we know already that it has played a role in other recent marine accidents, such as the mauritius oil spill, for instance, so quite obviously, there has been the significant impact from covid, and this risk canal crisis quite obviously comes at the worst imaginable time possible, because levels of shipping were just back to to -- were just back to normal from the pre-pandemic times, so that's really, really a tricky bit we are in. but my prediction is that both because of the trends towards the mega vessels, but also considering climate change and more severe weather events, we are goingo see many more marine accidents in the future, and that quite obviously is not necessarily good news. mohammed: you said earlier that the egyptian government is really sort of claiming success right now. i want to ask you if you think, from your vantage point, that shipping companies really believe that the canal is going to be fully operational soon. or are they moving ahead with contingency plans? >> well, i think that's very hard for me to tell. i think in the next maybe day or two, things will be

just before we go, a young marine scientist from mauritius is taking her environmental message to new depths. shaama sandoya dove into a remote stretch of the indian ocean, to highlight the importance of seagrass ecosystems. the under—water plant has become a priority for conservationists. it represents a tenth of the ocean's capacity to store carbon. shaama is trying to draw attention to the un's goal of protecting at least 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030. a reminder of our top story: america's top diplomat antony blinken is meeting his opposite number from china, against the snowy backdrop of alaska. but in their opening remarks, the two sides haven't pulled their punches. mr blinken said the us would not shy away from issues such as xinjiang, hong kong and taiwan. we'll bring you loads of updates, and more on our website. thanks for watching. hello there. we saw plenty of sunshine across scotland on thursday. that pushed temperatures up to 19 celsius in edinburgh, making it the warmest day of the year so far. for most, though, it was rather cool and cloudy, and that's

just before we go, a young marine scientist from mauritius is taking her environmental message to new depths. shaama sandoya dove into a remote stretch of the indian ocean, to highlight the importance of seagrass ecosystems. the under—water plant has become a priority for conservationists. it represents a tenth of the ocean's capacity to store carbon. shaama is trying to draw attention to the un's goal of protecting at least 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030. what a fantastic way of getting a message across. a reminder of our top story: america's top diplomat antony blinken is meeting his opposite number from china against the snowy backdrop of alaska. we will keep you updated as to any updates on that meeting. thanks for watching, i'll be back soon. lots of spring sunshine on the offer. and what a beautiful day it's been in the highlands of scotland. take a look at this weather watcher picture. kind of wish you were there, yeah? for scotland it was the warmest day of the year so far, temperatures reaching 15 celsius in edinburgh, but it wasn't a warm spot in the uk. a num

panama, as your listeners may remember, last year, there was a ship that also grounded on the island of mauritius, and there was a spillage of fuel over these incredibly environmentally sensitive areas. that ship was al flying the flag of panama. it becomes a question of who will be accountable for this, who will end up responding to the problem. will it be the owners, the ship operators, the flakka panama which is responsible for this? anything that can come out of this process, more scrutiny of these open registries, that would be an important and good thing. amy: can you talk about the people on board the ship, the sailors, the workers, their working conditions on these massive ships? laleh: i actually went down the suez canal will couple of times as part of my research in 2015 and 2016. what is really striking a's in a ship that huge, as big as a small town, you only have about 35 people working on the ship, which is an astonishing statistic. sometimes not even as many as that. usually a container ship has more people because if there are things like refrigerated containers, they have to make

panama, as your listeners may remember, last year, there was a ship that also grounded on the island of mauritius, and there was a spillage of fuel over these incredibly environmentally sensitive areas. that ship was alsolying the flag of panama. it becomes a question of who will be accountable for this, who will end up responding to the problem. will it be the owners, the ship operators, the flakka panama which is responsible for this? anything that can come out of this process, more scrutiny of these open registries, that would be an important and good thing. amy: can you talk about the people on board the ship, the sailors, the workers, their working conditions on these massive ships? laleh: i actually went down the suez canal will couple of times as part of my research in 2015 and 2016. what is really striking a's in a ship that huge, as big as a small town, you only have about 35 people working on the ship, which is an astonishing statistic. sometimes not even as many as that. usually a container ship has more people because if there are things like refrigerated containers, they have to make