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NOAA has released final revised management plans, regulations and a joint final environmental impact statement for Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries. The plans include the expansion of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary by 775 square miles to include the Davidson Seamount, one of the largest known underwater mountains in U.S. coastal waters and home to a wide variety of marine species.
The NOAA research ship Albatross IV was decommissioned today, ending its distinguished 45-year career in service to the nation. The vessel sailed over 655,000 miles on 453 research cruises, primarily fisheries surveys off the northeastern coast of the United States. These surveys created the world?s longest continuous study of fish population data.
NOAA has released new scientific information showing a decline in the walleye pollock biomass that has the agency recommending a cut to the pollock catch for 2009 in the eastern Bering Sea.
NOAA will conduct five public meetings in December to gather comments from individuals, organizations and government agencies on key issues relating to the management of Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.
The U.S. departments of Interior and Commerce today jointly announced the availability of the final Framework for the National System of Marine Protected Areas of the United States, completing a cooperative, multi-year effort to provide a comprehensive approach to the protection of the nation?s natural and cultural marine treasures.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today announced that several Northwest Indian tribes and the state of Washington will be eligible for up to a total of $2 million to assist tribal and non-tribal communities affected by the commercial fishery failure in Fraser River sockeye salmon.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today announced the states of Massachusetts and Maine will each be eligible for up to $2 million and New Hampshire will be eligible for up to $1 million in disaster aid to assist the shellfishing industries affected by this year?s closures due to the harmful algal bloom, commonly known as a red tide.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today announced that the states of Maryland and Virginia will each be eligible for up to $10 million to assist watermen who have been economically hurt by the commercial fishery failure in the soft shell and peeler blue crab fishery in Chesapeake Bay.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today announced the state of Louisiana will be eligible for up to $40 million and Texas will be eligible for up to $7 million in disaster aid to restore and rebuild the states? fish habitats and fishing industries devastated by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
NOAA today issued a biological opinion to the Environmental Protection Agency that found three chemicals used in pesticides ? diazonin, malathion, and chlorpyrifos - are likely to jeopardize 27 populations of salmon on the West Coast that are listed as either endangered or threatened. The opinion calls for buffer zones next to salmon streams where the chemicals are used.
Expanding the use of seasonal to interannual climate forecasts, especially in drought-prone and semi-arid parts of the United States, can assist decision makers in the management of water resources, according to a new NOAA-led scientific assessment. The assessment is one in a series of synthesis and assessment reports coordinated by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
A joint undercover operation by NOAA's Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement and New York and New Jersey enforcement agents has uncovered evidence of alleged illegal fishing by two charter operators. The operators, Steven N. Forsberg and Viking Starship Inc. of Montauk, N.Y., and Jerome E. Hurd of Avalon, N.J., have been charged by NOAA with taking their patrons to catch striped bass in federal waters, where capture of the prized sport fish is prohibited.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today determined that the economic effects of closing some shellfish fisheries due to a harmful algal bloom, commonly referred to as a red tide, in ocean waters off Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine has caused a commercial fishery failure.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today determined that there has been a commercial fishery failure due to a continued fisheries resource disaster in the sockeye salmon fisheries in Puget Sound and the northern Pacific coast of Washington.
Officials from NOAA and Environment Canada announce a partnership to share weather and climate data, using high-tech monitoring stations located in their respective countries. The effort will improve the accuracy of each country?s data and give scientists a clearer, more accurate picture about climate change in North America.
A new NOAA-led assessment of the global ozone layer says the U.S. has reduced by 97-98 percent the production of ozone damaging substances since the late 1980s. The assessment is one in a series of synthesis and assessment reports coordinated by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
A new NOAA report on the health of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary indicates that the sanctuary?s marine life and habitats are in good overall condition but face emerging threats from potential oil spills, invasive species, commercial development, climate change and underwater noise pollution.
NOAA's Fisheries Service advises all mariners and fishermen to keep a sharp look out for North Atlantic right whales in southeast U.S. waters from Nov. 15 through April 15. Each year, pregnant female North Atlantic right whales migrate southward more than 1,000 miles from their feeding area off Canada and New England to the warm, calm coastal waters off South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida to give birth and nurse their young. These waters are the only known calving area for the species.
