Oceans Stories

Often mistaken for a jellyfish, man o' war is actually a species of siphonophore, a colony of individual organisms that together operate as a single animal—one famous for its tendrils and harsh sting.

The halls of Congress came alive on Tuesday as dozens of WWF activists from across the country met with their representatives to advocate for international conservation funding on Lobby Day 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles are accidentally killed by fishing gear—caught on dangling hooks or entangled in nets—every year.

Launched in 2015, Oceans X Labs is a joint initiative of WWF and Conservation X Labs that, drawing on the venture tech model, aims to support and encourage innovators as they develop new approaches to addressing some of the ocean’s biggest problems.

Claiming more than 600,000 marine mammals each year, bycatch especially affects small cetaceans that get caught and drown in fishing nets.

The world must do more to sustainably manage fishing if we’re to address increasing global demand for protein in the coming decades. If the situation doesn’t improve, millions of people may no longer be able to afford fish by 2050. 

For the first time, researchers have created models to predict when, where, and to what extent coral bleaching will occur in reefs around the world at a finer scale than ever before.

Just one week after scientists warned of unprecedented change brought on by warming in the Arctic, President Obama announced permanent protection for 115 million acres of federal waters in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Including previous presidential withdrawals, today's action protects nearly 125 million acres in the offshore Arctic from future oil and gas activity.

The Arctic is seeing unprecedented declines in sea ice and snow cover triggered by abnormally warm temperatures, according to a new report, the Arctic Report Card, released by the US government.

In the Melaky region on Madagascar’s west coast, local people are taking action to remedy the loss of mangroves, which are crucial to their livelihoods. Wise use of mangroves is essential for nature and people.

The Arctic—home to diverse wildlife and many cultures—is changing faster than any other part of the planet in the face of climate change. But there’s still time left to help the Arctic and the impacts of climate change. Experts agreed on five important ways we can take action.

I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, where you can’t escape the ocean—and you wouldn’t want to.

WWF scientists collaborate on a geographically expansive, long-term study to quantify the impacts of marine protected areas on both people and nature

The coral reefs and coastal mangroves of Belize are necessary for both the wildlife that live there and the people who rely on it for income and protection. Help us save this threatened World Heritage site.

In Palencia Village, a loose coalition of people is finding new ways to make a living from nature while protecting their long-held way of life

We now have the opportunity to keep offshore drilling out of the Arctic Ocean. Every five years, the US government draws up a five-year planning outlining where oil companies can drill. The Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas are on the line. We have a chance to persuade our government to remove these pristine places from their list.

WWF and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) recently announced a five-year partnership underpinned by specific and measurable goals to help ensure the long-term health of the oceans.

The interaction between climate and oceans is altering, and the exchange is intensifying. As the climate responds to decades of increasing carbon emissions, the store of energy and heat from the atmosphere builds up in the ocean. If we reach a tipping point, we will likely see more extreme weather events, changing ocean currents, rising sea levels and temperatures, and melting of sea ice and ice sheets.

The pressures driving desires to develop the Arctic are not unfamiliar to us. We see them in these other magnificent places. Expedited transportation routes. New fossil fuel reserves. Robust new fisheries. But we need to ensure that the push to exploit these resources does not overrun efforts to conserve them. We need to keep in mind some guiding principles.

Experts around the globe are collaborating to develop a recovery plan for polar bears. In the past year, a team of more than 30 polar bear experts—including WWF’s Elisabeth Kruger—put their heads together with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to map out a path toward polar bear resiliency in the Arctic.

The Obama Administration has cancelled the two potential Arctic offshore oil lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas that were threatening the future of this region. The newly cancelled leases were scheduled for 2016 and 2017 under the current five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program for 2012-2017, and the decision was made based on the poor “current market conditions and low industry interest.”