Protesters block entrance to mine project site in Norway.

A group of protesters from the environmental group Nature and Youth have blocked entrances to a mining project in the Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark County on the northern coast of Norway. The group of about 70 protesters from all over Norway have took the step on Saturday 24 January 2026 in support of the local Sámi community, who believe that traditional fisheries for Salmon and Cod are threatened by the project. Protests of this kind are illegal in Norway, and previous protests at the site have led to protesters being detained by the police.

The location of Hammerfest Municipality the north coast of Norway. Google Maps.

The mining project, which is operated by Blue Moon Metals, aims to excavate around 74 million tonnes of copper ore from a deep pit mine beneath a former open pit mine, which was active in the 1970s. The Norwegian government has approved this project because it considers copper a vital resource for a transition to green technologies (i.e. replacing fossil fuel-derived energy with electricity generated by renewable means). 

However, the planned operation intends to dump waste generated from the mine into Repparfjord, an important fishing ground for the local Sámi community, who believe that this is likely to have a significant affect on local fish stocks. The practice of dumping mine waste into the sea is still legal in Norway, but is illegal almost everywhere else (the only other countries which allow the practice are Indonesia, Turkey and Papua New Guinea).

Protesters blocking an entrance to the Nussir Mining Project in northern Norway on 24 January 2026. The banner reads 'We promise a hell - no dumping of tailing in the Repperfjord'. Jannik Abel/Nature and Youth.

Blue Moon Minerals, who acquired the site in February 2025, aim to mine the site in line with a mining permit issued to the former owners, Nussir Property, a decade ago, but Nature and Youth argue that significant new discoveries have been made about fish spawning in Repparfjord have been issued since this time, and that on that basis the mine should not be allowed to proceed. 

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Four fishermen killed by Hippopotamuses by Lake Naivasha, Kenya.

Four members of a group of ten fishermen have been killed after being attacked by Hippopotamuses by Lake Naivasha in Kenya on Friday 2 January 2025. The group, who have been described as local youths, approached the lake after dark as they lacked fishing permits, and are thought to have disturbed a group of Hippos with calves. Six of the party were able to escape by entering the water and swimming, or by climbing trees. One of the deceased is described as having initially escaped, but to have returned in an attempt to rescue a friend. 

Hippopotamuses by Lake Naivasha, Kenya. The Sunday Standard.

Lake Naivasha is noted for undergoing marked variations in its depth, and therefore extent. Water levels in the lake dropped continuously during the first half of the twentieth century, falling to 60 cm in 1945, then rose steadily for over two decades, reaching 6 m in 1968. The waters then fell until 1987, when the lake was only 2.25 m deep, but have been trending upwards since this time, causing the land to expand, swamping low lying villages and farmland, something which has accelerated in recent years as warming global temperatures have led to increased rainfall in East Africa.

One upshot of this that the lake naturally contains no commercially harvestable fish, probably as a result of drying up on occasions in the past. Non-native fish have been introduced to the lake in order to create a commercial fishery, but this has proven difficult to manage, with a dramatic fish-population crash fuelled by overfishing in 2001 leading to the introduction of strict fishing regulations on the lake.

This has created in a fish stock available to commercial fishing companies, and foreign tourists, but not to local villagers, resulting in frequent attempts to circumnavigate the regulations, for example by fishing at night. This has become more of a problem as the lake has expanded, swallowing up farmland and leaving the local population looking for other sources of sustenance. The expansion of the commercial flower growing industry, which earns the nation hard currency but also takes up farmland in the Rift Valley around lakes such as Naivasha and employs a relatively low number of people, has also tended to push people towards illicit economic activities such as night fishing, as well as fuelling conflict between Humans and aquatic wildlife such as Hippopotamuses and Crocodiles.

Flooding in a community beside Lake Naivasha in November 2025. Tony Karumba/AFP.