Venkatachalam Ramaswamy of Lawrenceville, N.J., has been named director of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. GFDL develops prediction models, as well as conducts climate research. Ramaswamy is a NOAA scientist whose work has focused on natural and human influences on climate.
October 2008 temperature and precipitation were near the long-term average for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., based on records dating back to 1895.
The ozone hole over Antarctica, which fluctuates in response to temperature and sunlight, grew to the size of North America in a one-day maximum in September that was the fifth largest on record, since NOAA satellite records began in 1979.
NOAA is accepting applications for a scholarship program in honor of retired South Carolina Sen. Ernest F. Hollings who promoted oceanic and atmospheric research throughout his career. This is the fifth year this scholarship is being made available to students interested in pursuing degrees in ocean and atmospheric sciences and education.
Recognizing more than 37 years of dedication, NOAA's National Weather Service has named Pocatello, Idaho, resident Dick Clothier as a 2008 recipient of the agency?s Thomas Jefferson Award for outstanding service in the Cooperative Observer Program. The award is the agency?s most prestigious, and only six are presented this year to deserving cooperative weather observers from around the country.
NOAA's Fisheries Service will increase its protection of threatened elkhorn and staghorn corals in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands through a new rule to prohibit activities that result in death or harm to either species. The new regulations take effect on Nov. 21.
Check with NOAA's National Hurricane Center for the latest forecast for Paloma in the Caribbean.
NOAA's Fisheries Service today announced a monitoring plan for 12 bottlenose dolphins in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. The agency also announced that there will be no effort to force the dolphins out of the area at this time.
NOAA has completed a detailed plan to modernize its marine operations by replacing nine research ships and refurbishing a 10th in the next 15 years.
Stephen Brueske, a meteorologist with 24 years of forecasting experience, begins his duties today as meteorologist in charge at NOAA's Milwaukee National Weather Service forecast office.
NOAA's Fisheries Service has made available the final recovery plan for white abalone, a marine mollusk listed in 2001 as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This recovery plan outlines reasonable actions which are believed to be required to recover and/or protect white abalone, and is required by the ESA as a guideline for the conservation and survival of ESA listed species. The primary goal of this recovery plan is to establish self-sustaining populations of white abalone in a number of locations throughout its historic range.
The first comprehensive national study of how carbon dioxide emissions absorbed into the oceans may be altering fisheries, marine mammals, coral reefs, and other natural resources has been commissioned by NOAA and the National Science Foundation.
NOAA today announced that the Cook Inlet beluga whale population near Anchorage is in danger of extinction, and has been listed as an endangered species.
Temperature increases, a near-record loss of summer sea ice, and a melting of surface ice in Greenland are among some of the evidence of continued warming in the Arctic, according to an annual review of conditions in the Arctic issued today by NOAA and its university, agency, and international partners.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service is seeking comments through Nov. 13 on its proposed authorization for Navy training exercises off the coast of Southern California. The NOAA proposal includes protective measures designed to minimize effects on marine mammals.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service is seeking comments through Nov. 13 on its proposed authorization for the Navy?s Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training (AFAST) to take place along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The NOAA proposal includes protective measures designed to minimize the effects of the training on marine mammals.
NOAA and the Student Conservation Association have signed an agreement that will pave the way for conservation interns to protect some of the most valued coastal natural resources, working with many of the nation?s premier marine scientists.
A NOAA-supported computer model using ocean temperatures developed at Oregon State University, is helping West Coast sport fishermen predict the best location for catching tuna.
Scientists equipped with new technology will conduct the first ?saturation? mission to study the effect of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems. Ocean acidification describes the changing chemistry of water that occurs as excess carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed from the atmosphere. The 10-day mission begins today.
September 2008 was the 49th warmest and 38th wettest on record for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., based on records dating back to 1895.
NOAA's Coral Reef Watch bleaching monitoring network has expanded its network of "virtual stations" from 24 to 190 locations worldwide. These stations warn coral reef managers when there is an elevated risk of coral bleaching, based on temperature data from NOAA's environmental satellites.
The U.S. Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced $900,000 in NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grants to five Pacific Northwest recipients.
The U.S. Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced $1.1 million in NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grants to five New England recipients.
The U.S. Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced $1.3 million in NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grants to five Gulf of Mexico recipients.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey has recently incorporated 43 new GPS tracking sites into the Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network, including 13 sites established by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of their Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Four of the new WAAS sites are located in Alaska, four in Canada, and five in Mexico.
