Irish recycling companies are travelling to an event in Norway in September in the hope they can capitalise on opportunities to turn the scourge of abandoned fishing nets into an economic bonus.

Ireland's blue economy has been performing strongly in recent years with excellent growth in the marine sector.

Creating an infrastructure to support the blue economy is critical to the success of Ireland's integrated marine plan, Harnessing our Ocean Wealth.

The QS World University Rankings By Subject 2016 has placed Earth and Ocean Sciences in the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway as the highest ranked subject across the entire university.

Scientists have deployed a unique buoy 22 miles off the coast of New York's Fire Island to monitor several species of great whales in "near real-time".

The coral bleaching event sweeping the globe and destroying vast tracts of valuable coral reef is now officially the most widespread in recorded history, and is likely to continue for an unprecedented third year, according to the US weather agency.

The Circular Ocean Project and Partners will hold the first Circular Ocean Conference - 'Developing a Circular Economy for Fishing Nets and Ropes (FNRs)' - in Alesund, Norway on Thursday 1st September 11:30 - 16:30 at the Scandic Hotel, Alesund City Centre and Friday 2nd September 9:00 - 13:15 at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Alesund.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Seafood Development Agency has announced the inaugural BIM Seafood Sector Awards.

A report published last week by the National Economic and Social Council that strongly supports the development of the aquaculture sector in Ireland has been welcomed by IFA.

Wildlife along the coast in Northern Ireland may be threatened by 40,000 litres of diesel which have poured into the sea at Larne after a leak at the Caterpillar factory, it's feared.

The UK government now fully backs a legal ban on polluting plastic microbeads in cosmetics and toiletries, environment minister George Eustice said last week.

About 160 organisations are working together to create a portal where stakeholders can search for, visualise and retrieve - with one single command key - oceans data concerning a specific place within a certain time.

The first two of the three Blue Growth calls for proposals funded from the EMFF this year have generated very high interest from applicants, resulting in some 80 applications to the Blue Careers call and around 50 to the Blue Labs call.