While Hippos can appear benign to people unfamiliar to them, they are generally considered to be one of the most dangerous Animals in Africa, and probably the world. Hippopotamuses are the largest land Mammals after Elephants and Rhinoceroses, as well as being the closest terrestrial relatives of Whales. Adult Hippos typically weigh about 1.4 tonnes (males tend to be slightly larger than females, but this is marginal, and the sex of Hippos can be hard to differentiate). Hippos can open their mouths to almost 110°, and their jaws are highly muscled, allowing them to slap there mouths shut abruptly, driving canine and incisor teeth that can be 50 cm long into anything which offends them. This weapon is primarily used in intraspecific fights particularly between the males, which are highly territorial. However, they are also notoriously aggressive towards other species, particularly Humans, possibly as a result as having evolved alongside Pliocene and Pleistocene hunting Hominids. Hippopotamuses tend to stay in the water during the day, lowering the threat they present to Humans, but come out of the water to graze at night, when they are generally considered to be at their most dangerous.

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Forty two species recommended for addition to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals have recommended that 42 additional species be included on Appendix I and/or II of the convention, ahead of the next UN Conference to Advance Global Conservation of Migratory Wildlife and Their Habitats, to be held in Campo Grande, Brazil, on 23-29 March 2026, according to a press release issued on 18 December 2025.

In order to be listed as under Appendix I of the convention, a species must be migratory, or wide ranging, and officially determined to be endangered. To be listed under Appendix II, it must be established that international cooperation is needed to protect that species. Countries which are parties to the convention are obliged to prioritise protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.

Two species of terrestrial Mammal are proposed for inclusion. The Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena, a wide ranging species found across much of Africa and Asia. This species now has a global population of less than 10 000 mature individuals, and its habitat is highly fragmented, and shrinking in many places, due to agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure development, as well as declines in many large carnivore species, which reduce the availability of the carrion which forms an important part of the species diet, and conflicts with Humans driven by shifting livestock farming practices, hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade. 

The current global distribution of the Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena. ICUN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also proposed is the addition of Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, populations in Zimbabwe to Appendix I of the convention; Cheetahs were also found across much of Africa and Asia, and is threatened by habitat fragmentation and loss, as well as hunting and capture for the illegal wildlife trade. The species is currently protected under the convention across its range, with the exception of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, where it had been thought to be faring better. However, the Zimbabwean population has undergone a 90% decrease in population in 15 years, and the Government of Zimbabwe has proposed that its Cheetah population be added to the convention.

A Cheetah imaged by a camera-trap set by the Painted Dog Research Trust in Zimbabwe. Sibanda (2023).

A single species of aquatic Mammal, the Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, has also been proposed for inclusion on the list. This species is found in lowland wetlands and coastal regions of much of South America, but is threatened by habitat loss across much of its range, and is believed to have suffered a 50% population loss in the 25 years to 2014, with predictions suggesting that it will continue to decline at the same rate. 

A Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, foragingin the Piquiri River in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Bernard Dupont/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Thirty two new species of Birds have been proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. The most notable of these is the  Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, a charismatic species commonly represented in popular culture, which is estimated to have lost a third of its population in the last three decades, and which has was declared regionally extinct in Sweden by BirdLife International this year.

A Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, in flight. Bert de Tilly/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The other Bird species proposed are the Flesh-footed Shearwater, Ardenna carneipes, the Hudsonian Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, the Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa haemastica, the Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes, the Iberá Seedeater, Sporophila iberaensis, and all 25 species of Gadfly Petrels, Pterodroma spp. and Pseudobulweria spp.

A Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Eight species of Shark and Fish are also proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. These are the Pelagic Thresher Shark, Alopias pelagicus, the Bigeye Thresher Shark, Alopias superciliosus, the Common Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, the Patagonian Narrownose Smoothhound, Mustelus schmitti, the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna lewini, the Great Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna mokarran, the Angular Angelshark, Squatina guggenheim, and the Spotted Sorubim, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans, a migratory Catfish from the rivers of tropical South America, threatened by overfishing and habitat fragmentation.