Research funding totaling $3.85 million over five years has been awarded to the University of Oklahoma and Louisiana State University by NOAA's Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program. The funding will be used to assess the risks of climate and drought impacts in their regions, and to develop tools and resources for use by local and regional community managers in their long-range planning.
Central interior Alaskan residents, visitors, barge captains and railroad operators now have access to weather information anytime, thanks to a new NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards transmitter recently installed on Toghotthele Hill in Nenana, the 1,000th of these transmitters installed by NOAA.
The federal government has organized a series of open houses to discuss the advisability of providing additional recognition or protection to the historic and scientific qualities of three specific marine areas in the Pacific. These public discussions were scheduled in response to President Bush?s memo to members of his Cabinet asking them to assess and recommend the appropriate future course in these three marine areas. The open houses are open to the press.
The Cook Inlet beluga whale population has held steady from last year?s count of 375 animals, based on NOAA?s Fisheries Service latest annual survey.
NOAA today launched the fourth of a series of new fisheries survey vessels designed to study fish quietly without altering their behavior.
Tropical Storm Marco moves into western Mexico.
The federal departments of Commerce and Education are forecasting a serious shortage of scientists trained to do the high-quality research required to rebuild fish stocks and restore marine species in the next decade.
Wind-forecast software from NOAA that improves the target accuracy of an aircraft drop system up to 70 percent and is now being used in both Iraq and Afghanistan has won a federal technology transfer award for four scientists at NOAA?s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder.
NOAA Tracking Tropical Storm Laura in the western Atlantic.
The Sant Ocean Hall ? opening September 27 at the Smithsonian Institution?s National Museum of Natural History ? combines 674 marine specimens and models, high-definition video experiences, one-of-a kind exhibits, and the newest technology, enabling visitors to explore the ocean?s past, present, and future as never before. The hall is the museum?s largest renovation since opening in 1910.
The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office will deploy a ?smart buoy? Sept. 26 in the Elizabeth River near downtown Norfolk to observe the river's changing conditions. The buoy, developed in partnership with the Nauticus museum, will be the southernmost buoy in NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), a network that provides mariners, scientists and educators with real-time data about the Bay.
Retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, today announced his resignation, effective Oct. 31. Lautenbacher served as NOAA?s eighth Administrator for nearly seven years.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today determined that a decline in the harvest of soft shell and peeler blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay is a commercial fishery failure. The declaration is an important step in making watermen and their communities eligible for economic assistance.
EPA, NOAA and nine other federal agencies announced today the completion of an interagency report that guides the strategies of individual federal agencies and of the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee (IMDCC) to prevent and reduce marine debris. The report also discusses marine debris efforts, recent progress and innovative ways to reduce the problem in the future.
NOAA, an agency of the Commerce Department, has scheduled a public hearing on Sept. 22, 2008 in Del Mar, Calif. to receive public comments concerning a Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) consistency appeal filed by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA). The hearing will be held in O?Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, located at 2260 Jimmy Durante Boulevard, Del Mar, CA 92014. The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m., and will continue until 8:30 p.m. PDT.
NOAA?s National Weather Service forecast offices in California will conduct the second annual California Hazardous Weather Awareness Week Sept. 22-27 to raise public awareness about the dangers of hazardous weather conditions in the state and provide information to help protect life and property.
A new NOAA report on the health of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary indicates that the overall condition of the sanctuary?s marine life and habitats is ?fair to good,? but identifies several emerging threats to sanctuary resources, such as potential oil spills, invasive species, commercial development, climate change, and underwater noise pollution.
Responders from NOAA are on the move as residents and businesses in Texas and Louisiana recover from the effects of Hurricane Ike.
NOAA?s National Weather Service will conduct a limited communications test of the tsunami warning system in the coastal areas of California, Oregon, and Washington on Wed., Sept. 24, between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service announced today that it is making $100 million of disaster-relief aid available to West Coast salmon fishermen.
Eddie Bernard, director of NOAA?s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle has become the first NOAA scientist to be awarded a Service to America Medal for his work in establishing an international tsunami detection and forecast system.
