There has been a dramatic increase in sticklebacks in the Baltic Sea in recent years. A stickleback explosion that worries scientists. Increased eutrophication effects and threatened recovery of perch and pike follow in the small fish’s wake, says marine ecologist Ulf Bergström.
The Baltic coast has undergone a regime change, write researchers at Stockholm University in a new study. The inland sea, where pike and perch dominate the coasts, is on its way out. Now it's the little big stickleback that slowly but surely seems to be gaining the upper hand
A Swedish company has been authorised to investigate the possibility of extracting mineral nodules from the seabed in the Gulf of Bothnia. They are said to be important for the green transition. Researchers will now provide answers to how the extraction would affect the organisms living at the bottom of the sea.
I write this as COP 16, the UN summit meeting on biodiversity, has just ended in the Colombian coastal city of Cali. On a human level there is progress: indigenous people are promised a stronger voice in the fight to protect threatened species on planet Earth. Many of these nations live near the oceans, some on islands that are also threatened with extinction because of climate change. Their voices will be important for the protection of those who inhabit the oceans.
