Ocean Zone News Blog

By Paul Rogers and Julia Scott
Mercurynews.com

Bay Area News Group

Posted: 08/04/2009 06:31:47 PM PDT
Updated: 08/05/2009 04:15:13 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge
(Click to enlarge)«1»Three years after they banned or strictly limited fishing in 18 percent of California’s ocean waters from Santa Barbara to Half Moon Bay, state regulators are poised to extend similar restrictions today all the way to Mendocino, cementing California’s place as the national leader using marine reserves to restore fish and wildlife.

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Greenhouse Gas Legislation: Subtitle J – Miscellaneous

Summary of section
Directs the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, the Secretary of the Interior, and
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, in consultation with the Council
on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and, as
appropriate, coastal States, regional organizations
of coastal States, and relevant nongovernmental
organizations, to jointly conduct a study of the
potential for marine spatial planning to facilitate
the development of offshore renewable energy
facilities in a manner that protects and maintains
coastal and marine ecosystem health. A report is
required within six months. CEQ is then required
to implement the recommendations of the report
within four months or propose an alternate
implementation.

BLOG for the Surfrider Foundation Friday, July 31, 2009

On June 12, 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum to executive departments and agencies to establish the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. The Task Force is charged with developing recommendations for a National Ocean Policy, as well as a framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning.

Surfrider Foundation strongly supports this movement by the Obama administration. “Our coastlines are increasingly challenged by a growing number of human use”, says Jim Moriarty, Surfrider Foundation’s CEO. “A National Ocean Policy will help promote smarter management decisions, and ensure that we prioritize the health of our ocean ecosystems and coastal communities.”

By Amy Minsky, Canwest News ServiceJuly 30, 2009
Ottawa Citizen

Atlantic cod for sale. An assessment report, conducted by an international team of fishery scientists, suggests that five of the 10 large marine ecosystems examined are showing improvement. None is in Canada. Recovery rates in Eastern Canada are slow or non-existent, said Boris Worm of Halifax’s Dalhousie University, a co-author of the report.Photograph by: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images, Canwest News ServiceSteps taken to curb overfishing are finally showing signs of success in many of the world’s fisheries, according to a report released Thursday, but the news isn’t so good in Eastern Canada, where there have been “dramatic stock collapses.”

World Changing
Joe Romm, 31 Jul 09

“If the slimehead were still a slimehead, it wouldn’t be in this kind of trouble,” begins a good WashPost story today on overfishing of the Orange roughy and other fish with popular nom de plumes.

As lakes and oceans have been depleted by heavy fishing, the seafood industry tried to dress up what was left — former ‘trash’ species, and unfamiliar fish from the deep ocean — with new names to improve their popularity.