U.S. Commerce Secretary M. Carlos Gutierrez today announced a formal determination of a fishery resource disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, due to the devastation following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office will deploy a new edition of its series of ?smart buoys? at the mouth of the Susquehanna River on Sat., Sept. 13, to monitor the bay's changing conditions.
This June-August 2008 summer season was the 22nd warmest on record for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Also, last month ended as the 39th warmest August for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895.
The U.S. Department of Energy?s (DOE) Office of Science will make available more than 10 million hours of computing time for the U.S. Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to explore advanced climate change models at three of DOE?s national laboratories as part of a three-year memorandum of understanding on collaborative climate research signed today by the two agencies.
As the U.S. coastal population continues to grow, so do the hazards when big storms approach. Now, an on-line tool, Historical Hurricane Tracks, helps users get a quick picture of coastal areas with the greatest frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms ? and that historical ?snapshot? can help community members and local emergency managers develop better plans for storm preparation and recovery.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service is seeking public comment on a proposal that identifies critical habitat for a distinct group of North American green sturgeon that spawn in California?s Sacramento River but migrate along the west coast of Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Experts from the United States, Australia, Japan, Netherlands and the United Kingdom will gather at the University of Washington (UW) Tacoma Sept. 9-10 for the first-ever international workshop on the pervasive problem of microplastics in the marine environment. The workshop is sponsored by UW Tacoma and NOAA.
NOAA has announced the presentation of seven education grants totaling nearly $374,000 to Santa Barbara Channel area schools and non-profit groups. The grants, part of NOAA?s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, will support environmental education projects focused on NOAA?s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
NOAA has announced the presentation of 15 education grants totaling $799,000 to San Francisco area schools and non-profit groups. The grants, part of NOAA?s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, will support environmental education projects focused on NOAA?s Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries, which are located off the north-central California coast.
NOAA has announced the award of 13 education grants totaling nearly $658,000 to Monterey Bay area schools and non-profit groups. The grants, part of NOAA?s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, will support environmental education projects focused on NOAA?s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which is located off the central California coast.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a proposal to redefine the endangered Gulf of Maine population of Atlantic salmon to include fish found in other nearby areas.
NOAA has selected nine scholars as national recipients of the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarships as outstanding graduate-level scholars in the fields of marine biology, coastal resource management, and maritime archeology.
The Commerce Department has announced the re-appointment of Benigno M. Sablan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council.
NOAA, an agency of the Commerce Department, has scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 22, 2008 in Del Mar, Calif. to receive public comments concerning a Coastal Zone Management Act consistency appeal filed by the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (TCA).
NOAA's Fisheries Service chief science adviser Steven A. Murawski today presented the 2008 Dr. Nancy Foster Habitat Conservation Award to Peter Wellenberger, manager of the NOAA Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, for his three decades of commitment to stewardship, research and outreach concerning our nation's estuaries.
NOAA has launched a one-stop Southeast Marine Weather Internet portal offering marine weather forecasts and real-time coastal wind and water condition information for the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2008 tied with 2001 and 2003 as the fifth warmest July since worldwide records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA ship John N. Cobb, the oldest and only wooden hulled ship in the NOAA fleet, will be decommissioned today in Seattle after 58 years of service.
NOAA research chemist James Butler has been named director of the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) division that monitors the Earth?s atmosphere.
A 29-day research expedition is underway in the Papah?naumoku?kea Marine National Monument through Aug. 28, 2008. Maritime archeologists from NOAA?s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will conduct survey work to identify and assess shipwreck sites for the purposes of management and preservation.
Scientists from NOAA?s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and partnering research institutions will embark on a nine-day research expedition Aug. 8 aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to monitor the health of coral reefs along almost 200 miles of the Florida Reef tract, the largest coral reef in the continental United States.
NOAA has selected nine scholars as national recipients of the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarships as outstanding graduate-level scholars in the fields of marine biology, coastal resource management, and maritime archeology.
July 2008 was the 30th warmest July for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895, according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The average July temperature ? 74.9 degrees F ? was 0.7 degrees above the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data.
In a continuing effort to improve maritime safety and commerce in the northern Gulf of Mexico, NOAA has revised the Gulf of Mexico Marine Debris Project Web site, an outlet for hydrographic survey data identifying risks posed by debris left in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Submerged marine debris is a threat to viable commercial fishing and shrimping activities in the northern Gulf of Mexico coastal zone.
