Conservation & Environment Archives

Exxon Valdez spill shaped history 36 years ago. What have we learned?

March 25, 2025 — Monday marks the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the largest ever spill in U.S. history at the time.

The nearly 1,000-foot namesake tanker carrying tens of millions of gallons of oil slammed into a reef off the coast of Alaska just after midnight on March 24, 1989 and unleashed a catastrophe never before seen in America.

Nearly 11 million gallons of oil spewed into the picturesque Prince William Sound and in the coming days photos of birds and other wildlife drenched in thick oil, struggling to survive, shocked the nation.

Here’s what to know about the disaster that inspired federal reforms, sparked debates over the risks of oil exploration and became a rallying cry for conservationists across the nation.

Read the full article at USA TODAY

New Dam Removal Project Reinvigorates Effort to Open the Raritan River for Migratory Fish

March 24, 2025 — If NOAA Marine Habitat Restoration Specialist Carl Alderson had his way, the story of dam removals on New Jersey’s Raritan River would be an epic film—Shad: The Movie.

Opening shot: Silvery fish throw themselves against a dam, unable to reach the other side. Battered and bloody, they try again, only to be swept downstream.

Voiceover: “In a world of uncertainty, scientists race against time to free the 1,110-square-mile Raritan River watershed from the bondage of obsolete dams to save a species. Will science and restoration be the heroes fish need to reach their ancient spawning grounds?”

Alderson’s film may be just an idea for now, but the story of the restoration of the Raritan River and its native migratory fish species is worth telling. The Raritan River Fish Passage Initiative, the brainchild of Alderson and other NOAA partners, has led to the removal of six dams. There are plans to remove dams or improve fish passage at nine other sites throughout the watershed.

This past fall, NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Raritan Headwaters Association $2.3 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to remove the Rockafellows Mill Dam on the South Branch of the Raritan. This represents NOAA’s most significant investment in the watershed so far. Matching funds from the Cornell Dubilier Superfund settlement will also support this important project.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Celebrating 15 Years of Surveying Protected Species in the Northwest Atlantic

March 21, 2025 — NOAA scientists, a student, and a teacher participating in the NOAA Teacher At Sea Program kicked off a series of surveys supporting the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species.

“I feel really lucky to have been involved with this program for the last 15 years. This fantastic time series has helped us provide accurate and precise abundance and trends for many of our region’s protected species, interpret their status, and provide data needed for ocean developers and other ocean users,” said Debi Palka, the program’s principal investigator and chief scientist for the shipboard surveys. “Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, our mission is to recover protected marine species while allowing economic growth, recreational opportunities, and offshore marine development in our region. Our program meets those needs. Very few science organizations are able to do this kind of long-term data collection throughout the U.S. Atlantic Ocean.”

The team conducted marine mammal, sea turtle, seabird, and ecosystem surveys aboard a NOAA vessel and plane between January 6 and February 21. Their surveys ran from Massachusetts to North Carolina, inshore to the Exclusive Economic Zone. This winter survey is particularly important because there’s limited winter data on these species, especially in offshore waters.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Catholic charity Stella Maris seeking partner to develop seafood labor certification

March 20, 2025 — Catholic charity Stella Maris, which provides chaplain services to fishermen and other seafarers around the world, wants to play a leading role in crafting an internationally recognized seafood certification focused on improving labor standards.

Founded in Scotland in 1920, Stella Maris now has a network of chaplains in over 60 countries who offer pastoral guidance to workers at sea. The group has also actively promoted workers’ labor rights in areas such as Southeast Asia, the U.K., and more.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

‘Great whale conveyor belt’ nourishes the ocean

March 20, 2025 — Whales are the bees of the ocean.

That’s a conclusion of new research showing that whales undertake the longest journeys to transport nutrients of any mammal or large animal on Earth, much like bees collect and distribute pollen.

Researchers from the University of Vermont, who published their findings in Nature Communications, found that humpback, gray and right whales transport more than 3,700 tons of nitrogen each year while migrating along what’s been dubbed the “great whale conveyor belt.”

“Humpback whales and gray whales make the longest-distance migrations of any mammal on the planet, thousands of miles every year,” said study author Joe Roman. “So this study is the first one that I’m aware of that tries to quantify that movement.”

Read the full article at wbur

Endangered Species Habitat Restoration Creates Jobs, Boosts Local Economy

March 13, 2025 — Last winter, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers and streams in the highest numbers since monitoring began 16 years ago. The numbers suggest NOAA’s long-term investment to recover the species is paying off.

Local businesses are also reaping the rewards. Government funding for salmon habitat restoration employs foresters, construction workers, and other professionals to rehabilitate rivers and streams damaged by historic logging.

Recovering species to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list takes a long time. NOAA has funded dozens of restoration projects benefiting Central California Coast coho salmon in Mendocino watersheds over the last 20 years. In an area decimated by a century’s worth of clearcutting and other harmful practices, there’s no shortage of restoration work to do.

