July 11, 2023 — Money will continue the port’s move from diesel powered equipment to zero emissions electric gear.
The Port of Hueneme is getting an $80 million state grant to continue its move towards more environmentally friendly operations.
The huge blob of seaweed headed for Florida has shrunk by 75%
July 12, 2023 — Florida vacations are back on, sans stinky seaweed.
The record-breaking mass of stinky seaweed that began appearing on Florida’s iconic beaches this spring, known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Seaweed Belt, shrunk in the Gulf of Mexico by 75% last month, according to scientists from the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Lab.
The seaweed, which smells like rotten eggs and emits toxic gases when it comes ashore, proved a nuisance for Florida beachgoers in the spring – which is also the start of the Sunshine State’s tourist season. In April, the seaweed set a record, with scientists identifying 3 million tons of sargassum in the Caribbean Sea.
NOAA is looking to add regulations for some boat speeds to help protect whales, but what are the impacts?
July 10, 2023 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing stricter speed restrictions for boats in the Atlantic, and environmental groups and boating industry experts are sparring ahead of the administration’s December deadline.
NOAA’s proposed rule would expand on existing requirements by reducing the maximum speed limit for commercial and recreational boats of 35 feet or larger to 10 knots, or about 11.5 mph, in zones across the East Coast. Currently, speed reductions only affect boats 65 feet or larger.
“When you require a vessel to go under 11 miles an hour, which is roughly the speed you would ride your bicycle in your neighborhood, then you don’t take into account the sea conditions,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy.
Anglers said an exemption from going 10 knots if the National Weather Service has issued a gale-force warning isn’t adequate. A gale force warning is issued when winds hit 39 mph. But even at 35 mph, winds can cause safety issues for boaters and guests, he said.
NOAA’s plan to slow boats ignites whale of a fight
July 9, 2023 — Capt. Fred Gamboa has led fishing trips off the New Jersey coast for the last 17 years, but he fears he will soon lose many customers if required to slow down his boats to meet new federal requirements to protect one of the most endangered whales in the ocean.
Gamboa, a charter boat operator from Point Pleasant, N.J., charges $4,800 to take people on an 18-hour tuna fishing trip 100 miles from shore. Under a new rule proposed by NOAA Fisheries, he’d have to travel at a top speed of roughly 11 ½ mph for part of the year, as opposed to his normal cruising speed of 30 to 40 mph.
“It would take nine to 10 hours to get out there — no customer would ever pay for that trip,” he said.
Gamboa, 56, and thousands of other boaters along the Atlantic coast are lobbying Congress to block NOAA’s plan. But NOAA officials say that forcing boats to slow down during certain times of the year is a matter of survival for the North Atlantic right whale, which are particularly vulnerable to collisions.
Boaters and the recreational fishing industry have flexed their political muscle by winning key allies from a growing chorus of NOAA critics on Capitol Hill, but they’re opposed by a united front of green groups that want the agency to act quickly before any more whales — there are only an estimated 340 whales now remaining — are killed by vessel strikes.
“We need seasonal slowdowns to protect right whales in danger zones, just like we have lower speed limits to protect children near schools,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney with Defenders of Wildlife.
OBI Seafoods, Trident Seafoods receive additional USDA contracts
July 3, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is continuing its seafood spending spree this week, after awarding nearly USD 90 million (EUR 82 million) in contracts last week.
The latest awards, which were announced on 29 June, are for the federal government’s domestic food assistance programs.
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based OBI Seafoods was awarded a contract to supply 47,120 cases of canned pink salmon worth USD 2.6 million (EUR 2.4 million).
Whale carcasses on Martha’s Vineyard fuel speculation about wind turbines
June 26, 2023 — Conservation groups and offshore wind critics are calling for an investigation into the deaths of two humpback whales that washed up on the shores of Martha’s Vineyard last week.
On Monday, June 12, a decomposing humpback whale was found in the surf on the south-east tip of Martha’s Vineyard. Early the next morning, a second humpback whale carcass was discovered about 5 miles away on the island’s eastern shoreline.
Federal scientists say that the cause of the deaths remains unclear. In an email, a spokesperson for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (NOAA), which is leading logistics, said that it will not be performing an autopsy on either whale and that “any type of partner supported exam is being stood down.”
The first whale was stuck in the surf, making an autopsy difficult, a NOAA spokesperson said. The agency had plans to do a “limited internal exam,” but abandoned efforts last week as the carcass drifted north along the shoreline.
The decision has frustrated conservation groups curious about the unusual occurrence of two whale deaths discovered in two days. The carcasses were found about one week after construction began on the nation’s first utility-scale wind farm — which is being built in waters 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard — and has fueled speculation that the deaths may be connected to offshore wind development.
MSC says On The Hook report misrepresents the program
June 23, 2023 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has claimed a recent report by On The Hook misrepresents the program and doesn’t give proper credit to its sustainability efforts.
On The Hook released a report on 14 June claiming that the MSC certified harmful fishing practices. It also claimed the MSC is failing to keep up with the pace of change needed to deliver sustainable seafood.
Who Is Killing Hawaii’s Endangered Monk Seals?
June 23, 2023 — When federal officials announced earlier this month the death of Malama, a young female monk seal pup whom they believe was likely killed intentionally, the case sparked widespread community outrage and calls to bring whomever is responsible to justice.
However, since 2009 federal authorities have managed to prosecute just one of 16 confirmed cases in which a critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal was intentionally killed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Those 16 cases don’t include Malama, officially known as RQ76, whose body was found in March near Waianae with blunt-force injuries. Her death still has not been confirmed as intentional.
It’s not clear why NOAA has struggled for so long to prosecute those responsible for killing these seals that are native to and only live in the Hawaiian Islands. A spokesman for the agency’s law enforcement branch did not respond to requests this past week to discuss the general challenges that they face.
‘Unprecedented’ ocean heat wave could linger through fall
June 22, 2023 — An intense marine heat wave that has fueled record-warm sea surface temperatures in the world’s oceans in recent months could linger well into the fall, according to an experimental forecast produced by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Researchers with the agency’s Physical Sciences Laboratory said unusually warm conditions in the North Atlantic are all but certain to last all summer, with an up to 90% chance that the marine heat wave will persist through November.
Members of the research team are set to issue an outlook online later this week that unveils the new forecast and discusses its implications.
Dillon Amaya, a research scientist at NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, called the situation in the North Atlantic “unprecedented,” adding that researchers have been trying to understand what is driving the current warm spell and its potential consequences.
Biden administration moves to restore endangered species protections dropped by Trump
June 21, 2o23 — The Biden administration proposed bringing back rules to protect imperiled plants and animals on Wednesday as officials moved to reverse changes under former President Donald Trump that weakened the Endangered Species Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protections for species newly classified as threatened.
The blanket protections regulation was dropped in 2019 as part of a suite of changes to the application of the species law that were encouraged by industry, even as extinctions accelerate globally due to habitat loss and other pressures.
Officials also would no longer consider economic impacts when deciding if animals and plants need protection. And the rules make it easier to designate areas as critical for a species’ survival, even if it is no longer found in those locations.
That could help with the recovery of imperiled fish and freshwater mussels in the Southeast, where the aquatic animals in many cases are absent from portions of their historical range, said Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director Gary Frazer.
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