Bycatch from shrimp trawling being shoveled overboard, Sonora, Mexico.
Naomi Blinick/Marine Photobank

Shrimp trawling in the Gulf of California results in enormous amounts of by-catch, including highly unsustainable numbers of juvenile sharks, rays and commercial fish. After sorting the shrimp out of the catch, the remaining organisms (most of which are already dead) are swept overboard to huge flocks of seabirds and groups of hungry sea lions following the boat.

Louisiana State Wildlife Response Team member works to clean oil off of a pelican.
Justin Stumberg, U.S. Navy/Marine Photobank

A pelican is cleansed of oil in Louisiana one month after the April 2010 explosion on the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon.

The photo was taken by Justin Stumberg, U.S. Navy, at the Clean Gulf Associates Mobile Wildlife Rehabilitation Station on Ft. Jackson.

While rescue costs vary widely depending on the source of the information, David Jessup and Jonna Mazet of the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center have reported that the actual cost of collecting and caring oiled marine birds is “about $600-$750 each."

Sea star in the deep sea. Brooke et. al./ NOAA OE 2005/Marine Photobank

Deep-sea habitats are isolated from the general public not only geographically, but also because they are rarely discussed in mainstream media. James Cameron’s recent descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep—the world’s deepest point at 35,756 feet—could change that. Cameron joins U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard as the only people in history to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep; the pair made history in 1960. This image of a sea star was taken at a depth of  1,753 feet, just a fraction of the depth of Cameron’s recent trip. Although he was unable to collect significant samples from the deep because of an equipment malfunction, the expedition marks an exciting development for ocean exploration.

While documenting the porpoise slaughter in Otsuchi, Japan, Tarah Millen captured this tragic image of a road transformed into a torrent of flood water after the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake that rocked northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011.The force of the Tsunami ravaged the town taking with it cars, houses, and oil, leaving black sludge in its wake. Millen says of the photo, "Our escape road crushed and turned into a raging river of pollution from the 500km/h force of the ocean."