For more than 270 years, the Merrimack Village Dam in New Hampshire helped power saw mills, gristmills, a shoe factory and provided water for a chemical factory. No longer powering industry and scheduled for demolition, the dam has one last role to play ? that of movie star. Beginning this week, NOAA, in partnership with the Conservation Law Foundation, will capture live on camera the removal of the dam, opening up 14 miles of the Souhegan River from Milford to Merrimack, N.H., providing extensive habitat for river herring, Atlantic salmon, American shad and American eel.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Science and Technology Council released an interagency report today that presents a plan for minimizing the impacts of freshwater harmful algal blooms in the United States.
NOAA is awarding $853,785 to support ocean observing efforts in Southern California. The fiscal year 2008 funding is provided through NOAA?s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program.
NOAA is awarding $750,000 to support marine observing efforts in the Great Lakes region. The fiscal year 2008 funding is provided through NOAA?s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program.
NOAA?s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is seeking to fill four seats and four alternate positions on its advisory council, which ensures public participation in sanctuary management and provides advice to the sanctuary superintendent.
NOAA?s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is seeking applicants for one primary position on the council?s conservation seat and one alternate position on its advisory council.
Aquaculture shows significant economic potential and good prospects for success in the United States, according to a new report commissioned by NOAA. The report?s authors call for clear rules to be enacted to guide the development of an offshore aquaculture industry.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of persons poaching endangered sea turtles in the Territory of Guam and in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands.
Cements that bind individual coral skeletons and larger coral reef structures are predominantly absent in waters with naturally high levels of carbon dioxide, making these reefs highly susceptible to a wearing down of their physical framework, say scientists with NOAAs Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Fla. and other institutions.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service, in partnership with top international scientists and the U.S. Navy, has just completed a pioneering research effort in Hawaii to measure the biology and behavior of some of the most poorly understood whales on Earth. During the study, for the first time, scientists attached listening and movement sensors on marine mammals around realistic military operations.
NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium found the size of this year?s Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be 7,988 square miles, slightly smaller than the predicted record size of 8,800 square miles and similar to the area measured in 2007. Scientists think Hurricane Dolly?s wind and waves may have added oxygen to the zone to reduce its size.
The Chesapeake Bay?s blue crab population remained below the long-term average in 2007, according to a report approved by the NOAA-chaired Fisheries Steering Committee.
NOAA?s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has extended the period for public comment on the draft management plan and draft environmental assessment for Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to Oct. 3, 2008. The original 90-day public comment period, during which eight public hearings were held throughout New England, was scheduled to end on Aug. 4, 2008.
The Arctic may get some temporary relief from global warming if the annual North American wildfire season intensifies, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado and NOAA.
The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office will deploy a "smart buoy" on Saturday at the mouth of the Rappahannock River to take observations of the Bay's changing conditions. A part of the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), this is the fourth interpretative buoy to mark the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, will join NOAA scientists in Silver Spring July 23-24 to teach K-12 educators how to integrate the science of earth?s changing climate into their classroom lesson plans.
Commercial fishermen unloaded 777.2 million pounds of fish, primarily Alaskan pollock, at the port of Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Alaska, making it the country?s top port for landings in 2007, NOAA?s Fisheries Service announced today. The port of New Bedford, Mass., claimed the top spot for value of landings, primarily due to sea scallops, bringing in $268 million in 2007. The total domestic commercial landings for 2007 were 9.2 billion pounds, valued at $4.1 billion.
The average American ate 16.3 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2007, a one percent decline from the 2006 consumption figures of 16.5 pounds, according to a NOAA?s Fisheries Service study.
Marine recreational anglers caught more than 468 million fish in 2007, down slightly from last year?s historic high of 475 million fish, but still the second highest recreational catch total in the last ten years.
NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University are forecasting that the ?dead zone? off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be the largest on record.
Instead of pulling into pit row for fuel, at least one team racing a solar-powered electric car in the 2,400-mile North American Solar Challenge will be relying on information provided by NOAA?s Surface Radiation Network for vital information about solar energy reaching the Earth?s surface ? and their car?s solar cells.
NOAA's National Sea Grant College Program has designated Penn State University's Behrend College campus in Erie, Pa., as the Institutional Sea Grant Program for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Through this designation, Pennsylvania Sea Grant becomes the hub for marine and coastal sciences for the state and is responsible for long-term investments consistent with NOAA's national Sea Grant goals of environmental stewardship and responsible resource use.
