Category: Environment

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/veterans-become-budding-marine-scientists-through-washington-internship-program?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Veterans Become Budding Marine Scientists Through Internship

11/20/2019 - In the Puget Sound region of Washington, Kate Rovinski helps study Dungeness crabs at NOAA’s Mukilteo Research Station, part of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. The crabs are the target of a valuable West Coast fishery at high risk to the effects of ocean acidification. Rovinski got started in the lab through… SEE MORE

New York Scallop Season A Disaster

11/18/2019 - By Dan Nosowitz. Scallop season in the Northeast opened this past week, with fishermen in New York and New England heading out to find small, succulent bay scallops. The results of the early fishing have been what you might generously called “mixed.” In Massachusetts, fishermen off Martha’s Vineyard have seen… SEE MORE

Ocean Floor Bacteria Potentially Influencing Arctic Weather

Environment

11/18/2019 - By Maddie Stone. Scientists have identified a surprising new mechanism that could be affecting cloud formation and weather patterns in the Arctic: bacteria from the ocean floor. When tiny, plantlike ocean microbes known as phytoplankton die, their bodies sink to the bottom of the sea, becoming food for bacteria residing… SEE MORE

Oyster Farming Has Small but Positive Impact on Chesapeake Bay

11/13/2019 - By David Malmquist, VIMS. The rapid growth of oyster aquaculture in the Chesapeake Bay has raised questions about its effects on water quality, with proponents touting benefits including reduction of water-column nutrients and increased clarity, and other stakeholders pointing to drawbacks such as enrichment of sediment nutrients and altered current… SEE MORE

Arctic Blast Spreads Shivers from Maine to Deep South

11/13/2019 - By David Sharp. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An arctic blast that sent shivers across the Midwest spread across the eastern U.S. on Wednesday, with bitter weather establishing new cold-temperature records from Mississippi to Maine. Temperatures dipped to single digits early Wednesday across parts of the Northeast, and unseasonably cold weather… SEE MORE

Record Temperatures

October 2019 Coolest in Ten Years

Environment

11/6/2019 - Climate by the numbers October 2019 The average temperature for October across the contiguous U.S. was 52.3 degrees F (1.8 degrees below the 20th-century average), making it the coolest October since 2009. It ranked in the lowest third of the 125-year record. Alaska had an average October temperature that ranked… SEE MORE

Fishing Community Supports Atlantic Striped Bass Limits

11/6/2019 - New Castle, N.H.– On October 30, members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Striped Bass Management Board voted 11 – 4 for Addendum VI Option 2 to require an 18% reduction in striped bass removals by both the recreational and commercial fishing sectors from North Carolina to Maine.… SEE MORE

This Device Has Been Measuring Plankton Since the 1930s

Environment

10/30/2019 - By Cathleen O'Grady. In the winter of 2013, a mass of warm water began to spread throughout the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Blob wreaked havoc on marine life—sea lion pups starved, seabirds died, and salmon fisheries suffered. Helping to unravel this mess is the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR), an antique… SEE MORE

Plankton

Photo Courtesy of AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Mel Melcon

Understanding Wildfire Warnings, Watches and Behavior

Environment

10/30/2019 - How to Prepare for Wildfire: Take personal responsibility and prepare long before the threat of a wildland fire so your home is ready in case of a fire: Create defensible space by clearing brush away from your home. Use fire-resistant landscaping and harden your home with fire-safe construction measures. Put… SEE MORE

Judge Tosses Washington State Shellfish Permit

10/23/2019 - By Ben Fisher. This week, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik threw out a federal permit for Washington state’s shellfish industry, saying that the permit does not do enough to protect the environment. According to a Seattle Times report, the judge ruled that the federal permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers… SEE MORE