Conservation & Environment

May 21, 2014 — Bureo skateboards look like fish because they are made from old fishing nets.

They started out as garbage — fishing nets discarded in the waters off Chile. About 640,000 tons of these nets clog the world's oceans, and that's only a tenth of the world's debris.

According to a report from the Coastal Conservancy, in just one day, worldwide volunteers picked up more than 12 million pounds of rubbish from beaches and waterways. The top three culprits were cigarette butts, food wrappers and plastic bottles.

"And we were just struck with this issue of plastic in the ocean, and we just kind of made a mission to do something about it," says Bureo co-founder David Stover.

Stover, along with co-founder Ben Kneppers, started in Chile, where fishing is a major industry. They figured out how to convert the fish nets into plastic pellets, which could be used in a mold. And Bureo Skateboards was born.

"Every day has been a battle, to be perfectly honest," Kneppers says. "I mean, we've had to create an entirely new supply chain from scratch."

Read the full story at watch the video at CBS News

May 20, 2014 — Off the coast of Papua New Guinea, there's a carbon dioxide seep that's giving marine biologists a view into the future. The water around the seep, while abundant with life, is highly acidic, with CO2 levels much like those predicted for surface ocean water 100 years from now.

View the video at the Boston Globe

May 20, 2014 — The Obama administration issued a scaled-back regulation meant to keep fish from being sucked into the water intakes of factories and power plants, winning support from industry while drawing fire from environmentalists.

The regulation issued yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency specified a range of options that facility operators can use to reduce the 2 billion fish, crab or shrimp that die each year in water intakes. Environmental advocates said that the agency had punted by leaving decisions with state regulators, and they threatened to sue to force tougher action.

“EPA has promulgated a largely worthless rule,” Steve Fleischli, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s water program, said today.

The EPA rule is one of a series of measures from the administration of President Barack Obama that will add costs to run power plants, especially those using coal. That combination of rules, critics say, could drive up electricity costs and force older plants out of business. Many are closing, with 14 gigawatts of coal-fired generation shuttering in 2011 and 2012, and 63 gigawatts set to disappear by 2017 because of regulations and cheap gas, according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Read the full story at Bloomberg Businessweek

 

 

May 17, 2014 — Calling the establishment of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary one of the greatest highlights in his long career as a lawmaker, Leon Panetta said he was pleased to spend his Saturday at a sanctuary celebration on the century-old Santa Cruz Wharf.

"It's always a thrill to be able to come to Santa Cruz, particularly on this day to honor the 100-year history of this wharf," said Panetta, whose lengthy public service career includes serving as the Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, and as Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. "Today we're celebrating our history, the people who worked hard, the beauty of the ocean, and particularly the sanctuary we created out here."

The free event featured live music, educational activities, EcoTours, arts and crafts, and exhibits from a host of environmental and aquatic organizations.

It was kicked off with welcoming remarks from Panetta, Rep. Sam Farr, Assemblyman Mark Stone, master of ceremonies Geoffrey Dunn, Santa Cruz Mayor Lynn Robinson and Dan Haifley, who was the executive director of Save Our Shores when the nonprofit advocated for approval of the largest boundary for the proposed sanctuary, extending from off Marin County south to northern San Luis Obispo County.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was established in 1992 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the 11th of 14 marine areas designated for resource protection, research, education and public use. The latter includes commercial fishing and recreational activities such as diving, boating, kayaking and surfing. The boundary of the federally protected Monterey Bay sanctuary stretches along 276 miles of coastline from Marin County to Cambria and extends about 30 miles offshore.

Read the full story at the Contra Costa Times

May 15, 2014 — Mark D. Bertness, an ecologist at Brown University, began studying the salt marshes of New England in 1981. Twenty-six years later, in 2007, he started to watch them die. In one marsh after another, lush stretches of cordgrass disappeared, replaced by bare ground. The die-offs were wiping out salt marshes in just a few years.

“It’s unbelievable how quickly it’s moved in,” Dr. Bertness said.

Scientists have been witnessing a similar transformation in a number of plant species along coastlines in the United States and in other countries. And in many cases, it’s been hard to pinpoint the cause of the die-off, with fungal outbreaks, pollution, choking sediments stirred up by boats, and rising sea levels proposed as killers.

There is much at stake in the hunt for the culprit, because salt marshes are hugely important. They shield coasts from flooding, pull pollutants from water and are nurseries for many fish species.

“Acre for acre, they’re among the most valuable ecosystems on the planet,” Dr. Bertness said.

Read the full story at the New York Times

May 15, 2014 — Rescuers have freed a humpback whale that had been entangled in a crab pot line for more than two weeks.

Crews on Wednesday caught up with the whale off the coast of Santa Barbara, where it was twisted in the remnants of the line. It was first spotted in the Monterey Bay on April 27.

Soon after whale was reported, rescuers with the Whale Entanglement Team, a trained volunteer squad affiliated with the National Marine Fisheries Service, responded and attached a telemetry device to the lines so they could track the whale, said Peggy Stap, director of Marine Life Studies, a nonprofit whale advocacy and research organization based in Monterey.

The team was able to return the next day and remove the pot and 300 yards of line. But as swells climbed to eight to 10 feet, crews were forced to abandon efforts, she said.

Team members continued watching the whale and took advantage of relatively calm seas Wednesday, Stap said. The early morning operation took about an hour and a half. The whale was wounded but is expected to survive, Stap said.

It was the second recently entangled whale. The other, also a humpback, was spotted May 1. But rescuers were unable to find it, and it is believed to have drowned.

Read the full story at the Contra Costa Times

MONTPELIER, Vt. — May 15, 2014 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with a town in Quebec to prevent sea lamprey from traveling up a tributary of Lake Champlain just north of the Vermont border.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says the barrier is on the Moprion Cree, a tributary of the Pike River in Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, which flows into Lake Champlain's Missisquoi Bay.

Read the full story from the Daily Journal

May 13, 2014 — The oldest known orca whale in the world was spotted leading her pod foraging in Gulf Island waters on the Mother's Day weekend.

The matriarch of southern resident killer whale J-Pod is known as Granny, or J2, and is estimated to be up to 103 years old.

"It's great news she's back, another year older, and thriving," said Michael Harris, executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association. There are roughly 80 southern residents and they are listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S.

Granny and the 25 members of J-Pod were spotted around 2 p.m. May 9 in the southern Strait of Georgia by Simon Pidcock of Ocean EcoVentures out of Cowichan Bay.

"She was in the lead with Onyx [a male orphan]," said Pidcock, who had 12 passengers from around the world in his 33-foot boat. They spotted the pod midway between Point Roberts and Saturna Island after a tip from a friend on a ferry.

"I've seen Granny in these parts about 1,000 times over 13 years," said Pidcock. "She looked really healthy and playful. It was good to see them foraging, finding fish here."

Read the full story from The Vancouver Sun

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — May 13, 2014 — As part of this year’s annual Cooking for Solutions event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Bristol Bay Sockeye will be among the line-up of  sustainable seafood featured.

A three-day long event, Cooking for Solutions brings together hundreds of chefs, food producers, media, and other food leaders from around the country to discuss and celebrate the latest challenges and successes in the sustainable seafood movement.

On Thursday May 15th, Chef Jeff Rogers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s culinary team will prepare Bristol Bay salmon appetizers for over 400 guests at the Meet the Chefs Reception. On Friday May 16th, the San Francisco-based sustainable sushi restaurant, Tataki, will delight over 2,800 guests at the Cooking for Solutions Gala with a special “Canape for Bristol Bay.”

“The fishermen we represent are truly honored to be featured at this year’s celebration of sustainable seafood. We take great pride in our  sockeye salmon and look forward to sharing both our product and our story at this year’s event,” said Sue Aspelund, Executive Director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association.

Bristol Bay, Alaska is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, supplying nearly half of the world’s sockeye salmon supply. Every summer, tens of millions of wild salmon return to Bristol Bay. This summer, fishery managers predict a return of over 26 million sockeye.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

May 13, 2014 — Years from now, when scientists look for a precise moment when the Earth’s climate began to inexorably change, they may mark this week.

Two separate studies Monday appeared to confirm a fear scientists have harbored for decades: major glaciers in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are irrevocably destabilized, and their slide into the ocean will swell the world’s oceans by four feet.

Glaciers in West Antarctica “have passed the point of no return,” said Eric Rignot, the author of a study from the University of California at Irvine and NASA published in Geophysical Research Letters. It “will be a major contributor to sea level rise in the decades and centuries to come.”

Thomas P. Wagner, another NASA researcher who studies polar ice, was equally grave in an interview with the New York Times. “This is really happening,” he said. “There’s nothing to stop it now. But you are still limited by the physics of how fast the ice can flow."

Read the full story from The Washington Post