Background Articles

A broad area of yellow foam is prompting some marine biologists to blame the catastrophe on a harmful algae. However, Governor Vladimir Solodov believes the most likely explanation is a spill. Tests have shown petroleum levels four times higher and phenol levels 2.5 times above normal.

Injured surfers and large number of dead sea creatures reported in Kamchatka region. Some experts have suggested highly toxic rocket fuel could have leaked into the sea. The first test site, Radygino, is about six miles (10km) from the sea.

Eugene Asicksik, the mayor at the time, had watched Shaktoolik’s shoreline erode for years. After the September 2013 storm threw tree-sized driftwood dangerously close to the homes, Eugene knew something had to be done to protect the community. He turned to beavers for inspiration, designing Shaktoolik’s first storm surge berm based on the impressive beaver dams upriver.

Researchers have identified an invasive blood-sucking parasite on mud shrimp in the waters of British Columbia's Calvert Island. The discovery represents the northern-most record of the parasite on the West Coast and is likely an indication of its ability to spread without human transport.

The expedition's easy journey from Greenland to the North Pole is another indicator of how the Arctic is impacted by climate change more than anywhere else on Earth, writes CBC's northern meteorologist.

The shrinking of chinook, sockeye, coho and chum salmon has a negative impact on the number of eggs fish lay, but smaller body sizes also mean fewer meals, fewer commercial fishing dollars and fewer nutrients transported into rivers every year.

The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

At the outset, it seemed that there might be an environmental silver lining to the global pandemic. However, the same cannot be said for our oceans, which have been hard hit in recent months. COVID-19 triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month. If we stitched together all of the masks manufactured already, and projected to be produced, we’d be able to cover the entire landmass of Switzerland.

Scientists have said the algae is spreading faster than anything they have seen in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Wild salmon have higher rates of the parasites when ocean fish farms are near, research shows

A group advocating for the conservation of wild Atlantic salmon says the number of adult salmon returning to North America rivers fell to near historic lows last year.

Scientists thought it was dead. But it’s heating water faster than the global average.

A new scientific study published Monday found that global warming is fueling a destructive algal bloom that is disrupting fisheries in the Arabian sea.

Feather, fur or fin, all creatures contend with viruses.

Even those athletes of our rivers, Atlantic salmon, usually aren’t as healthy as they look.

A study of tissue samples taken from 150 Atlantic salmon found 14 separate infectious

Changes are coming to the Arctic so fast that scientists haven't even had a chance to understand what's there

The Northeast Pacific Marine Heatwave of 2019 was the second longest-lasting and second-largest such event recorded over the past 39 years, according to NOAA.

Just at a time when crab stocks in the central Gulf of Alaska are taking off, likely in part due to crashing cod populations, a new study funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that ocean acidification is damaging the shells of young Dungeness crab in the Pacific Northwest, an impact that scientists did not expect until much later this century.

An ocean heat wave off the U.S. West Coast from 2014 to 2016 drove humpback whales into a narrow band of cooler water, leading to a dramatic increase in whale entanglements with crab-fishing gear, according to a new study.

New research shows the marine heat wave that spread from California to Alaska starting in 2014 caused common murres to starve to death.

Three weeks after it got stuck in Arctic sea-ice, the Sparta-3 makes it into open waters. The situation on board had been strained as reserves of fuel and water shrunk to low levels and the crew had to fight hard with icing. The military transport vessel did not have permission for sailing in the area.