Two Thresher Sharks over a Coral reef off the island of Malapascua in the Philippines. Dani Escayola/Ocean Image Bank/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The Great Hammerhead Shark is typical of the Shark species proposed for protection under the Convention. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical water around the world, but has been heavily overfished for the value of its meat, and in particular its fins, and even when not actively targeted by fishermen, is a common bycatch from other fisheries. As a top predator, its disappearance can trigger a cascade of ecological effects, profoundly altering the ecosystems where it is lost.

One taxon has also been proposed for removal from Appendix I of the convention, the Bukhara Deer, Cervus elaphus yarkandensis, a subspecies of Red Deer, which was reduced to about 400 species in 1999, but which has since undergone a significant recovery due to conservation efforts, and is no longer considered to be threatened.

A group of Bukhara Deer. Natalya Marmazinskaya/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

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Studying Beaked Whales entangled in Tuna nets in the northwest Indian Ocean.

Beaked Whales, Ziphiidae, spend the majority of their time in deep oceanic waters, spending most of their lives beyond the continental shelves, and little at the surface. This makes them one of the least well-understood groups of Cetaceans, or Mammals of any kind. Some species have few, if any, sitings ar sea, being known almost exclusively from bodies washed ashore in varying states of decomposition. Because of this, the taxonomy of Beaked Whales is less well-established than is the case for most Mammal groups, with new species and nomenclature revisions being published every few years. 

Studying Whales caught as bycatch offers a cost-effective way to study poorly understood Cetacean populations, providing insights into populations which can help shape conservation policies. Such data collection is often accomplished by training fishermen themselves as citizen scientists. Drift gillnets are widely used many parts of the world to target Tuna, but are also noted for the large amount of large-Vertebrate bycatch they produce. In the northwest Indian Ocean drift gillnets are widely used by the fishing fleets of Iran and Pakistan, presenting a threat to Whales in this area, but also presenting an opportunity for scientists to gather data on these Animals.

In a paper published in the journal Zoology in the Middle East on 13 February 2025, Muhammad Shoaib Kiani of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Karachi, Mohsen Rezaie-Atagholipour of the Qeshm Environmental Conservation Institute, Rab Nawaz and Muhammad Moazzam of the World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan, Bushra Shafiq also of the  Institute of Marine Science at the University of Karachi, Haleh Ali Abed of the Midaf Nature Conservation Society, and Koen Van Waerebeek, also of the Qeshm Environmental Conservation Institute and of the Centro Peruano de Estudios Cetológicos, present the results of a long-term study of Beaked Whale entanglements in Tuna gillnets in Iranian and Pakistani waters.

A citizen science program was established in Pakistan in 2012, in which fishermen on pelagic gillnet Tuna vessels were trained to collect data on Cetacean bycatch. In Iran reviews of mass media at local and national levels, looking for Cetacean-related stories, have been carried out since 2018, and a series of interviews of fishermen was carried out in 2022.

Kiani et al. discovered eight incidents in which entangled Cetaceans could be identified as Beaked Whales in the waters of the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, two in Iranian territory, five in Pakistani territory, and one in international waters.

The first recorded incident happened on 10 February 2015, when fishermen on board the Pakistani vessel Al-Azaan discovered a live Beaked Whale caught in a gillnet they had deployed 95 km to the west of the Swatch (the undersea canyon formed where the Indus River enters the ocean) and 177 km off the coast of Sindh, an area where the seafloor is about 1.5 km deep. 

Based upon video evidence, this Whale was estimated to be 5-6 m long, and slender with a slightly protrudent melon (mass of adipose tissue on the forehead), and a long snout without protruding teeth. This Animal lacked the scars associated with tooth-raking typically seen in male Beaked Whales, and is therefore assumed to have been a female.

