Author: US Harbors

Image Courtesy of Capt. Shawn Brule of TowBoatUS, Cape Cod and Plymouth.

News from Our Coasts: May 2021

5/18/2021 - NEWS & UPDATES FOR MAY Updates from US Harbors News & Virtual Events from Our Partners Updates from Our Coastal Business Community Photos of the Month Updates from US Harbors Don't forget to cast your vote for the Best Harbor in the US. The winning harbors will be announced on… SEE MORE

Monthly News Summary

Baby Seals Popping Up Around PNW Coast – Caution Advised

5/17/2021 - By Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Little baby harbor seals are showing up all over the Oregon coast and it’s time again for Oregon officials to issue the warning: stay away from baby seals. Seaside Aquarium’s Tiffany Boothe said they are currently monitoring three different pups in their area, which includes… SEE MORE

The Hopewell Dam, located just off Hopewell Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, once powered turbines for a manufacturing plant.

Water Crisis ‘Couldn’t be Worse’ on Oregon-California Border

5/17/2021 - PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The water crisis along the California-Oregon border went from dire to catastrophic this week as federal regulators shut off irrigation water to farmers from a critical reservoir and said they would not send extra water to dying salmon downstream or to a half-dozen wildlife refuges that… SEE MORE

Maine’s COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive Program

5/16/2021 - The State of Maine has launched an outdoor-centered incentive program aimed at encouraging Maine people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before the summer season begins. The public-private initiative, called “Your Shot to Get Outdoors,” is led by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and brings together the Maine… SEE MORE

Free Offices with a View: 4 Lighthouses, Courtesy of Feds

Coastal News

5/16/2021 - PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Dreading your eventual return to the office? The federal government is making available — for free — some waterfront workspaces with killer views that are sure to entice. But there’s a catch. The General Services Administration says the U.S. Coast Guard has decided it no longer… SEE MORE

Pandemic-hit Oyster Farmers Turn to Conservation to Survive

5/15/2021 - By Michael Casey. DURHAM, N.H. (AP) — When the pandemic struck last year, oyster farmer Chris Burtis soon realized the restaurants that bought his oysters had mostly closed. Without a new market, his Ferda Farms faced potential economic ruin. Then, Burtis heard The Nature Conservancy in partnership with The Pew… SEE MORE

Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Invasive Fish from Conowingo Dam Donated to Food Banks

5/14/2021 - The Conowingo Dam employs fish lifts to help migrating fish species navigate the Susquehanna River to their spawning grounds, but the lifts also catch unwelcomed fish – invasive catfish and snakehead. Through a public-private partnership between the Maryland Department of Resources (DNR), dam owner Exelon Corp., the Maryland Department of… SEE MORE

Conowingo Dam

Quiet scenes like this one await on the Schoodic peninsula, part of Acadia National Park. Photo by Alex Plummer/USHarbors.com.

What Biden’s New Initiative Means for the Parks

5/14/2021 - By Emily Pennington. On May 6, the Biden administration unveiled a new, ten-year plan for how it intends to make good on Executive Order 14008, which called for the conservation of 30 percent of our nation’s land and water by 2030. This number, which has been backed by scientists, is considered the… SEE MORE

Severe Weather Preparedness: The Human Element is Key

5/13/2021 - By David Cannon, Director of Yacht Operations/Meteorologist WRIWX.com. The science of Meteorology and more particularly weather forecasting is an ever-evolving field. Let’s take for example its “infancy” … tracking changes and trends in weather through the use of weather instruments to collect data gave way to the use of radar… SEE MORE

Florida Red Tide Mid-Week Update for May 12, 2021

5/12/2021 - Current Conditions The red tide organism, Karenia brevis, persists in Southwest Florida, where it was detected in 56 samples over the past week. Bloom concentrations (>100,000 cells/liter) were observed in two samples from Charlotte County, three samples from Lee County, and one sample from Collier County. K. brevis was also observed at background concentrations in one… SEE MORE