The Next Swell, 1177 Queen Street, #2807, Honolulu, HI (2026)

10/15/2026

What happens when a cargo ship full of plastic pellets capsizes? ➡️ A recent study assessed the impact of a nurdle spill resulting from a capsized ship off the coast of Southern India.

Plastic nurdles, or pre-production resin pellets, are small lentil-sized pellets (1-5mm) that are the raw materials that are melted down and molded into the plastic products we use. Nurdles are frequently spilled into the environment during handling, storage, and transportation. An estimated ~446,000 tonnes of nurdles enter the environment every year. 🤯

Nurdles are small and buoyant so they disperse widely - a single nurdle leak can contaminate up to 2000km of shoreline. ❌ Marine organisms can easily ingest them due to their small size, and then chemicals and heavy metals adsorbed by the nurdles in seawater can transfer into these animals.

In this study, surveys five days after the spill found average densities of about 11,700 nurdles/m² at Kodimunai and 9,200/m² at Pananvilai, both “very high” on the Plastic Pellets Index (PPI). About 22 tons of nurdles were collected after the spill. The authors note potential risks to benthic communities, particularly meiofauna and intertidal invertebrates, but report no measured ecological effects yet.

Nurdles are not considered hazardous by International Maritime Organization (IMO) protocols, which limits mandatory measures that can be taken for prevention and containment. Addressing the nurdle crisis will require a blend of local, regional, and international action. 💪

What can you do? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️
Log when and where you see nurdles, to help guide cleanup efforts:
www.nurdlepatrol.org (US and international)
www.nurdlehunt.org.uk (UK and international)
for acute spills: hub.nurdlehunt.org/solutions/pellet-spills/

Source: Environmental impact of nurdle spill from MSC ELSA 3 on the Kanyakumari Coast, Southern India. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118615
Photo: 🌎Allie & Katie🌴

10/14/2026

Today we’re excited to introduce you to our most recent TNS grant winner, Lindsey 🎉 - a PhD student at Old Dominion University!

“My research aims to understand microplastic ingestion by baleen whales, specifically how their filter feeding behavior enables direct consumption of water-borne microplastics in their habitat. My current project is taking place in the Benguela Current, South Africa, in collaboration with the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit at the University of Pretoria, where humpback whale supergroups (20 or more individuals feeding within five body lengths of one another) forage. We will combine environmental microplastic samples and humpback whale foraging behavior to quantify the interactions between these sentinel species and pollution.”

Amazing! We can’t wait to hear about the results 🐳!

10/12/2026

Oysters do a lot more than end up on a plate. A new study asks where in the world oyster reefs could live, their ecologic benefit, and what those reefs would be worth.

Oyster reefs are critical interfacial habitats that underpin coastal and marine bio-diversity, and enhance multiple ecosystem services of blue carbon habitats, including water filtration and shoreline stabilization. However, despite this ecological value, oyster reefs have suffered dramatic global declines.

Using about 10,400 oyster habitat records and nine seafloor variables, the authors modeled habitat suitability along the global coast, out to 45 km from shore. Then they put dollar values on what reefs do: filter water, remove nitrogen and store carbon in their shells. This framework highlights locations most suitable for consideration of oyster habitat research and introduction.

The research identified about 744,000 km² of coastal seafloor across the globe scores as highly suitable for oysters. Only 22.7% of that falls inside protected areas. Seafloor light was the strongest predictor, contributing over 40% of the model's weight in location suitability determination.

For the US alone, the framework estimated habitat introduction could achieve economic impact of roughly $13.8B for nitrogen removal, $8.8B for water purification, and $2.5B for carbon sequestration.

The caveats matter here. This is a screening map, not a restoration plan. The model hasn't been validated in the field, and it doesn't account for substrate, larval supply or disease. In the ten focus countries, only about 10% of high-suitability area overlapped with an actual oyster habitat. The other 90% need surveys before they can be considered reef habitats.

Still, putting a number on what oysters do for water quality gives managers one more way to compare sites, and tying economic benefits provide nonpartisan reasons to invest in these efforts.

Source: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1900813

Image: Oyster reefs link the high-productivity systems of mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes into an interconnected carbon-processing network. Credit: Wu, 2026; AI Generated.

10/09/2026

Super stoked for our very own TNS grant winner, Corey, on her first published paper based off of her Masters research from the University of Hawai’i 🌺!

Corey’s new research, published in Environmental Biology of Fishes, uses 13 years of community-sourced data 📋, analyzing over 23,000 sightings 👀 of 167 individually identified reef manta rays off the coast of Kona, Hawaiʻi!

Here’s what she and her co-authors discovered ⬇️

✔️ Two aggregation sites just 20 km apart showed different patterns in group size and s*x ratios.

✔️ Some mantas are homebodies, with females showing stronger fidelity to particular sites, while males moved more frequently between locations.

✔️ It’s all about the food! Zooplankton 🦐 was positively correlated with manta presence.

✔️ Manta aggregations persisted at sites with sustained tourism 📸 and artificial lighting 💡.

So why does this matter?

Manta rays are vulnerable to human pressures 😢, and understanding where, when, and why they gather is essential for protecting them.

This research 📊 shows that even nearby sites can play different ecological roles, highlighting the importance of site-specific conservation and management strategies 🛡️.

Even better? This study demonstrates the incredible value of community science 🤝, which can provide insights that would otherwise be difficult to capture.

📑 Check out the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-026-01918-5

📸 Kaimana Ocean Safari

10/09/2026

Super stoked for our very own TNS grant winner, Corey, on her first published paper based off of her Masters research from the University of Hawai’i 🌺!

Corey’s new research, published in Environmental Biology of Fishes, uses 13 years of community-sourced data 📋, analyzing over 23,000 sightings 👀 of 167 individually identified reef manta rays off the coast of Kona, Hawaiʻi!

Here’s what she and her co-authors discovered ⬇️

✔️ Two aggregation sites just 20 km apart showed different patterns in group size and s*x ratios.

✔️ Some mantas are homebodies, with females showing stronger fidelity to particular sites, while males moved more frequently between locations.

✔️ It’s all about the food! Zooplankton 🦐 was positively correlated with manta presence.

✔️ Manta aggregations persisted at sites with sustained tourism 📸 and artificial lighting 💡.

So why does this matter?

Manta rays are vulnerable to human pressures 😢, and understanding where, when, and why they gather is essential for protecting them.

This research 📊 shows that even nearby sites can play different ecological roles, highlighting the importance of site-specific conservation and management strategies 🛡️.

Even better? This study demonstrates the incredible value of community science 🤝, which can provide insights that would otherwise be difficult to capture.

📑 Check out the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-026-01918-5

📸 Kaimana Ocean Safari

MarineBiology OceanConservation Hawaii

10/06/2026

Continuing in our theme of highlighting new species, we're highlighting a particularly exciting one! There are now officially 4 species of gentoo penguin, as opposed to just one. With one of those new species, the Southeastern gentoo penguin (pictured here), constituting the first new penguin species described in 100 years!

The other three new species (the Southern, Northern and Eastern gentoo) were formerly thought to be subspecies, but novel genetic analyses performed by scientists from around the world have shown them to be distinct species. Each species has been shown to have certain distinct adaptations that help them survive in their specific habitat (e.g. the southern gentoo that lives in Antarctica has been shown to have more genes linked to heat production, fat and lipid storage, and light perception).

Understanding whether certain individuals are part of the same or different species can be very important for conservation prioritization. Particularly because plans are often made for species as a whole, because species are generally thought to represent sets of individuals that are genetically separate from other sets of individuals--representing sets of genes that, if lost, may be lost forever. In the case of the gentoo penguins, these new species are likely to change their conservation prioritization. For example, the southeastern gentoo is thought to be of highest concern of the four because it's only found on a few isolated islands--all of which are projected to warm up to the extent that none of them will be able to support the southeastern gentoo. In contrast, the southern gentoo in Antarctica is predicted to expand its range in Antarctica as warming continues. Now that we know that those two sets of gentoo penguins are two distinct species, it is easier to justify making them two distinct conservation plans and thus help their conservation.

If you want to know more, check out the study in Nature Communications Biology linked below.

📸: wikipedia

🔗: https://oceanographicmagazine.com/news/first-new-penguin-species-in-a-century-found-on-kerguelen-islands/, https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-10081-7

10/02/2026

57 new marine species discovered in just two weeks!

Here's some ocean news worth celebrating: scientists have identified 57 previously undescribed marine species and five new genera from deep-sea samples collected in Argentina's Mar del Plata Canyon in the South Atlantic. The discoveries were announced this week following an international workshop that brought together 20 taxonomists and early-career researchers.

