Published by Ocean Conservancy Smokey Bear’s northern pals are “polar” opposites when it comes to their ecosystem preferences. Yes, pun intended—Smokey Bear’s northern pals are polar bears! Black bears like Smokey and polar bears share a common ancestor that dates back to over five million years ago. Polar bears have an intense appetite, especially for seals. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy As we’ve learned, nowhere is immune to marine debris. From the sweeping vistas of Antarctica to the uninhabited island of Midway Atoll, ocean pollution is everywhere—showing that the consequences of trash extend far beyond what we see on our local beaches. But the big question is how? How does trash end up […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Gavin Schmidt, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, elegantly responded to the potential US withdrawal from the Paris Climate treaty with a simple quote by Galileo: “eppure si riscalda (and yet it moves)”. As history has it, this was Galileo’s stubborn response to church inquisitors questioning his findings about […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy The Trump administration’s newly proposed budget would cut nearly $1 billion from NOAA. Follow along with our “The More You NOAA” blog series to see how these cuts would impact the families and communities who rely on a healthy ocean. Then take action to tell Congress to say “No” to cutting NOAA. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy We know that far too much trash ends up in our ocean. But what about the trash you and I keep out of it through our participation in the International Coastal Cleanup? After tallying the results from the 2016 Cleanup, we have some answers and we’re going to share the news, rather […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy It’s no secret we here at Ocean Conservancy love our shellfish! For many, oysters, clams, scallops and other bivalves say “home”—shellfish capture the flavors and smells of the coastal waters we love. More than just a fun-time food, shellfish have sustained our coastal communities by providing food and income for generations, from […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Photo by Mark (Buck) Taylor Dr. Samantha (Mandy) Joye is a Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, where she studies how microbes in the Gulf break down oil. We last interviewed Dr. Joye in 2014, when she and a team of scientists were diving to the Gulf seafloor following […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy A new climate change assessment in the Arctic was released last week, and it had good news and bad news. The report, compiled by the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), had contributions from almost 100 scientists and looked at the status of the Arctic from 2011 to early 2017. […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy It seems a lifetime ago that we started our joint efforts in February of 2016 to support investments in a healthy ocean for this fiscal year. It took 15 months but our work has paid off. This week, Congress released a late, but welcome, federal budget for 2017. It is a budget […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy A fisherman conservationist’s perspective on why the federal red snapper season is just three days long. As a Floridian recreational fisherman, I share the disappointment of others in my community over such a spectacularly short federal season—just three days in 2017—for the iconic red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. As a […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy I’ve worked on Arctic oil and gas issues for Ocean Conservancy for nearly nine years. During that time— with the help of passionate ocean advocates across the country—we’ve made incredible progress protecting important marine habitat and subsistence areas in Arctic waters. Last Friday, President Trump issued an executive order on offshore energy […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy In his first 100 days, President Trump announced two separate Executive Orders that put at risk special places on land and in the sea. On April 28, 2017, he announced the Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, which takes aim at America’s marine monuments and sanctuaries. All marine monuments and […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Another study has just come out—revealing that plastic pollution has been discovered in deep-sea sediments and surface waters in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. The similarities between this research and the study I wrote about earlier in the week on plastics in the Arctic are very troubling. Plastic pollution has now been documented […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy I have another exciting update in the world of fisheries management. Last year, I wrote about a ruling by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to protect forage fish in offshore waters on the West Coast. This was a BIG deal, and was made possible in part by the Ocean Conservancy activists […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Scientists are learning more about the threats microplastics pose to our ocean. Photo credit: NOAA Last week, a new study published in in the journal Science Advances found that the Arctic Ocean is accumulating high concentrations of plastics―specifically in the Greenland and Barents seas. I wanted to share with you why this study is so […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Photo courtesy of Luana Rubin As a young boy, Luana and Paul Rubin’s son Mason, now 27, was in love with the ocean. He decided for his eighth birthday party to eschew gifts and instead have his guests make contributions to the Jacques Cousteau Society. “He raised a nice little sum of […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy From the iconic emperor to the quirky macaroni, penguins are some of the most charismatic (and well-dressed) ocean animals. In honor of World Penguin Day, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite penguin facts to celebrate these captivating birds. So sit back, enjoy and be sure to share your favorite penguin trivia […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Dr. Kim Yates, research oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey. Credit: Benjamin Drummond for Ocean Conservancy. The Ocean Conservancy ocean acidification team has spent time in Florida over the past year talking with fishermen and scientists to better understand how changes in ocean chemistry are affecting Florida’s coastal communities and its marine […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Tomorrow, thousands of people around the world will take to the streets for the March for Science. It’s a strange concept—why is it important to come together and support science? To find out, I sat down with Ocean Conservancy’s President, Andreas Merkl, and asked why ocean science is so important to him, […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Together we can get to a Gulf that is restored, healthy and thriving once more. April 20, 2017, marks seven years since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster began, taking the lives of 11 people and severely impacting the Gulf of Mexico. As someone who grew up and works in the Gulf, […]