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.
MASSACHUSSETTS: Technology, marketing among 20 Massachusetts grants for $1.6 million
July 9, 2023 — Massachusetts state officials announced $1.6 million in grants will go to 20 businesses and organizations “to support innovative approaches to enhance Massachusetts commercial marine fisheries and the seafood industry.”
“Massachusetts is a leader in protecting the health of our fishing industry, and this funding shows our commitment to keep the industry thriving by utilizing cutting-edge technology and the latest scientific research,” Gov. Maura Healey said in announcing the grants June 30. “Our administration is taking a holistic approach to combating climate change, which includes supporting our fisheries, advancing green energy, and enhancing the state’s blue economy.”
The funding is coming through the Environmental Economic Innovation and Resiliency in Marine Fisheries Grant Program, supplemented by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The goal is encouraging projects “that work to mitigate economic barriers resulting from climate change and promote sustainable, local fisheries development in Massachusetts,” according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
“The fishing industry is on the front lines of climate change, and it’s critical we make meaningful, long-term investments now to ensure the sustainability and resiliency of our marine fisheries,” Rebecca Tepper, the state energy and environmental affairs secretary. “This funding is two-fold in that we are helping fishers and their families recover from the pandemic while supporting new approaches that will safeguard our valuable marine resources from climate harm.”
NEW JERSEY: Tax break for offshore wind energy developer Orsted narrowly approved in New Jersey Legislature
July 3, 2023 — A bill to let Danish offshore wind energy developer Orsted keep tax credits that it otherwise would have to return to New Jersey ratepayers was approved by the slimmest of margins in the state Legislature Friday afternoon and went to the desk of Gov. Phil Murphy, a strong supporter of offshore wind farms.
The measure initially failed to gather enough support in the Senate but won one additional vote in a subsequent try — just enough to pass it.
The bill to allow Orsted to keep federal tax credits was designed to help counter what lawmakers termed lingering economic effects on the developer from the COVID-19 pandemic and elevated inflation.
It applies to Orsted’s first project in New Jersey, Ocean Wind I, which aims to generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.
The New Jersey legislation highlighted a sharp partisan divide over offshore wind projects, with Republicans mostly opposing them as harmful to the environment, marine life and the fishing and tourism industries, and Democrats supporting them as crucial to moving away from the burning of fossil fuels that is contributing to a warming climate.
Southeast troll fishermen help study a warming ocean: ‘Fishermen are natural scientists’
June 29, 2023 — Eric Jordan’s life on the ocean began more than 70 years ago, when his parents started taking him out on the family’s troller. At 73, Jordan still fishes regularly. But he says a lot has changed in the waters of Southeast Alaska.
“I was out there, the last two weekends at the Derby weigh station, seeing things that are truly dystopian. The lack of birds, the lack of fish,” Jordan said. “Those of us who are out there on the water, we are seeing the changes. And I’ll tell you it’s pretty spooky.”
Jordan started his own operation in 1978, trolling for coho and chinook salmon across Southeast Alaska and catching hundreds of fish a day. But today, the marine environment seems less abundant. Most species of Southeast salmon have had record low harvests in recent years, and the devastation from “the Blob” — a Pacific heat wave that caused massive die-offs of marine species — lingers.
Scientists expect a future with warmer oceans and more marine heat waves. But there’s a lack of data to explain how climate change is shaping Southeast fisheries. Now, two new citizen science projects from Alaska Sea Grant and the Alaska Trollers Association will help longtime troll fishermen like Jordan take the lead to gather data about how the waters they depend on are changing.
‘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.
‘Nothing like this has ever happened before’: The world’s oceans are at record-high temps
June 20, 2023 — Ocean surface temperatures vaulted to unprecedented levels this spring, alarming scientists and prompting predictions of increased extreme weather this year, including from hurricanes.
While ocean temperatures have been rising for at least 70 years, the new measurements taken from a network of satellites, ships, and buoys around the globe show an unexpected spike that began in March and appears to still be climbing.
