Conservation & Environment Archives - Page 4 of 443

Plankton decline poses threat to marine ecosystems

January 30, 2025 — For decades, researchers around the world have been observing negative trends in plankton population dynamics.

Jerry Leeman, executive director of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), has become a prominent voice for New England fishermen. His passion for defending a way of life comes from having lived it. He knows his fish, but lately, he has focused on an invisible but essential component of the commercial fishing industry: plankton. Like many fishermen, Leeman opposes offshore wind farms, not only because of the space they take up and the dangers they create but because they kill plankton, the foundation of the marine food chain.

“The cooling systems for these windmills pump 8.1 million gallons of seawater through every day, heating it to 86 to 90 degrees and killing 100 percent of the plankton,” says Leeman, citing projections for Ørsted’s 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project off New York. “We’re seeing a 65 percent decline in the phytoplankton population in the Gulf of Maine over the last two decades, and we’re talking about putting wind farms that kill plankton in areas where we have no baseline for primary production.”

As Leeman notes, phytoplankton is the foundation of the marine food chain. It also provides upwards of 50 percent of the earth’s oxygen. Climate change, wind farms, agricultural run-off, microplastic, and a host of other threats are affecting plankton and it’s surprising that the decline of this vital component of the earth’s ecosystems is not front-page news.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Maine official warns of large right whale presence, asks lobstermen to take precautions

January 28, 2025 — An official in the U.S. state of Maine has alerted lobstermen to take precautions to prevent entanglements with right whales after a large presence of the mammals have been seem off the state’s southern coast.

Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioners Patrick Keliher said regulators have detected as many as 90 individual whales on the western edge of Jeffreys Ledge off the southern coast of the state.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Environmentalists Denounce Proposed Geoengineering Project in Gulf of Maine

January 25, 2025 — Friends of the Earth US and the Hands Off Mother Earth (HOME) Alliance publicly oppose the proposed LOC-NESS experiment, which has re-submitted a permit request to dump sodium hydroxide into the Gulf of Maine, northeast of Cape Cod.

The project proposal was originally submitted in 2024 and is intended to test a new form of geoengineering called “ocean alkalinity enhancement” that comes with potentially catastrophic risks to the ocean environment and marine life. The project proponents delayed the project until 2025 following public backlash from environmental groups and local fishermen and lobstermen, as well as warnings from the National Marine Fisheries Service that LOC-NESS could endanger fish populations in the area.

Read the full article at Friends of the Earth

Guiding the shift to low-carbon fishing

January 23, 2025 — Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry unveiled a groundbreaking set of publications under the banner of A Transition to a Low Carbon Fishing Fleet.

Led by members of the fishing industry itself, the research showcases the value of community-centered approaches to solving the climate crisis and makes the case that those most affected by climate impacts should have authorship of the solutions that define the energy transition.

Built on two years of research and engagement with fishermen across Alaska, the West Coast, and New England, the publications outline ambitious yet practical strategies and policies for positioning the fishing fleet to thrive in a low-carbon future. Vital to coastal economies and sustainable food systems, wild seafood harvest already has one of the lowest carbon footprints among protein sources and plays an essential role in national food security. But maritime clean energy solutions lag behind the innovation taking place on land, making it unclear what the future holds for this hard-to-decarbonize sector.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea is America’s 18th national marine sanctuary

January 21, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated the marine portions of Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a 582,570 square-mile area in the Pacific Ocean, as America’s 18th national marine sanctuary.

Biden-Harris Administration, NOAA designate 18th national marine sanctuary

January 17, 2025 — NOAA is designating the marine portions of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a 582,570 square-mile area in the Pacific Ocean, as America’s 18th national marine sanctuary. Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary will be the largest sanctuary in the National Marine Sanctuary System, and is one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.

Located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary will provide additional ways to manage and protect the area’s nationally significant biological, cultural and historical resources.

Sanctuary designation will not change the area’s status as a marine national monument. The sanctuary designation advances President Biden’s ocean conservation legacy and his America the Beautiful initiative, which supports locally-led, collaborative conservation efforts across the country.

“National marine sanctuary designation will bring a stronger framework for marine conservation and protection to the waters of Papahānaumokuākea,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “The Sanctuary will also facilitate scientific research, resource monitoring and coordinated efforts to ensure the long-term health of this natural, cultural and historically significant area.”

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will co-manage the sanctuary with the State of Hawaiʻi and in partnership with NOAA Fisheries, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, consistent with the existing management of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA dumps controversial boat speed limit at heart of debate over protecting right whales

January 17, 2025 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has withdrawn its proposal to expand boat speed limits to protect North Atlantic right whales after more than two years of debate and over 90,000 public comments.

The decision brought some relief to boat builders and fishermen who saw it as the biggest maritime regulation ever proposed on the recreational boating industry.

“It would have made it tough very tough on us. We fish wrecks 60 to 70 miles offshore in the winter and you can’t get anywhere going 10 knots,” said Howard Bogan Jr. owner of the Jamaica party fishing boat at Bogan’s Basin in Brielle.

Bogan and his family, which has been running party boats out of Brielle since 1931, opposed the speed restrictions, which compounded with tightening fisheries regulations would have made it even harder for their business to provide food, entertainment and enjoyment to thousands who visit the Jersey Shore each year.

Read the full article at Asbury Park Press

Saving eelgrass, the most important plant you’ve likely never heard of

January 16, 2025 — Matthew Long peers over the side of the research boat Calanus, into the dark water of Hadley Harbor, about 2 miles from Woods Hole.

There’s a meadow down there, according to Long, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Acres of a willowy green plant called eelgrass.

Eelgrass is the dominant species of seagrass in New England, but it’s little-known and largely unsung. And no wonder — it’s impossible to see from shore and barely visible from the boat.

But Long assures me it’s there. As his colleagues put on scuba gear to collect samples, he ticks off the reasons why healthy eelgrass meadows are critical for the New England coast.

Read the full article at wbur

Over 75 right whales – 20% of endangered population – spotted off Maine coast

January 16, 2025 — Dozens of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales were spotted in the Gulf of Maine this week, researchers from the New England Aquarium said Thursday.

An aerial survey team from the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life spotted the whales on Jan. 12 and 13, counting more than 75 unique individuals. Only around 370 right whales remain in existence, meaning the sightings account for around 20% of the population. The whales were gathered and feeding near the western edge of Jeffreys Ledge, where they’ve been seen in the past.

Many of the whales are known to researchers, including Millipede,” an adult female who had a calf in 2021, and “Loki,” an adult of unknown sex who has been seen just six times in 20 years and only in New England waters, and “Nimbus”, a 16-year-old male who was entangled in fishing rope in 2023.

Read the full article at NBC Boston

More Than $1 Million Recommended for Ruth D. Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grants Projects

January 16, 2025 — To restore resilient coral ecosystems, NOAA has recommended more than $1 million in funding for three new projects and one ongoing, multi-year project. These efforts are supported under the Ruth D. Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grants. The funding will support projects that enhance coral resilience and improve the long-term success and efficiency of shallow-water coral reef restoration in the face of climate change, including continued heat stress.

Globally, coral reefs are rapidly declining in health. We have learned much about how to scale up coral restoration efforts in the past several years. We must continue to develop innovative interventions to restore resilient, genetically diverse, and reproductively viable coral populations at a larger scale.

Read the full article at NOAA