Noa Randall, ORI Spring Intern, attended the Stakeholder’s meeting of the NE Regional Ocean Planning Body (RPB) in Salem, Massachusetts on May 12th. Here is Noa’s report: About seventy people participated in the planning meeting. The goal of the daylong meeting was to review progress and take comments on data being gathered that maps out…
In February, 40 to 50 lemon sharks were observed aggregating off the shores of Jupiter Florida. (Image above is a lemon shark education card by the Jupiter Dive Center.) Over the next week all those sharks were caught by longliners. This “incidental take” happened when longliners were fishing something else. Shark fishery regulations that may…
UPDATE: The preferred alternative Option B will establish Stellwagen Designated Research Area (DHRA) entirely within the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area. 55 sq. mi. about a fifth of the DHRA to become the Northern Reference Area (no-take). 0% private recreational fishermen reported in 2010 & 2012 fishing in the Northern Reference Area 29 is…
Good News: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) has created a strong and balanced Final Rule that will reduce the waste of bluefin tuna and support the long-term sustainability of the U.S. Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery. The Final Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan was…
Yale E360 recently published an excellent article by Rebecca Kessler on how fish and other marine animals are responding to changing conditions in the Gulf of Maine. Particularly good news are reports of black sea bass moving into waters north of Cape Cod. Marissa McMahan, a doctoral student at Northeastern University in Boston. . .…
Something is rotten with H.R. 4742, the bill drafted by Representative Hastings, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This legislation, as currently drafted, would roll back key conservation provisions that made American fisheries management an unsurpassed science-based model for the world. The Hastings bill would…
Late Tuesday evening (6/17/14), the U.S. Congress passed the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control bill! The bill has gone to President Obama to be signed into final law – the first free-standing oceans bill to be passed by this Congress. This legislation is a significant step forward in recognizing and addressing the…
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) have reintroduced a wide-ranging energy bill with ten amendments, all with the aim of boosting energy efficiency in schools, commercial and residential properties, and federally-owned buildings. “This bill has garnered such widespread support because of a simple fact — it is good for the economy…
