OCEAN: The Silence of Blue Whales & more – 12th Aug 2025

Ahoy from BA! This is the Rorshok Ocean Update from the 12th of August twenty twenty-five. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

Starting with a deafening gossip in the oceans, according to an article by Al Jazeera from Thursday, the 7th, scientists are puzzled by the eerie silence of blue whales, the world’s largest mammals.

Studies in New Zealand and the US found that during marine heatwaves, blue whales sang less, signalling trouble in the ocean’s food chain. Warmer waters wiped out krill – their main prey – forcing whales to spend energy searching for food instead of calling mates or signalling feasts. Humpback whales proved more adaptable, but blue whales’ smaller numbers and rigid feeding habits leave them more vulnerable.

Researchers warn that these changes, driven by climate change, could permanently reshape marine life.

From white noise to white out, CEO Selina Stead of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (or AIMS) confirmed on Wednesday, the 6th that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffered its most extensive coral bleaching since records began in nineteen eighty-six, as ocean heat hit record highs in twenty twenty-four.

The AIMS found coral cover in the southern reef dropped by almost a third, with unprecedented heat stress driving the loss. Stead warned that mass bleaching is becoming more frequent and intense, urging deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

UNESCO lists the reef as a World Heritage Site, home to thousands of marine species, though Australia resists its in danger classification to protect tourism.

Meanwhile, BBC’s Discover Wildlife reported that researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have filmed around twenty thousand pearl octopuses off California’s coast in unprecedented detail.

Using a new EyeRIS 3D imaging system, they tracked the deep-sea cephalopods’ arm movements 3,000 metres (nearly 10,000 feet) underwater at the Octopus Garden, the world’s largest known octopus aggregation. The footage revealed how the animals use temporary muscular joints to crawl over rugged terrain, a simple yet sophisticated mechanism.

Scientists say the discovery could inspire new bio-robotic designs capable of navigating complex environments.

Sealing the deal on Wednesday, the 6th, Sri Lanka officially accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, leaving only four more members needed for the deal to take effect.

The agreement bans subsidies that drive illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, overfishing, and unregulated high-seas fishing. Sri Lanka’s government said the move safeguards marine biodiversity, supports food security, and protects livelihoods. The agreement also offers developing nations access to a Fisheries Fund for training and resources.

Once in force, it could help ensure healthier oceans, more sustainable catches, and stronger protections for the millions worldwide who depend on fish as a key source of protein.

On a tidal surge in value, on Monday, the 11th, a report from the Turkish Ports Operators Association valued the twenty twenty-four global maritime fleet at over one trillion US dollars, with the top ten ship-owning nations holding two-thirds of that.

Liberia, Panama, and the Marshall Islands accounted for nearly half of global shipping capacity. Greece topped ship ownership, while MSC led the container sector. World seaborne trade grew beyond two percent, driven by container and gas carriers, though oil shipments fell.

For the public, this expansion underpins stable supply chains, affecting everything from supermarket prices to fuel availability worldwide.

From rising global values to steady rates, on Thursday, the 7th, Toepfer Transport reported that its multipurpose shipping rate index held steady at around 12,800 US dollars per day for an F-type heavy lift vessel, just under one percent lower than July.

Rates have stayed consistent over the past year, with only a slight dip from last August’s 13,100 dollars. Analysts expect modest rises of about two to three percent over the next year.

Meanwhile, a rush in orders for container feeder ships has squeezed newbuilding slots for multipurpose vessels, meaning owners wanting twenty twenty-seven deliveries should act fast — potentially impacting shipping costs for goods worldwide.

Reflecting the results of developing shipping restrictions, on Wednesday, the 6th, US prosecutors charged two Chinese nationals with illegally shipping tens of millions of dollars’ worth of advanced Nvidia chips to China.

Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, both twenty-eight, allegedly used their California-based company, ALX Solutions, to send at least twenty-one shipments through Singapore and Malaysia to bypass export controls. Authorities say one shipment of Nvidia H100 GPUs was falsely labelled, with payments routed from Hong Kong and China. The pair face up to twenty years in prison if convicted.

The US restricts AI chip exports to protect national security, a move China calls unfair trade suppression.

Crossing borders, on Thursday, the 7th, South Korea rescued a North Korean who swam across the maritime border near Ganghwa Island, reportedly tied to a floating plastic.

The defector, intercepted north of the mid-river boundary, asked to resettle in the South and is now in custody for screening. Such sea crossings are rare, given strong currents and tight surveillance. The incident comes ahead of US-South Korea joint military drills, which Seoul partially delayed to reduce tensions.

The event underscores the risks some North Koreans take to escape, raising security, humanitarian, and diplomatic concerns that could influence inter-Korean relations and regional stability.

On the same day, tensions flared in Latin America as Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Peru of seizing Santa Rosa Island in the Amazon River.

Peru rejected the allegation, deployed troops, and warned that it undermines regional unity. The row joins other unresolved disputes — from Venezuela’s oil-rich Essequibo plea against Guyana to Bolivia’s Pacific access demand. Such conflicts threaten trade routes, resource security, and regional cooperation, affecting millions.

The International Court of Justice often mediates, but national pride and economic stakes keep these century-old boundaries in question.

In a heartfelt story reported on Saturday, the 9th, Ashley Bugge, a widow from Vancouver, Washington, is keeping her late husband’s maritime legacy alive through a memorial reef in Hawaii.

Navy diver Brian Bugge drowned in twenty eighteen during a rebreather dive to the Sea Tiger wreck, after forgetting to switch his oxygen back on. Six months later, Ashley placed part of his ashes in an eco-friendly concrete reef at the site of their first dive together.

The structure now fosters marine life and serves as an annual gathering point for family and friends — a living tribute to a man whose life revolved around the ocean.

On another note, three Scottish brothers are nearing the end of a record-breaking row of 9,000 miles (around 15,000 kilometers) across the Pacific to raise 1 million pounds (over 1.3 million US dollars) for clean water projects in Madagascar. Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan Maclean launched from Lima in April, surviving storms, twenty-foot (around six meter) waves, and one of them even fell overboard. Their lightweight carbon-fibre boat, Emily-Rose, carries 150 days of supplies, enabling an unsupported crossing.

With just 1,000 nautical miles (nearly 2,000 kilometers) to Sydney, their journey has gone viral, drawing celebrity support from Mark Wahlberg and Ewan McGregor. If successful, they’ll bring safe water to over 40,000 people.

Now for a blast from the past, according to reports from Friday, the 8th, scientists discovered that the Atlantic Ocean began forming at least four million years earlier than previously thought.

Seismic data west of Guinea-Bissau uncovered kilometer-long mud waves dated to 117 million years ago, marking the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway’s opening. This early salt-driven flow disrupted carbon burial, likely warming the planet — a reminder of how changes in ocean circulation can shift climate.

The finding helps refine climate models and warns that today’s gateways, like the Greenland-Iceland gap, could magnify modern circulation changes, affecting weather, fisheries, and sea-level rise worldwide.

Finishing the journey with a tribute to the once-fastest ocean liner, as featured on CNN this Thursday, the 7th, the SS United States is set to become the world’s largest artificial reef off Florida.

While the ocean liner will be sunk near Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, its two towering six-storey funnels will be preserved as the centrepiece of a new SS United States Museum, designed by Thinc Design. The museum will feature artifacts, vintage photos, and films, honouring the ship’s nineteen fifty-one launch and record-breaking nineteen fifty-two voyage.

The sinking is expected by late twenty twenty-five or early twenty twenty-six, marking both an ecological rebirth and a tribute to a maritime legend.

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

Don’t forget to subscribe! Don’t worry, it’s free. Send us your ideas at info@rorshok.com

See you next week!