NOAA?s National Weather Service Doppler radar covering Evansville, Ind., will be upgraded to make it compatible with the rest of the agency?s Doppler radar network.
Scientists from NOAA?s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami will conduct an experiment through Sunday that temporarily will color the water red along coastal waters off southeast Florida to investigate the plume emerging from the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Plant ocean outfall.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service has issued guidelines and timetables for the three federal agencies involved in the management of 13 dams in northwestern Oregon?s Willamette River Basin that will allow the dams to be operated and maintained without threatening the continued existence of winter steelhead and chinook salmon, or harming their critical habitat.
Representatives from NOAA and the U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Commission joined Michigan?s Lt. Gov. John Cherry today on the banks of Muskegon Lake to launch a new partnership to restore fish and wildlife habitat in the Great Lakes Region.
A new NOAA coral bleaching prediction system indicates that there will be some bleaching in the Caribbean later this year, but the event will probably not be severe. NOAA issued the first-ever seasonal coral bleaching outlook this week at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
NOAA will assess the potential environmental impact of more than 70 federally owned obsolete and decommissioned vessels moored in Suisan Bay, Calif., during a series of field tests in July and August.
NOAA scientists reported in the current issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives that an algal toxin commonly inhaled in sea spray, attacks and damages DNA in the lungs of laboratory rats. The findings document how the body?s way of disposing the toxin inadvertently converts it to a molecule that damages DNA. Human inhalation of brevetoxins produced by the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, is an increasing public health concern.
Tugboats puff out more soot for the amount of fuel used than other commercial vessels, and large cargo ships emit more than twice as much soot as previously estimated, according to the first extensive study of commercial vessel soot emissions. Scientists from NOAA and the University of Colorado conducted the study and present their findings in the July 11 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
NOAA will lead a research expedition July 7-26 to study the wrecks of three German submarines sunk by U.S. forces in 1942 off the coast of North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Nearly half of U.S. coral reef ecosystems are considered to be in "poor" or "fair" condition according to a new NOAA analysis of the health of coral reefs under U.S. jurisdiction.
Members of the Southeast Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Network successfully removed a black rubber strap Tuesday that was wrapped around the head of a juvenile bottlenose dolphin, averting a life-threatening injury.
Rodney McInnis, Southwest Administrator of NOAA?s Fisheries Service and U.S. Commissioner to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), today expressed disappointment that a few countries blocked the Commission?s plan to conserve depleted tuna stocks.
With the arrival of hurricane season, NOAA?s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) is prepared to respond quickly to hazardous material spill incidents resulting from severe storm events. OR&R scientists work with federal, state and local agencies to provide scientific support and assistance before, during and after hurricanes strike.
NOAA experts are continuing to evaluate a group of bottlenose dolphins feeding in New Jersey?s Shrewsbury River. The biggest threat to them at the moment is the behavior of humans eager to commune with them, rather than lack of food, disorientation, entrapment in the river, or their apparent health.
Today, NOAA christened a new, state-of-the-art research vessel that will enhance the study and protection of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The 83-foot R/V Manta will operate out of Galveston, Texas, where the sanctuary is headquartered.
Updates on Atlantic and Pacific storms.
NOAA announced today that seven stocks have been removed from the overfishing list and no new stocks added in their annual report to Congress on the status of fishing stocks.
The Department of CommerceThe Department of Commerce today issued decisions on two appeals of state objections involving the proposed construction and operation of liquefied natural gas terminals in Maryland and Massachusetts.
The Commerce Department today announced the appointment of 21 members to the eight regional fishery management councils.
Santa Barbara and Ventura County residents and visitors can now explore Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary without getting their feet wet through new state-of-the-art touch screen NOAA kiosks located at four sites along the coast.
Two NOAA scientists were selected by the Partnership for Public Service as finalists for the 2008 Service to America Medal. The scientists were selected for their life-saving and educational inventions.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service is seeking comments now through July 23 on its proposed authorization for Navy training exercises around the main Hawaiian Islands. The NOAA proposal includes protective measures designed to minimize impacts on marine mammals.
