August 15, 2019 — Mercury levels in seafood can shift as fish seek new sources of prey and as water temperatures warm due to climate change, according to a recent study.
The new study, published in Nature, illustrates that even as global human-driven mercury emissions are declining, warming oceans and shifting predator-prey relationships caused by human fishing practices could still be major drivers of mercury in seafood.
August 14, 2019 — The following was released by the Lenfest Ocean Program:
Call for Participants
The Lenfest Ocean Program, in collaboration with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Biodiversity Funder’s Group, is seeking applicants for a three-day Ideas Lab workshop to discuss the future of U.S. fisheries in the face of climate change, generate research priorities, and kickstart the funding of key research projects. Our geographic focus will be the continental United States.
All travel, lodging, and meals will be paid for by the Lenfest Ocean Program.
Event Background and Eligibility
An Ideas Lab is an intensive meeting that brings together diverse perspectives to focus on crafting innovative cross-disciplinary solutions to a critical problem. This workshop will bring together state and federal managers and policymakers, stakeholders, scientists and funders with local knowledge, scientific expertise, insights or perspectives who are interested in developing priority research questions for funding consideration.
If you are interested in applying, please read the entire call on our website which includes additional background and eligibility requirements.
If you have questions about this opportunity, visit our website or email us.
August 14, 2019 — Before climate change thawed the winters of New Jersey, this lake hosted boisterous wintertime carnivals. As many as 15,000 skaters took part, and automobile owners would drive onto the thick ice. Thousands watched as local hockey clubs battled one another and the Skate Sailing Association of America held competitions, including one in 1926 that featured 21 iceboats on blades that sailed over a three-mile course.
In those days before widespread refrigeration, workers flocked here to harvest ice. They would carve blocks as much as two feet thick, float them to giant ice houses, sprinkle them with sawdust and load them onto rail cars bound for ice boxes in New York City and beyond.
“These winters do not exist anymore,” says Marty Kane, a lawyer and head of the Lake Hopatcong Foundation.
That’s because a century of climbing temperatures has changed the character of the Garden State. The massive ice industry and skate sailing association are but black-and-white photographs at the local museum. And even the hardy souls who still try to take part in ice fishing contests here have had to cancel 11 of the past dozen competitions for fear of straying onto perilously thin ice and tumbling into the frigid water.
August 13, 2019 — Climate change will cause fish biomass to decline 5 percent for every one degree Celsius of warming, according to the most comprehensive analysis of marine ecosystem models to date.
The study, which was authored by 35 researchers from 12 countries, combines multiple climate and ecosystem models to create an ensemble model that estimates future global marine biomass — the total weight of all the fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals in the ocean.
August 12, 2019 — Virginia has a dependence on coal and other fossil fuels that has plagued our state for ages. Dominion Energy has played a role in fostering this damaging relationship, as has an administration that favors the convenience of fossil fuels. So I found the news regarding Dominion Energy’s wind turbines in Virginia’s Hampton Roads area to be striking and refreshing.
Dominion Energy’s decision to build an offshore wind farm near Virginia Beach demonstrates a much-needed normalization of and transition toward renewable energy. This project includes the construction of two turbines capable of producing 12 megawatts total. While some have criticized the project for being too small scale, Dominion has expressed its need to prove the concept before moving forward with a large-scale wind farm. The payoff for this project to move ahead would be immense for the Hampton Roads region and for Virginia’s role as a leader in alternative energy.
The vulnerability of Hampton Roads to the impacts of climate change adds elevated significance to this project, for which Dominion is partnering with Denmark’s wind giant Orsted. I am amazed at how quickly I have seen the severity of storms and sea-level rise in Virginia Beach within my own lifetime. Residents of coastal neighborhoods are seeing more and more flooding of homes and streets. Rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns are leading to record-breaking hurricanes, such as Irma, Harvey and Maria. Hampton Roads has the highest rate of sea-level rise on the East Coast, and in the top three nationally with New Orleans and Miami Beach. Ocean levels along Virginia are expected to rise 1.5 feet by 2050. There is no time to waste in acting against these consequences of fossil fuel dependence.
August 6, 2019 — Climate change is triggering more and more surprise variations in temperatures in the world’s oceans, including off Maine, and those spikes are changing ecosystems in ways that looking at the past wouldn’t predict.
That’s one of the conclusions of a new study out Monday from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which finds that the bigger-than-expected temperature swings are benefiting some species while hurting others, and that has effects that can be felt up the food chain by the humans that depend on those ecosystems.
Dr. Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer at GMRI and the lead author of the study, spoke with All Things Considered Host Nora Flaherty about the changes.
August 6, 2019 — For the past several years, including this one, endangered North Atlantic right whales appear to have been bypassing traditional feeding grounds off Maine’s coast, congregating instead off Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where some are dying.
Scientists are working hard to understand that shift, while lobstermen here in Maine say it shows the whales’ risk of entanglement in their gear is overblown.
For decades, the North Atlantic right whales’ annual migration took them from the Florida coast up past Maine and into the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, where, from midsummer to fall, they would feast together on massive plumes of tiny crustaceans.
But these days, the whales are showing up far from their usual haunts.
August 1, 2019 — Maine’s lobster industry has found itself in something of a climate change sweet spot.
The state’s coastal waters are still cold enough for lobster to thrive, but warming ocean temperatures are now encouraging them to settle here, mate and eventually shed their hard shells.
That’s made the past few years some of the best on record for Maine lobstermen.
But those ideal conditions may be short-lived.
As ocean temperatures rise, lobster populations have been moving steadily north, prompting concerns among politicians, scientists and fishermen that Maine lobster will eventually become Canadian lobster.
July 31, 2019 — While sharks off the Jersey Shore are nothing new, experts who study the ocean predators say New Jersey’s waters are becoming an increasingly popular destination for unlikely species of sharks.
Ocean-warming climate change is already bringing sharks typically found in southern waters, like bull sharks and blacktip sharks, to New Jersey on a more frequent basis said Thomas Grothues, an associate research professor at Rutgers who studies sharks (he just happens to be a past Shark Week star.)
As the planet continues to warm, this trend is likely to continue, Grothues said.
July 29, 2019 — There is a lot of worry and speculation about hot weather affecting sockeye runs on the east side of Bristol Bay this summer. But despite some of the hottest air and water temperatures on record, every district is meeting — or exceeding — expectations, both for escapement and harvest.
As the water temperature trends continue to rise over the years, the question at the fore is how warming water will impact salmon health, and whether it shapes the runs from year to year.
Jerri Bartholomew, Director of the Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory at Oregon State University, set the baseline for a discussion on the long-term effects of heat on salmon.
“When you try and predict what’s going to happen in an ecosystem, things just get complicated,” she said.
Trying to peer into the future of Bristol Bay salmon is a bit of a shot in the dark. Without actual data, it’s a lot of guesswork: trying to find places with ecosystems similar to the bay, then extrapolating conclusions based on what we already know.
Still, there are three pressing questions when it comes to salmon in warmer waters.
The first, basic question, is how temperature affects the fish — in both the short and long term.