“This funding is a big deal,” says Registered Professional Forester Chris Blencowe, who has consulted on restoration projects with NOAA partners The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Trout Unlimited (TU). “It’s diversifying the economy and directly supports good-paying local jobs with which you can support a family. I’m from this area, and without this work, I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing.”

The Office of Habitat Conservation’s most recent injection of $14.5 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in new river restoration projects has taken Mendocino’s restoration economy to new levels.

“We got a big boost here the last couple of years with the infrastructure funding,” says Brian Hurt, President of Wylatti Resource Management Inc. Wylatti is building projects on the Ten Mile River for TNC and at Dry Dock Gulch for TU with NOAA funding. “We used to have just one crew doing restoration work. This past year, at least three crews worked full time through the season.”

The success of the restoration work—and the restoration economy—owes a lot to better relationships between timber companies, landowners, restoration practitioners, and government agencies. Working together has improved the sustainability of working lands and the impact of restoration projects.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MSC 2025 Small Pelagic Yearbook calls for action on overfished, vulnerable stocks

March 13, 2025 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has published its 2025 Small Pelagics Yearbook, sharing market data, insights, and suggestions for pelagic fisheries’ stakeholders.

The yearbook included a 2024 survey conducted by MSC and Globescan that found consumers are highly concerned with the fate of the world’s oceans, with 91 percent saying that they are worried about the issue and nearly 70 percent saying they are willing to change their behaviors to protect fish and seafood in the future.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

La Niña may end soon. What that may mean for temperatures and hurricanes.

March 8, 2025 — A long-awaited La Niña finally arrived in the Pacific Ocean in January. But less than two months later, the picture is rapidly shifting.

The World Meteorological Organization announced Thursday that the ongoing La Niña event is expected to be short-lived and that there is a 60 percent chance it will fade by May.

The pattern is the foil of the better-known El Niño and is typically known for cooling a vast swath of the Pacific Ocean. But the phenomenon has done little to break the cycle of excessive global heat that dominated during 2024 and has continued into 2025 — except in the United States. And now, signs are emerging that could spell a coming end to the pattern, raising questions about what could come next — including whether yet another record-warm year for the planet could be in the cards.

Meanwhile, a new and unexpected pattern of warming oceans in the eastern Pacific, west of South America, has sent sea temperatures soaring to more than 5 degrees above average. Called a coastal El Niño, or El Niño Costero, the pattern can affect weather near and far. Coastal El Niño events in 2017 and 2023 caused flooding rains and high rates of dengue fever in Peru.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Climate change is bringing different fish to New England — but can fishermen keep up?

March 5, 2025 — Climate change is warming the oceans off the New England coast and bringing new species of fish. This could bring new opportunities for fishermen. But fishermen and regulators are falling behind.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The waters off the New England coast are warmer because of climate change. That has brought in new fish and the potential for new opportunities for fishermen. But climate change is happening so fast that fishermen and regulators are falling behind. WBUR’s Barbara Moran has more.

BARBARA MORAN, BYLINE: The fishing boat Paladin is off the coast of Nantucket. And on the deck, the flounder are flopping.

(SOUNDBITE OF FISH FLOPPING)

MORAN: Fisherman Bill Amaru casts a line off the side, reels in another one and shows it off.

BILL AMARU: Yeah, that’s a nice fish.

MORAN: Yeah. How big is that?

AMARU: I’d say, it’ll just be your borderline large, probably about two pounds.

MORAN: Amaru has worked as a commercial fisherman for more than 50 years. And this part of the Atlantic Ocean is a lot warmer than when he started out. Sometimes, even fish from the tropics show up, like tarpon or sailfish.

AMARU: Nothing is weird anymore out here. Tropical is getting to be fairly common, but I think what we’re losing is way, way in excess of what we’re gaining.

MORAN: What scientists say New England is losing are iconic species like cod and lobster. They’ve shifted north or moved to deeper parts of the ocean in search of colder water.

Read the full transcript at NPR

Endangered California Coho Salmon Experience Record-Breaking Spawning Season on Mendocino Coast

March 5, 2025 — Last winter, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon (CCC coho) returned to Mendocino Coast rivers and streams in the highest numbers since monitoring began 16 years ago. Monitoring led by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to track their population status estimated more than 15,000 adult CCC coho returned to spawn during the 2023–24 season. The Ten Mile and Noyo rivers exceeded recovery targets set by NOAA for delisting CCC coho under the Endangered Species Act, and the Big and Garcia rivers experienced record returns.

While the overall numbers remain low compared to the species’ past abundance, NOAA scientists are excited by the results.

“I remember in the 1990s monitoring streams where water temperatures were too hot for CCC coho and lacking in structure, and I thought they would never come back in my lifetime,” says NOAA San Joaquin River Branch Chief Jonathan Ambrose. “I’ve been at NOAA Fisheries for 25 years, and we’ve changed the trajectory for CCC coho salmon. A lot of people think it’s too late—it’s too hard to bring back endangered species. This is a prime example of why it’s not too late or too hard.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries