OCEAN: The Cook Islands-China Partnership & more – 25th Feb 2025

Ahoy from BA! This is the Rorshok Ocean Update from the 25th of February twenty twenty-five. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

Fourteen Pacific Island nations recently secured almost 157 million US dollars to combat the impact of climate change on tuna stocks, a vital resource for their economies and food security. These nations manage one-third of the world’s tuna catch, but warming waters are pushing tuna into international zones, threatening the nations’ economic stability. Climate change could reduce tuna catches by 10 to 30% by twenty fifty, costing financial losses between forty and 140 million US dollars annually.

The funding supports adaptation strategies, including Fish Aggregating Devices, ensuring a sustainable tuna industry and reinforcing the region’s leadership in fisheries conservation.

Still in the Pacific Ocean. On Tuesday the 18th, the Cook Islands government released details of its new strategic partnership with China after facing protests and criticism over transparency. The agreement covers trade, infrastructure, ocean resources, and deep-sea mining but doesn’t involve security cooperation. Mark Brown, the Cook Islands’ Prime Minister, defended the deal, saying that it complements partnerships with New Zealand and Australia.

Opposition leaders accused Brown of risking the nation’s sovereignty and its strong relations with New Zealand since even though the Cook Islands is self-governing it maintains a special constitutional relationship with New Zealand. However, Brown said that this deal didn't threaten their relationship. Officials also discussed seabed mineral exploration with Chinese research institutes as the country considers deep-sea mining opportunities.

Next up, on Friday the 21st, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency published an article on how the European Union has intensified efforts to combat marine litter. Multiple initiatives have contributed to scientific research, technological innovation, and awareness materials to address coastal pollution.

A collaboration between the EU's Atlantic Action Plan and the Free LitterAT project to support waste reduction generated a toolkit that offers research, tools, and best practices to prevent and remove marine litter, including resources on waste management, monitoring, and clean-up strategies. The EU is now planning to promote the toolkit widely and organize workshops, pilot projects, and training sessions to engage local communities. While initially developed for the Atlantic region, the initiative aims to extend its impact to other sea basins.

More about the Atlantic Ocean as on Tuesday the 18th, eight green sea turtles returned to the ocean after nearly a month of rehabilitation following a rare cold snap in northern Florida. The cold temperatures, which even brought snow in some regions, left seventeen sea turtles stranded along Florida's northeastern coast. The Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach took in the turtles for treatment.

The frigid waters disrupted the turtles' body temperatures, causing them to lose mobility and become lethargic. Veterinarians provided them antibiotics, fluids, and nutrition to aid recovery. More turtles have arrived for care, while other turtle facilities in Florida have reached capacity. Most of them will return to the ocean soon.

Talking about marine life, a new study published on Wednesday the 19th in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science highlighted the strong impact of marine heat waves on Arctic and Subarctic marine mammals, causing increased death rates, reduced reproductive success, and great risk of diseases. These heat waves threaten species like narwhals, bowhead whales, and seals. They also affect the marine food web, indirectly affecting higher-level predators.

Researchers note that species such as narwhals struggle to adjust to extreme temperatures due to limited physiological flexibility. Long-term effects include reduced calf production and more frequent entanglement in fishing nets. The study also links heat waves to the spread of diseases like avian influenza, which is fatal to polar bears.

From one pole to the other. The Australian icebreaker RSV Nuyina will soon begin its first dedicated scientific voyage to the Denman Glacier. The 528 million US dollar vessel will carry sixty researchers on a sixty-day mission to study the impacts of climate change on the glacier, one of the fastest-melting in East Antarctica. The research team aims to better understand how warming oceans are affecting the glacier’s ice mass and its potential contribution to sea level rise.

The voyage will involve a range of scientific projects, including seafloor mapping, atmospheric monitoring, and studying marine life responses to ocean changes. The team will also collect environmental DNA and explore seafloor species in poorly sampled East Antarctic waters. The ship will return to Hobart in early May.

On another note, the 8th Indian Ocean Conference concluded on Monday the 17th, which focused on regional cooperation, maritime security, and trade. The conference addressed key issues such as climate change, resource management, and the role of the Indian Ocean in global trade, which facilitates 80% of global oil trade.

Discussions included strengthening maritime cooperation, improving port security, and promoting sustainable development. Many stakeholders stressed the importance of technological innovation, such as AI in port security, and the protection of the marine environment. The conference hosted dialogues on addressing climate challenges, improving regional partnerships, and ensuring economic growth in the Indian Ocean region.

On Thursday the 20th, the US Navy relieved Captain Dave Snowden, the commander of the USS Harry S. Truman, after a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near Port Said, Egypt. The incident occurred while the carrier operated near the Suez Canal. The collision caused exterior damage to the ship but no flooding, or injuries.

The Navy temporarily assigned Captain Christopher Hill, commander of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, to lead the Truman. The carrier underwent emergency repairs in Greece. The cause of the collision remains unclear, but investigations continue.

Speaking of the Suez Canal, on Wednesday the 19th, Osama Rabie, its Authority Chairman, said that the situation in the Red Sea had not established a lasting alternative to the canal. However, he noted signs of improving stability in the region.

As we talked about in previous shows, since November twenty twenty-three, Houthi militants backed by Iran have targeted vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting trade and forcing ships to reroute around Africa, increasing costs. In December, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian President, reported that this had caused a revenue loss of approximately seven billion US dollars for the Suez Canal in twenty twenty-four, marking a decline of over 60% compared to the previous year.

Let’s sail to another canal. The Panama Canal Authority approved the construction of an artificial lake to sustain canal operations and address Panama’s water shortages. Located in the Indio River basin, the project will cost 1.2 billion US dollars, with an additional 400 million US dollars allocated for affected communities.

The Authority expects the lake to secure stable water levels, ensuring consistent ship transit. Droughts in twenty twenty-three-twenty twenty-four reduced vessel traffic by 20%, impacting global trade. The project will generate jobs but also require some relocations of pre-existing communities. Authorities aim to complete population assessments by April this year.

In some news about the Black Sea, Reuters reported on Tuesday the 18th, that a storm forced the suspension of oil loadings from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. However, CPC Blend oil exports from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiisk proceeded without disruption.

Severe storms frequently disrupt up to two million barrels per day of oil exports from Russia and Kazakhstan. In February, oil exports from Novorossiisk increased by 0.24 million metric tons from initial projections, reaching 2.25 million tons, or approximately 590,000 barrels per day.

Closing with the Aegean Sea. Greece’s Ministry of Defense is monitoring Ukraine’s use of unmanned surface vehicles (or USVs) in the Black Sea and Turkey’s expanding drone industry. Ukrainian forces have demonstrated that low-cost aerial drones and USVs can severely damage high-value warships. They also combined USVs with cruise missiles to damage the Russian-built bridge linking Crimea to Russia’s Krasnodar region.

According to an analysis by Vassilis Nedos, a defense correspondent, the Aegean Sea’s geography makes it ideal for USV deployment in a potential Greece-Turkey conflict. Even though Turkey has yet to integrate USVs into its military strategy, it will likely do so soon. Meanwhile, Greece aims to strengthen its domestic drone production but remains behind in development.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

In case you didn’t know, besides the Rorshok Ocean Update, we also do others! We’ve got many country updates from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. But we also have non-country updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, and the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions.

If you want to check out the full list of updates, go to https://rorshok.com/updates/. The link is in the show notes.

See you next week!