Mariners can now get free real-time information on water and wind conditions for the Port of Gulfport, Miss., from a new NOAA ocean observing system at the port.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today released a final environmental impact statement for the management of Alaska native subsistence hunting for beluga whales in Cook Inlet.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today announced a new rule to lower significantly the fishing quotas for sandbar and porbeagle sharks in order to rebuild these depleted species. NOAA also will implement new regional quotas for the other large coastal sharks.
NOAA?s Office of Education is providing funding to eight science education institutions for exhibits incorporating NOAA?s Science On a Sphere® or Magic Planet® and new Earth System Science information. These exhibits, composed of globe shaped screens that use computers and video projectors to display planetary data, give children and adults an exceptional view of our ever changing world.
With an active hurricane season forecast by NOAA's National Weather Service, planning and preparation is the message both to the general public as well as to key components within NOAA who respond with emergency services support following a storm's passage.
The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for spring (March-May) ranked seventh warmest, while May was the eighth warmest since worldwide records began in 1880 according to an analysis by NOAA?s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
NOAA and its local and national partners have successfully completed a $1.5 million multi-year project to restore a salt marsh and fish passage for migrating herring on Cape Cod.
NOAA is awarding $1,984,535 to support ocean observing efforts along the Southeast coast of the United States. The fiscal year 2008 funding is provided through NOAA?s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) program.
NOAA announced today the competitive selection of collaborative research partners at the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (CIFAR) located in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science (CICS), in Princeton, N.J. The groups will join NOAA to conduct research in climate change, greenhouse gases, and changes to Arctic ice coverage.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service is seeking comment on a proposed rule that requires anglers and spearfishers who fish recreationally in federal ocean waters to be registered before fishing in 2009.
NOAA?s National Marine Protected Areas Center, in cooperation with the Department of the Interior, has created a first ever online inventory of the nation?s marine protected areas (MPAs). This unique, comprehensive inventory catalogs and classifies marine protected areas within US waters, and was developed with extensive input from state and federal MPA programs, as well as other publically available data.
Scientists, reporting in the current issue of the online journal Marine Drugs, state that an increase of epileptic seizures and behavioral abnormalities in California sea lions can result from low-dose exposure to domoic acid as a fetus.
After a five year review, NOAA?s Fisheries Service has determined that the Caribbean monk seal, which has not been seen for more than 50 years, has gone extinct?the first type of seal to go extinct from human causes.
The numbers of northeastern offshore spotted and eastern spinner dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are increasing after being severely depleted because of accidental death in the tuna purse-seine fishery between 1960 and 1990, according to biologists from NOAA?s Fisheries Service.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today outlined a plan to establish annual catch limits designed to help restore federally managed marine fish stocks.
This year may set records for tornadoes and tornado-related deaths. Only halfway through the season and there have already been 111 tornado-related deaths, making it the deadliest tornado season since 1998.
NOAA's Fisheries Service is proposing that East Coast trap/pot fishermen get six additional months to switch from floating to sinking groundline, a conversion that will help reduce the risk of entangling large whales in fishing gear.
NOAA is urging beachgoers to learn how to ?Break the Grip? of rip currents before getting into the water. Rip currents are a deadly threat ? accounting for more than 80 percent of lifeguard beach rescues.
NOAA has announced plans to invest $1 million over three years to help restore Alabama?s Mobile Bay, partnering with local organizations and citizens to reverse the loss of wetlands caused by coastal development.
NOAA?s Climate Prediction Center projects a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year, which starts June 1. Preparation and planning are key to storm survival and recovery.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are seeking public input on the draft revised recovery plan for the northwest Atlantic population of the Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta). The species is listed globally as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
NOAA Senior Scientist Susan Solomon, whose pioneering research has helped explain the cause of the ozone hole and for her leadership as co-chair of Working Group 1 for the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report, has been elected as a Foreign Member of The Royal Society of the United Kingdom.
Just in time for the 2008 Indianapolis 500, officials from NOAA's Indianapolis National Weather Service office and Indianapolis Motor Speedway have improved awareness, planning and communications for protecting race fans from severe weather.
NOAA?s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will co-sponsor a workshop with the Marin County Open Space District on June 11 to present recommendations for the restoration and management of Bolinas Lagoon.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service today approved fishing year 2008 management measures for summer flounder, scup and black sea bass recreational fisheries operating in the Atlantic waters from North Carolina to Maine to ensure overfishing does not occur.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service issued a new rule today that states starting June 1, charter vessel anglers in southeast Alaska will be allowed to keep one instead of two halibut per day.
Evidence of corrosive water caused by the ocean?s absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) was found less than 20 miles off the west coast of North America during a field study from Canada to Mexico last summer. This was the first time ?acidified? ocean water has been found on the continental shelf of western North America.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center today announced that projected climate conditions point to a below-normal hurricane season in the eastern Pacific this year.
The number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean has increased since international and federal protections were enacted in the 1960s and 70s, according to a new report funded primarily by NOAA and conducted by more than 400 whale researchers throughout the Pacific region.
NOAA?s Fisheries Service issued a proposed rule in the Federal Register to prohibit the future harvesting of krill between three and 200 miles of the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. Krill are a small shrimp-like crustacean and a key source of nutrition in the marine food web.
The NPOESS Integrated Program Office has selected the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to develop the microwave imager/sounder sensor planned for the next generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites. The sensor will bring improved data and imagery, paving the way for better weather forecasts, severe-weather monitoring and climate change assessment.
A new satellite set to launch next month will monitor the rate of sea-level rise and help measure the strength of hurricanes, according to a leading NOAA scientist. At a press briefing today, Laury Miller, chief of NOAA's Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, said NOAA will use data from the Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) to extend a 15-year record from two earlier altimeter missions that currently show sea level is rising at a rate of 3.2 mm/year ? nearly twice as fast as the previous 100 years. ?This rate, if it continues unchanged over the coming decades, will have a large impact on coastal regions, in terms of erosion and flooding,? said Miller.
NOAA's Fisheries Service announced today that it will honor seven people and two organizations for their efforts to enhance the understanding, protection, and sustainable use of U.S. ocean resources. This recognition is part of the agency?s third annual Sustainable Fisheries Leadership Awards program. NOAA?s leaders will present the awards at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on June 2.
NOAA?s Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu expects three to four tropical cyclones in the central Pacific basin in 2008, a slightly below average season.
Mariners can now get free real-time information on water and wind conditions for the Port of Pascagoula, Miss., from a new NOAA ocean observing system at the port.
The natural resources of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary off the North Carolina coast are in good condition overall, but the wreck of the Civil War ironclad encompassed by the site is at risk from human activity and natural deterioration, according to a new NOAA report.
The names Dean, Felix, and Noel, three of the most devastating storms of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, were retired by members of the 30th Session of the World Meteorological Organization's Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee during its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
NOAA?s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries announced today it is offering ?Ocean Guardian? grants of up to $6,000 to a number of California schools whose students create a school or community-based conservation project that protects their local watershed and the ocean.
U.S. Navy mine-hunting technology has a potential dual use to help NOAA find historic shipwrecks by allowing maritime archaeologists to ?see? below the seafloor. With greater resolutions and access to deeper depths, maritime archaeologists can better understand submerged cultural and historic resources without disturbing those sites.
NOAA has awarded scholarships to 111 students from 36 states through the agency?s 2008 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship program.
NOAA today released a comprehensive draft management plan and environmental assessment for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary for public review and comment. Based on several years of scientific study and extensive public input, the plan recommends specific actions to address issues impacting the sanctuary.
NOAA's Fisheries Service, the federal agency charged with protecting Northwest salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, released today a trio of biological opinions that provide comprehensive, far-reaching plans for the protected salmon species.
A sensor considered critical in monitoring global climate will be restored to the first satellite scheduled to fly in the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) top officials from NOAA, NASA, and the Air Force said yesterday.
While the Arctic and the Antarctic experience similar greenhouse gas levels and solar radiation, each region responds in a dramatically different way, especially in temperature and loss of sea ice, says an international team of scientists that includes a NOAA oceanographer. While the Arctic is warming, most of Antarctica is not, largely because of the ozone hole, but projections indicate that is likely to change.
Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez today declared a commercial fishery failure for the West Coast salmon fishery due to historically low salmon returns. Also today, NOAA?s Fisheries Service issued regulations to close or severely limit recreational and commercial salmon fishing in the area.
NOAA has launched a major initiative to link together a wealth of ocean observation data from a wide variety of federal and non-federal sources.
Remarks by VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., US Navy (Ret.) to the Maryland Space Business Roundtable; April 29, 2008.