Category: Coastal News

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

Artificial Intelligence Could Soon Turn Anyone into an Expert Tracker

8/18/2024 - By Ryan Truscott. Scientists are working on a machine learning tool that could, one day, identify individual animals from photographs of their footprints. Some wild animals are relatively easy to study. Certain penguin populations, for instance, are so unaccustomed to large predators that they barely fear humans and will often wander right… SEE MORE

California sea lion stricken by the neurotoxin domoic acid from a harmful algal bloom in Santa Barbara County, California. Photo: Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute

Toxic Algal Bloom Affecting California Sea Lions and Dolphins

8/17/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. Upwelling of nutrient-laden ocean water is fueling the algal bloom which produces domoic acid, which can poison marine mammals. Strong upwelling of nutrient-laden water from the deep ocean is driving a bloom of harmful algae along the Southern California coast. It produces a toxin that can poison sea… SEE MORE

Lobster gauge increase delayed a second time

8/15/2024 - By Carli Stewart. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) just voted to delay the planned gauge change to increase the minimum allowable catch size in Lobster Management Area 1 until July 1, 2025. The Commission also approved Addendum 30, which clarifies that lobsters imported from Canada under the U.S.… SEE MORE

Black abalone are an endangered marine snail that face climate change threats such as increased water temperatures, sedimentation, and ocean acidification. Credit: NOAA Fisheries.

Climate Change Threatens the Survival and Recovery of Black Abalone

8/14/2024 - By fisheries.noaa.gov. Black abalone are sensitive to climate change impacts, such as increasing water temperatures and increasing sedimentation events from intense fire and storm activity. These challenges make them more vulnerable to lethal disease and burial. Black abalone, which are plant-eating marine snails, once thrived along the California and Baja… SEE MORE

Birthing the Blob

8/13/2024 - By Michael Allen. With ecosystems increasingly squeezed by anthropogenic warming, even cleaning up pollution can cause problems. In 2013, a huge marine heatwave known as the Blob hit the northeast Pacific Ocean. Temperatures soared to dangerous new highs, killing millions of marine animals and disrupting the broader ocean ecosystem in… SEE MORE

Rare sea creature washes ashore in Southern California

8/12/2024 - By apnews.com. A 7-foot (215-centimeter) sea creature that washed ashore in Southern California has been identified as a hoodwinker sunfish, a recently identified rare species thought to live in the Southern Hemisphere. The University of California, Santa Barbara, said an intern spotted the stranded fish last week at Sands Beach… SEE MORE