🔗https://schmidtocean.org/57-new-marine-species-submarine-canyons/

Among the discoveries are deep-sea sea cucumbers, tiny copepods, and new representatives of corals and crustaceans. Some of these animals come from an environment that is incredibly difficult to explore, reminding us that even now, in a world where it can feel like we've documented everything, the ocean still has so much left to teach us. Discoveries like these are expanding our understanding of marine biodiversity and ecosystems.

09/30/2026

🐢🌊 The nesting moms may be done for the year…but the babies aren't!

As we head into the final month of sea turtle season, there's some pretty amazing news to celebrate: South Carolina has recorded more than 8,000 sea turtle nests this year, with roughly 450,000 hatchlings already making their way out of their nests. 💙

And Hilton Head Island has had an especially big year, recording its second-largest nesting season on record!

But here's the important part: hatching season isn't over yet.

Baby sea turtles instinctively crawl toward the brightest horizon, which naturally should be the moon and stars reflecting over the ocean. Artificial lights from homes, hotels, streets, and even flashlights can send hatchlings in the wrong direction.

So for one more month, let's help our tiniest beachgoers find their way home:

🌙 Keep beachfront lights off or shielded at night
🔦 Skip flashlights and phone lights on the beach
🪑 Fill in holes and remove chairs and gear from the sand
🐢 Give hatchlings plenty of space if you're lucky enough to see them
💙 And remember: Lights Out for Sea Turtles!

It's pretty incredible to think that hundreds of thousands of tiny turtles have started their journey off South Carolina's coast this summer. And behind numbers like these are scientists, conservationists, and volunteers doing the research and fieldwork that help us better understand and protect marine life.

That's exactly the kind of work The Next Swell is proud to support by investing in the next generation of marine researchers. 🌊

Here's to one more month of tiny flippers and big journeys. 🐢💙

09/27/2026

🦈🌊 BIG NEWS FROM THE DEEP! 🌊🦈

Sharks 🦈, rays, and chimaeras 👻 need safe places to eat 🍽️, rest 😴, travel 🧳, and raise babies 🐣, and now we have more information about where these places are 📍!

Nearly 500 scientists, conservationists, ﬁsheries experts and other specialists worked together, and pooled their data to identify and map new Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) across North America & the Caribbean 🗺️✨🎉!

Here’s the scoop 👇

✔️ 191 new ISRAs and 39 Areas of Interest in the Atlantic & Caribbean
✔️ 68 new ISRAs and 12 Areas of Interest in the North American Pacific
✔️ 40+ spots identified for their role in acting as underwater “highways” 🛣️ — where sharks and rays cross national borders

Next step: making sure decision-makers use these maps to protect these awesome animals 🛡️💪!

🔗 Explore the eAtlas and read more: iucnssg.org

IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group 2026. Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) eAtlas. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Shark Specialist Group. Version 2026-7 (September 2026).

https://sharkrayareas.org/e-atlas/

https://iucnssg.org/259-important-shark-ray-and-chimaera-habitats-mapped-across-north-america-and-the-caribbean/

09/26/2026

A shark can be well protected in Australian waters and still swim straight into trouble the moment it crosses a border it doesn't know exists.

A new study out of the University of Queensland just built the first map of where Australia's migratory sharks and rays actually go once they leave national waters — and the bigger finding might be how little we know about most of them.

The team combed through 30 years of satellite tracking, acoustic monitoring, and mark-recapture data covering the 29 shark and ray species listed under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species that occur in Australian waters. Only 8 species had enough data to build a movement model at all, and just 5 of those: whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), blue sharks (Prionance glauca), shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus), school sharks (Galeorhinus galeus), and white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) were confirmed crossing international borders.

The other 18 species — 62% of the list — have no published movement data whatsoever. Researchers don't know which countries' waters they depend on, or what they're up against once they get there.

That gap matters because protection is entirely local. Australia does relatively well by shark conservation standards, but the next country a shark swims into might not have the same rules, resources, or enforcement — and blue sharks and school sharks in particular are prone to being caught as bycatch along the way.

The fix isn't just more tagging, though the researchers say that's badly needed too. It's Australia treating this as a shared problem — sharing tracking technology and data with neighboring countries whose conservation capacity may be thinner, since no single nation's protections mean much for an animal that doesn't recognize the border.

Source: Integrating migratory connectivity data into the conservation of Australian sharks and rays. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70383

📸: Whale shark swimming in open ocean — its long migrations can carry it across borders and into very different levels of protection. Credit: William Drumm | Underwater Photography | 🦈

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