and am not there. Since I gained a few followers from this, I thought I would share some of what I would have presented yesterday (1/9)

If you are interested in working with me on a PhD on the effects of killer whale fear on baleen whale ecology, behavior, and evolution... and you would be eligible for the fellowship below... contact me! www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

The team behind my favorite graph - @ourworldindata.org - is hiring a writer. If you can explain complicated things in ways that change how people think AND you want that skill pointed at the world's largest problems, consider applying: ourworldindata.org/hiring-writ...

A flag state that allows a vessel to reduce costs by underpaying crew, charging recruitment fees, etc, still competes - more effectively- with one that complies with all labour standards. Voluntary compliance can be a disadvantage unless universally enforced. www.franciscoblaha.info/blog/2026/4/...

DYK just one laundry load can release up to *18 million* microplastic fibers, with many eventually making their way into the ocean? It's true. But there are proven solutions to help! 🧺 Get the facts, then take action for National Laundry Day: https://bit.ly/4tc3QHB

good stuff! I did my first ever recreational fishing study there, and on elephant fish...we found the recreational harvest in a couple of months was similar to annual commercial landings across whole of south eastern Australia....rec catch can matter!

3 years of war in Sudan are causing environmental damage that will persist long after the conflict ends. The consequences include chemical pollution, & more. Mouna Zein, a Khartoum native & UNEP’s Deputy Head of office in the country, shares firsthand experience: https://tinyurl.com/mr3jksx4

Recent Grads! We are hiring six Fish Biologist-Survey positions across multiple duty stations. Applications are due by April 20, 2026. For more detailed information on responsibilities and how to apply: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/careers-more...

#OceanGrants 💶🌊 by @earthjournalism.bsky.social

Read the article here: www.iucnssg.org/shark-news.h... or here: 784f07501.flowpaper.com/IUCNSSCSSGSh... For on-site footage see here: vimeo.com/1146177253/1...

#OceanGrants 💶🌊

🦑 On Wed, Apr 15 - our Ocean Biodiversity Request for Engagement Projects will close. This opportunity is focused on bringing together knowledge holders and decision-makers to make biodiversity information more useable in management. Learn more: blueconvergence.org/funding/

Are you a game theorist, mathematician / economist with an interest in fisheries? Here is a consulting opportunity for you! www.franciscoblaha.info/blog/2026/4/...

#OceanGrants 💶🌊 sponsored by @saveourseas.bsky.social 💙 #OceanOptimism

Please Share: @unep.org's Champions of the Earth award focus this year on leaders at the forefront of ocean conservation 🌊🪸🦈🐠🌱 #OceanGrants 💶🌊 #OceanOptimism www.unep.org/championsofe...

Fetra’s work takes place along Cameroon’s southern coastline, where nearshore waters serve as vital nursery grounds for sharks and rays. With alarming numbers of juveniles being regularly landed in small-scale fisheries, Fetra think these nursery grounds are increasingly degraded by overfishing.

Kenya has launched a new 19-goal strategy to reverse the steep decline of sharks and rays. By involving small-scale fishers in decision-making and offering alternative livelihoods, the plan aims to turn the tide for marine biodiversity through community-led action. By Anthony Langat for #Mongabay.

From cotton field to store shelf, every step in fashion’s journey leaves a mark. When companies trace that path, they build credibility, meet new environmental market standards and #BeatPollution. Our factsheet shows how: https://bit.ly/4hiFSFu

this is good news it works and is actually put into practice.

The AI economy looks...really precarious. So @matteowong.bsky.social & I did a bunch of reporting to try to figure out what happens when a potential bubble collides with a war in Iran and a potential resource shortage. The answer is...arguably the most dire stuff i've heard from smart ppl in a while

the latest research on the benefits of eating seafood www.frdc.com.au/health-benef...

Astonishing: US taxpayers to pay out $1 billion to cancel a wind farm and pump more oil and gas. Removing an affordable source of electricity when prices are rising. Adding to global warming. Pushing up the cost to the US economy. Polluting more. [gift link] www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/c...

Join me at this ADB webinar to explore how small-scale ports can support sustainable fisheries through stronger governance, better monitoring and traceability, and improved practices across the seafood supply chain in Southeast Asia. seads.adb.org/events/susta...

The Government released the final report of the Strategic Examination of R&D yesterday. It's called "Ambitious Australia"🙃 Haven't read much, yet, but it says we should fund the ARC more. Like every single previous review. Can we got on with it & do that, now? www.industry.gov.au/publications...

This honestly explains a lot.

Our new study provides guidelines for using LLMs to help with ecological analyses. We support our guidelines with quantitative evaluations of LLM performance. Its important to back up our claims about what AI can and can't do with hard data. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

this is serious stuff... cutting R&D, in particular on climate change, is not putting the interest of the public (present and future) first

The first week of US's war with Iran cost $6 billion, almost the same as the entire annual budget funding all scientific research via NSF