The Whale had a brownish-grey dorsal surface, slightly paler on the head, and had a large, Dolphin-like fin about two thirds of the way along its body. This is, along with its location in the tropical Indian Ocean, is considered to be consistent with a Longman’s Beaked Whale, Indopacetus pacificus. This species was first described in 1928 from the skull of a Whale found in Queensland Australia in 1882, with a second skull being found on the shore of Somalia, East Africa, in 1955. For a long time, these two specimens were all that was known of this species, however, recent studies have established that Whales washed up on the shores of the Philippines, Maui (Hawaii), Taiwan, Myanmar, the Andaman Islands, South Africa, and Japan, previously identified as Southern Bottlenose Whales, Hyperoodon planifrons, were in fact Longman’s Beaked Whales, and based upon this data, 65 sightings of live Whales in the  Indian and Pacific oceans have been assigned to the species.

The Whale encountered by the Al-Azaan became entangled in a net as it was being retrieved, allowing the crew to release it without apparent harm by cutting away part of the net. This process took about 30 minutes, and while the Whale is thought to have been unharmed, one of the fishermen received minor injuries.

(a)-(h). Successive steps in gillnet disentanglement operation of a Longman’s Beaked Whale, Indopacetus pacificus, in Pakistani waters. Note the head with moderately bulbous melon (e), (h), long rostrum (f), (g), (h) tubular in dorsal view (h), limited linear scarring (e) and large falcate dorsal fin (f, g). Selected frames were taken from a video. Kiani et al. (2025).

The second recorded incident happened on 31 March 2017, when an un-named Pakistani vessel encountered a 4 m long Whale 383 km off the coast of Pakistan, again in the Swatch area, an area where the sea slightly more than 3 km deep. 

This Whale had a distinct, but non-bulbous melon, a long slender snout, and a low, sub-triangular dorsal fin. The skin of the Whale was a uniform grey, slightly darker towards the tail, and it had no visible scarring of any type. It was not possible to identify this Whale to species level, but it was probably a member of the genus Mesoplodon, possibly Deraniyagala’s Beaked Whale, Mesoplodon hotaula, or Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale, Mesoplodon ginkgodens, although this species has never been recorded in the Indian Ocean, or even Ramari’s Beaked Whale, Mesoplodon eueu, although this species tends  to lighten towards the tail, and is a cold-water species, never previously recorded in the western Indian Ocean north of Mozambique. 

The third incident was recorded in August 2017, when a fisherman from Bandar-e-Konarak on the coast of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, sent a video to the Iranian National News Agency, IRIB News, showing a Whale entangled in a gill net. This incident is thought to have happened in the waters of Iran’s Exclusive Economic Zone, and probably close to Bandar-e-Konarak. 

The Whale could be seen to blow, suggesting that it was alive and breathing. It appears to be a Beaked Whale with no visible teeth. The bulbosity of the melon cannot be determined from the video. The fluke (tail) of the Whale can be seen, and from comparison to the arm of a fisherman, is estimated to be between about 140 cm wide, which would equate to a Whale 4.7-4.9 m in length. The fluke also lacks a median notch, confirming that the Animal is a Ziphiid.

An unidentified middle-sized Beaked Whale, with a melon of unclear bulbosity, net-entangled within Iran’s Exclusive Economic Zone waters off Sistan and Baluchistan Province, northern Gulf of Oman, in August 2017. (a), (b) Flukes without central notch and tailstock; (c) the only registered blow and vague view of the head. Both Mesoplodon sp. and Indopacetus pacificus would be possible. Kiani et al. (2025).

The fourth incident occurred on 18 January 2018, when a small-to-medium sized Beaked Whale was recorded trapped in gillnet 474 km from the coast of Pakistan, an area where the sea is slightly under 3.2 km deep. This Whale was 3.5-4.5 m long, with a medium length snout and a non-bulbous melon and no central notch on its fluke; its colour and/or markings could not be determined due to poor light. This is consistent with it being a member of the genus Mesoplodon. The Pakistani fishermen who encountered this Whale were able to disentangle it from their nets, and report if swam away in good condition. 