“It’s just totally shocking, because it is so far out of the realm of what has been observed in the records,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane and climate expert at the University of Miami. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
US lawmakers want to establish USDA Office of Aquaculture
June 20, 2023 — U.S. representatives in Congress have introduced legislation to create an office of aquaculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Shellfish harvesters and seaweed farmers play an essential role in our food supply, but historically they haven’t received the support they need to reach their full potential,” U.S.Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) said, adding that a USDA aquaculture program office “will help shellfish harvesters and seaweed farmers grow their small businesses while expanding blue carbon ecosystems that help address the climate crisis.”
Highest ocean temperatures ever recorded for the month of May, NOAA says
June 16, 2023 — Scientists have gathered further evidence that ocean waters are continuing to warm along with the rest of the planet.
Ocean temperatures reached record-breaking highs for the month of May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced during its monthly climate call on Thursday.
Four main factors are contributing to such historic warming of global sea surface temperatures: human-induced climate change, a developing El Nino event, effects from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption and a new shipping emissions policy aimed at reducing air pollution, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Some regions are experiencing temperatures up to 7 degrees higher than average for this time of year. In Cabo Verde Island, where hurricanes typically form, the water is typically 75 degrees Fahrenheit but is currently measuring at 82.4 degrees.
States and clean energy: 3 issues to watch
June 16, 2023 — Statehouses across the country are enacting new energy laws this year, tackling issues that will directly affect President Joe Biden’s climate agenda even as Congress stands divided.
New laws signed in recent months and proposals still under consideration may affect the growth trajectory of low-carbon technologies including offshore wind and rooftop solar. In many cases, state plans may evolve over time along with national programs.
For emerging technologies like hydrogen, state lawmakers are trying to manage how the Biden administration’s ambitions will play out locally. Democrats have largely tried to implement Biden’s big-picture vision for promoting those technologies, while Republicans have sought to apply the brakes in some cases.
The state action is happening during an important period of implementation for last year’s Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
“We expected states to look into follow-on” laws that would respond to policies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act, said Frank Wolak, CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.
More laws of that kind are likely to emerge in additional state legislatures, he added. “I expect there’ll be others interested.”
The Treasury Department has recently rolled out guidance on how tax credits from the IRA could be claimed for rooftop solar projects and for U.S.-made offshore wind parts. And the Department of Energy is slated to award up to $7 billion of infrastructure funds for the first hubs of low-carbon hydrogen production, storage, transport and consumption this fall, for instance.
Both parties are angling to bring billions of dollars in infrastructure law funds to their states to support the first large demonstrations of low-carbon hydrogen. They include Republicans in Mississippi and North Dakota as well as Democrats in Hawaii and Washington.
Officially bogus: Bottom trawling does not release as much carbon as airline travel
June 15, 2023 — Remember the headlines that claimed bottom trawling released as much carbon as all of air travel? We thought those claims were probably bogus when first reported, but Hiddink et al. 2023, a response paper published May 2023, now makes those claims Officially Bogus.
The original headlines came from Sala et al. 2021, a paper published in Nature that garnered more media coverage than any marine science paper of the past decade. We’ve covered the science and follow-ups over the last few years, but here’s a quick summary:
Sala et al. 2021 advocated for increasing the number of marine protected areas (MPAs) that restrict fishing. The paper used three different models that claimed benefits from MPAs:
- Food security – MPAs would increase food availability via more abundant fisheries.
- Biodiversity – MPAs would enhance ocean biodiversity.
Carbon/climate change – claimed that bottom trawling released as much carbon as all air travel, thus selling MPAs as a climate change solution via carbon sequestration. The paper suggested selling carbon credits from MPAs to fund the creation of more MPAs.
These three claims have quickly fallen apart, however. The original food security model was retracted, and the modified one by Sala et al. 2021 had similar issues. A response published last year points out that the biodiversity and carbon claims were based on the assumption that fishing disappears rather than being displaced. And now, Hiddink et al. 2023 demonstrates that the carbon model overestimated carbon benefits by 2-3 orders of magnitude, i.e., 100-1000 times.
Hiddink et al. 2023 notes two main reasons why the model in Sala et al. 2021 misfired:
- The fundamental assumptions of the carbon cycle were incorrect.
- The validation of those assumptions was also incorrect.
Here, we explain the carbon cycle in ocean sediment and discuss the potential for bottom trawling to contribute to carbon emissions. We also break down the carbon model from Sala et al. 2021 and show why it was incorrect based on Hiddink et al. 2023’s analysis.
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