High-Risk Litter Zones Threaten North Atlantic Wildlife
of various megafauna groups and shallow water habitats. Vulnerability scores were devised by assessing the extent of documented ingestion, entanglement or smothering of land-based plastic.The modelling analysis identified high-risk zones (HRZs) as UK waters, the Azores, the French and US Atlantic coasts and the US Gulf of Mexico.Whilst much of the land-derived plastic litter influencing risk in UK territorial waters originated from UK rivers, in other HRZs, such as the Azores archipelago and the US Gulf of Mexico, plastic originated from other regions, with most of the plastic in the Azores
The Forecast for Weather-Spotting Technology
used to deliver high-fidelity, real-time wave, water level, and wind data. These data will be used to validate and improve the USGS/NOAA Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast, which provides real-time forecasts of water levels and coastal change along nearly 3,000 miles of the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts. © Meaghan Faletti, USGSHelping the coral reefsThe plight of the world’s coral reefs is well known to even the most amateur of marine fanatics. Damaging activities such as coral mining, pollution, overfishing and coral bleaching (due to warming water temperatures) have decreased reef
US Still Processing Atlantic Seismic Permits
incidental harassment of marine mammals with air gun blasts in a region of the Atlantic from Delaware to Cape Canaveral, Florida.The last time seismic surveys were completed in the Atlantic was in the 1980s. The Obama administration banned seismic testing permits there in 2016 after it removed the Atlantic coasts from drilling in its five-year OCS proposal.Gail Adams-Jackson, spokeswoman for the International Association of Geophysical Contractors, a trade group representing seismic testing companies, said its members "remain hopeful" that BOEM will issue seismic testing permits soon - even
BOEM Proposes New Regulation for OCS
and timelines for requesting lease modifications, and defines commonly used terms. BOEM’s Marine Minerals Program is critical for the long-term success and cost-effectiveness of many shore protection, beach nourishment, and coastal habitat restoration projects along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts. Coastal erosion is a serious challenge affecting energy, defense, and public infrastructure, as well as tourism, which is important to state and local economies. Adding crucial sand, gravel or shell resources helps maintain a healthy coastal ecosystem. To date, BOEM has executed 48 leases
NOAA Finds Lost 19th Century U.S. Coast Survey Steamer
organization, established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 to survey the coast and produce the nation’s nautical charts. In 1860, as the Civil War approached, the Coast Survey redoubled efforts to produce surveys of harbors strategically important to the war effort along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The New York Herald, in reporting the Walker’s loss on June 23, 1860, noted that a “heavy sea was running, and many of the men were doubtless washed off the spars and drowned from the mere exhaustion of holding on, while others were killed or stunned on rising to the surface
February 2025
