Ocean Zone News Blog

Coastal Zone Management
August 12, 2009 in NOAA, WHOI, environmental management, oceans, policy, public, research

I know it’s not Monday but I just got super excited about an article I found online. It’s my entire summer of research at WHOI in a nutshell!

The new director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Jane Lubchenco, praised Massachusetts for implementing an ocean zoning plan (what I want to do with the rest of my life). Last year’s Oceans Act is “legislation that will require Massachusetts to develop a first-in-the-nation comprehensive plan to manage development in its state waters, balancing natural resource preservation with traditional and new uses, including renewable energy.”

Published on 13 August 2009 (18 reads)

NOAA ships and scientists have returned to Alaska’s Kachemak Bay to kick off year two of Hydropalooza – a NOAA-led project to develop the most detailed seafloor and coastline maps ever generated of the area.

Kachemak Bay, one of south central Alaska’s most productive and ecologically diverse estuaries, supports maritime commerce, ferry transportation, fishing, and recreational boating from the nearby harbors of Homer and Seldovia. Up-to-date NOAA nautical charts, as well as sea bottom, water level, and shoreline information, are needed to ensure safe navigation, manage coastal resources, and support local planning.
“The mapping data that NOAA collects will be used by state and local officials to make better informed decisions related to the coast, its habitats and its people,” said James Hornaday, mayor of Homer. “I welcome our NOAA friends back to Kachemak Bay.”

University World News
09 August 2009
Issue: 0088

An international assessment of fish stocks around the world shows some attempts to reduce over-fishing are starting to work. A two-year study by scientists examined trends in fish abundance, the proportion of fish taken out of the sea, and the ways that managers used to limit fishing and rebuild depleted fish stocks.

They found the steps taken to curb over-fishing were beginning to succeed in five of the 10 large marine ecosystems they examined. The rate of fishing had been reduced in several regions around the world, resulting in some stock recovery and bolstering the case that sound management can contribute to the rebuilding of fisheries.

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 2, 2009 at 7:48 am
From Dan Bacher, this commentary:

“A new groundbreaking study published in the July 31 issue of Science magazine reveals that the California Current ecosystem has the lowest fishery exploitation rate of any place in the world examined by co-authors Ray Hilborn and Boris Worm and 19 other scientists.

“The drastic reductions in harvest in California have been designed to rebuild the overexploited rockfish stocks,” said Hilborn. “At present the community of groundfish is now at about 60% of its unfished biomass, far above the 30-40% level target for maximum sustained yield.”

North Coast
by Dan Bacher
Monday Aug 3rd, 2009 6:14 PM

In yet another example of the Schwarzenegger administration’s top-down approach to controlling California’s coastal waters, an email soliciting nominations for the North Coast Science Advisory Team (SAT) gives locals barely two weeks to try to impact composition of the powerful body charged with providing scientific information on the proposed North Coast Marine Protected Area (MPA). North Coast ocean activists are protesting the August 14 deadline in a widely-criticized Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process that is rife with conflicts of interests, mission creep and the corruption of the democratic process
Ocean Activists Protest MLPA Science Team August 14 Deadline