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UNESCO on Tuesday threw cold water over an American explorer's claims that he had discovered the sunken treasure of infamous 17th-century pirate William Kidd off the coast of Madagascar.

UNESCO on Tuesday threw cold water over an American explorer's claims that he had discovered the sunken treasure of infamous 17th-century pirate William Kidd off the coast of Madagascar.

Threatened inshore dolphins and other species need protecting from proposed industrial expansion in Exmouth Gulf - an unprotected habitat adjoining the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Ningaloo Coast and Marine Park, warn experts from Flinders University's Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab (CEBEL).

Massive seagrass beds in Western Australia's Shark Bay - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - haven't recovered much from the devastating heat wave of 2011, according to a new study demonstrating how certain vital ecosystems may change drastically in a warming climate.

Large numbers of dugongs, sea snakes and other marine animals disappeared from the UNESCO World Heritage Site Shark Bay, Western Australia, after a heat wave devastated seagrass meadows, according to recently released research.

Changes in marine ecosystems from human stressors, and concerns over how species will respond to these changes have emphasized the importance of understanding and monitoring crucial demographic parameters for population models. Long-lived, migratory, marine vertebrates such as sea turtles are particularly vulnerable to changes. Life-history parameters like growth-in-body size can be largely influenced by environmental processes which can impact population growth. We analyzed a 40-year (1981-2021) capture-mark-recapture dataset from the protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, to estimate key population parameters, including body growth, for immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). Curved carapace length (CCL) range was 34.3-110.9 cm (mean ± SD: 51.0 ± 11.4 cm, n = 1191) for green turtles and 28.7-89.4 cm (47.7 ± 14.4 cm, n = 538) for hawksbill turtles. Recapture events, with an 11-month minimum period, revealed a mean annual growth rate of 3.2 ± 1.5 cm year−1 for green turtles (n = 75) and 2.8 ± 1.4 cm year−1 for hawksbill turtles (n = 110). Hawksbill turtles exhibited a non-monotonic growth rate while no significant growth-size relationship was detected for green turtles. Green turtle mean annual growth per 10-cm size class was highest in the larger size classes (50‒69.9 cm). Hawksbill turtle growth rate was highest in the larger size classes (50‒69.9 cm) then declined in the largest size class (70‒79.9 cm). Green turtles and hawksbill turtles may spend > 8 and 18 years, respectively, using Aldabra, Seychelles, as a foraging ground.

Luxury resorts in the Maldives are going green.

Watching one manta's propeller wound heal has revealed a scarring pattern previously mistaken for a shark bite.