Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Government’s failure to match EU measures to improve condition of rivers, lakes and oceans called ‘deeply concerning’ England’s rivers are likely to remain in a poor state for years to come because the government is failing to put in place EU clean water laws post-Brexit, the watchdog has found. When Britain was a member of the EU, the government was required to follow the water framework directive (WFD), standards for waterways that have been credited with cleaning up Europe’s dirty water. Under their worst-case assessment, just 21% of surface waters will be in a good ecological state by 2027, representing only a 5% improvement on the current situation. This would break the Environment Act, which aims to improve air and water quality, protect wildlife, increase recycling and reduce plastic waste. There is insufficient funding to meet the targets, meaning that under the WFD ministers are being compelled by the OEP to write a new, properly funded plan to protect the country’s waters. The Environment Agency has calculated a cost of £51bn to clean up England’s waters, which would provide £64bn in monetisable benefits. However, confirmed funding of only £6.2bn is just 12% of that required. There is not enough monitoring taking place to find out the state of England’s waterways, making it nigh on impossible to clean them up. Continue reading...

Paul Marshall’s claim on thousands of WW2 silver bars successfully challenged by South African government The joint owner of GB News has lost a legal battle with the South African government over £34m of silver secretly salvaged from a second world war shipwreck. Paul Marshall, who is lining up a bid for the Daily Telegraph, had claimed ownership of 2,364 silver bars his company had recovered from the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Continue reading...

Scientists have confirmed the identity of an unusual, ancient and Endangered species of fish that is living in the coastal rivers of Queensland, about 1400 km north of where it was previously known to live.

Devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul state have about left 90 dead with survivors seeking food and shelter Brazil flooding death toll rises to 90 Heavy rains that began last week have caused rivers to flood, inundating whole towns and destroying roads and bridges across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The local civil defence agency said the death toll had risen to 90, while 131 people were unaccounted for with 155,000 homeless. A state of emergency has been declared in 397 of Rio Grande do Sul’s 497 towns and cities as rescue efforts continue. The Taquari River in Rio Grande do Sul. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images Continue reading...