Category: Coastal News

Seagrass and Plastic Are Not Friends

8/28/2024 - By Sean Mowbray. The year 2021’s hopeful optimism is 2024’s unfortunate reality. In 2021, what sounded like a good news story hit the media: in the Mediterranean, seagrasses were trapping plastic waste, capturing fragments in their leaves and locking microplastics in seafloor sediments. The news cycle was spurred by a study… SEE MORE

Dead zone measures as big as Yellowstone

8/27/2024 - By nationalfisherman.com. NOAA-supported scientists announced that this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”— an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is approximately 3,058 square miles. That’s almost two million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species — nearly as… SEE MORE

Image Credits: World History Encyclopedia.

Scandinavia’s Missing Bronze-Age Boatyards

8/26/2024 - By Richard Kemeny. Archaeologists argue that ancient Scandinavian boat-building infrastructure has been hiding in plain sight. Long before their Viking successors wielded naval prowess to conquer distant lands, boats were at the heart of life in Scandinavia. Tens of thousands of depictions of prehistoric ships have been discovered adorning rocks… SEE MORE

2023 Oregon Fishing: Record Crab Harvest Among Other Results

8/25/2024 - By Carli Stewart. Oregon’s fishing scene in 2023 was a bit of a mixed bag. While the state’s commercial fishing industry landed 301 million pounds of seafood, up from the previous year, the total revenue didn't quite hit the high notes of the past few years. The amount of crab… SEE MORE

North Atlantic right whale feeding. (Image credit: Christin Khan/NOAA Fisheries)

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Over $9 Million for Partnerships to Recover North Atlantic Right Whales

8/24/2024 - By noaa.gov. Inflation Reduction Act enables new grants to conserve and recover endangered whales. Today, NOAA Fisheries announced over $9 million from Inflation Reduction Act funds to support strategic partnerships aimed at improving fishing gear and population monitoring that will help the recovery of North Atlantic right whales. These partnerships include collaborations… SEE MORE

American Seafoods Relaunches $150K Grant Program for Western Alaska

8/23/2024 - By Carli Stewart. American Seafoods Group relaunched its grant program last week, now known as the American Seafoods Community Partnership Program. American Seafoods is the largest at-sea processor of wild Alaska pollock and hake in the U.S. and is based in Seattle, Washington. The program provides donations to organizations and… SEE MORE

Flounder Fishery Dispute Grows as August Meeting Approaches

8/22/2024 - By Carli Stewart. The flounder conflict continues into next week’s North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) meeting, which will be held in Raleigh from Aug. 21-23. The bone of contention is between the MFC and the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (WRC) about this year's recreational flounder season. The only… SEE MORE

Tracking the Effects of an Eelgrass Epidemic

8/21/2024 - By Grace Hunter. Even when it’s less than lethal, seagrass wasting disease leaves eelgrass reeling. In shallow intertidal waters of the northeast Pacific, eelgrass meadows grow across the ocean floor like submerged lawns. These meadows are the foundation for underwater neighborhoods that shelter and feed animals such as crabs, salmon,… SEE MORE

MELENCI, SERBIA - JULY 25, 2024: A worker from a spa collects mud at Lake Rusanda, which dried up for the first time in recorded history during a prolonged heatwave. Europe had its warmest July, and warmest year-to-date, on record. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Earth just had its warmest July on record

8/20/2024 - By noaa.gov. July was the globe’s 14th month in a row of record warmth. Last month was Earth’s warmest July on record, extending the streak of record-high monthly global temperatures to 14 successive months. The world’s sea-surface temperatures in July were the second-warmest on record, ending a run of 15… SEE MORE

A satellite image of Beryl approaching land on the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico taken by NOAA's GOES-16 (GOES East) satellite at 11:56 PM (EDT) on July 7, 2024. (Image credit: Beryl approaches Texas coast.)

Highly active hurricane season likely to continue in the Atlantic

8/19/2024 - By noaa.gov. Near-record sea surface temperatures and the possibility of La Nina are key factors. Atmospheric and oceanic conditions have set the stage for an extremely active hurricane season that could rank among the busiest on record. With the peak of hurricane season quickly approaching, NOAA’s National Weather Service urges… SEE MORE