The fifth incident occurred on 19 March 2019, when two Beaked Whales, interpreted as a mother and calf, became entangled in the same gillnet off Churna Island, 96 km from the coast of the Pakistani Mainland. The waters here are shallow, at 295 m.

The calf was described as the size of an adult Common Bottlenose Dolphin, making it 3.0-3.5 m in length, while it was not possible to estimate the size of the larger Whale. The smaller Whale had a dark grey upper surface,  and a whitish underside. It had a short snout, and no sign of a bulbous melon, its dorsal fin hooked, no notch could be seen in the tail. These Whale are also interpreted as belonging to the genus Mesoplodon. The fishermen reported successfully disentangling both Whales.

The sixth recorded incident happened in February 2022, when Iranian fishermen reported encountering a Whale caught in a drift gillnet 1300 km off the coast of Bandar-e-Beris in eastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province. Video footage of the incident shows a medium-sized Beaked Whale with a medium-length Dolphin-like beak, and a non-steeply sloping melon, consistent with a member of the genus Mesoplodon. The video also shows that the Whale has two apical or slightly sub-apical mandibular teeth, indicating that it was male, as well as a dark eye-patch, an almost straight mouth, and a small, slightly hooked tail. The length of the Whale is uncertain, but it appears to be about 4.5-5.5 m.

An unidentified Mesoplodon sp. bycaught in far offshore waters of the northern Arabian Sea, 1300 km from Bandar-e-Beris at the eastern side of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province, in February 2022. (a), (c) Two erupted (sub)apical mandibular teeth indicate an adult male. (b) Dolphin-like, medium-length rostrum, gently sloping melon and smallish dorsal fin. Kiani et al. (2025).

The final incident happened in early June 2023, when a large Beaked Whale became entangled in a drift gillnet in the coastal Iranian Gulf of Oman, about 37 km from the port of Chabahar in eastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province. This Animal was clearly an adult male, with numerous took-rake scars and erupted apical teeth. It was estimated to have been 5.8-6.0 m in length, with an erect, Dolphin-like dorsal fin, and way brownish grey in colour with a lighter head. This is interpreted as being consistent with either a Longman’s Beaked Whale, Indopacetus pacificus, or a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, Ziphius cavirostris. 

An adult male Beaked Whale being liberated after accidental entanglement in Tuna gillnet in coastal waters of the Gulf of Oman, some 37 km from Chabahar, Iran, in early June  2023. (a) Large body size with two erupted teeth at the apex of the mandibula; (b) a tall, erect, falcate, Dolphin-like dorsal fin, a moderately long and well-defined rostrum; (c) with numerous tooth rakes on anterior body; and (d) some degree of bulbosity in the melon. The morphology of the Beaked Whale is congruent with Indopacetus pacificus, but Ziphius cavirostris cannot be excluded. Kiani et al. (2025).

The first of these incidents is regarded as the first record of Longman’s Beaked Whale, Indopacetus pacificus, in Pakistani waters, with incidents five and seven representing potential additional sightings. A beached individual assigned to the species was recorded in Gujarat State, India, in 2014, making the Pakistan entanglement the second record of the species in the northwest Indian Ocean. Previously a skull has been recorded from the coast of Somalia in 1955, a member of the species was sighted from Socotra Island, Yemen in 1971, and another in the waters of the southern Bay of Bengal in 2009. Five Longman’s Beaked Whales have been recorded as bycatch from Sri Lanka, although these have been disputed, and fourteen sightings and a stranding recorded from the Maldives. 

Incidents two, four, six, and possibly five represent the first records of Mesoplodon sp. in Iranian and Pakistani waters, although none of these specimens could be confidently identified to species level. 

Drift gillnets are considered to be one of the most significant anthropogenic threats to Whales, although evidence to support this is absent in many areas. Kiani et al.'s study shows entanglement is a clear threat to Beaked Whales in the northwestern Indian Ocean, as while all of the reported Whales were freed, it is likely that a greater number of Whales were not released safely, and therefore not reported.

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