Published by Ocean Conservancy To mark National Ocean Month this June, the Trump administration continues to roll back critical pieces of policy that keep our ocean healthy and working. I’m particularly dismayed at his decision to repeal the historic National Ocean Policy (NOP) today. This common-sense plan was good for the economy, jobs, local communities, national […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Bill Mook started Mook Sea Farm in 1985 after attending the University of Maine as an oceanography graduate student. Situated on the banks of the Damariscotta River in Maine, Mook Sea Farm grew American oysters for the half shell market and supplied seed clams, scallops and oysters to other East Coast shellfish […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy In May, my co-worker Patty Chambers and I were fortunate to be able to travel to St. Paul Island in Alaska’s remote Pribilof Islands to participate in a marine debris cleanup. We worked with students from the school to remove approximately 300 pounds of debris from a fur seal rookery near town. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Parenting can be tough. You can often find yourself sacrificing for your children in order to keep them happy and safe. Fathers play a special role in raising children. They make us feel safe, teach us how to survive and always ready to cheer us up with laughter. These qualities make us […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy This blog post was written by Lisa Erdle and Kennedy Bucci, Ph.D. students in the Rochman Lab at the University of Toronto. On May 6th, 2018, we led our first annual Cleanup the Don inland coastal cleanup to remove trash along the Don River, keep trash out of Lake Ontario and raise […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy As a RAY Marine Conservation Diversity Fellow, I help coordinate and grow the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification (OA Alliance), a coalition of leaders developing on-the-ground solutions for challenges facing our ocean. Most days, I’m on the phone at my desk in Washington, DC with people from all around the world […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Last month, the Trump administration announced plans to weaken offshore drilling safety rules that were put in place to prevent incidents like the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which killed 11 workers and spilled 210 million gallons of oil into the ocean. Tell the administration that you oppose efforts to weaken offshore drilling safety […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy I was honored to take part last month in the first marine debris cleanup that Ocean Conservancy has sponsored in Alaska. On May 12, Michael Levine, a senior Arctic fellow for Ocean Conservancy, and I arrived on St. Paul, a wind-swept, rugged and wildly beautiful volcanic island in the Pribilof Islands of […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy When I first heard that there was going to be an Ocean’s 8 movie with a female cast, I had two main thoughts: one—this is an awesome idea and I can’t wait to see it, and two—most importantly, I would love to see another remake starring an actual “ocean’s eight” pulling off […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy For most people on most days, the ocean is out of sight and out of mind. But not today. On World Oceans Day, we celebrate the beauty and bounty of the most defining feature of our planet—the big, blue ocean. Many of us feel a pull to it—that irresistible impulse to marvel […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy On Tuesday, Californians took an important step to protect our state’s coast and ocean. California has long been a leader on coastal, ocean and environmental issues, and voters showed this week that they continue to support the state’s leadership and investment in our environment. The passage of Proposition 68 showed that voters […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Do you know where your used plastics go once your recycling bin leaves your house? Until recently, the answer was usually China. For years, China had been a leading importer of scrap and recycled materials—particularly scrap plastic—from around the world. In 2016, it imported 7.3 million tons of plastic scrap from developed […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy One year ago today, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement—undermining the important work being done to protect millions of Americans who depend on the ocean for their businesses and livelihoods from the threat of climate change. The impact of carbon emissions on the ocean isn’t an abstract danger. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy A few years ago, I tagged along with a research team counting beluga whales in Canada’s western Hudson Bay. On one memorable July day, our boat was surrounded by 350 belugas, we spotted 11 polar bears and a bird expert recorded the sighting of 5,000 black scoters (an Arctic sea duck) in […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy This blog post was written by Anna Smith, an Ocean Conservancy intern working with the Ocean Acidification program for the month of May 2018. Anna is a senior in high school and is looking forward to studying Environmental Sciences in college. Believe it or not, fifteen years ago today, everyone’s favorite clownfish […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Everything started when Masahide Yamashita arrived in Seattle in 1902. At 19-years-old, Masahide tried his hand at various import-export endeavors ranging from lumber to pearls. But as the relationship between Japan and America waxed and waned, so did his business prospects. Yet he persevered. Parallel to Masahide’s struggle, the Pacific Northwest oyster […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy The numbers are in—and we have great news for America’s ocean fisheries! NOAA recently released its annual report to Congress summarizing how the United States is doing in managing its ocean fisheries. The Status of Stocks report for 2017 showed good improvement and is a testament to the impressive progress that we’ve […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy As climate change ushers in rapid changes in the Arctic Ocean, northern nations and communities are scrambling to adapt at multiple scales. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body with authority to govern global shipping, made an important step at the international level last week when 174 member states approved a […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Ocean Conservancy recently embarked on a partnership with Force Blue to support a coral restoration mission in Puerto Rico. Nathan Quinn, a member of Force Blue Team One deployed to Puerto Rico to assist NOAA, Sea Ventures and Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources in October and has been there since. The Florida native and U.S. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy This blog post was written by Anna Smith, an Ocean Conservancy intern working with the Ocean Acidification program for the month of May 2018. Anna is a senior in high school and is looking forward to studying Environmental Sciences in college. With summer fast approaching, many of us are already looking forward […]