White House Aims to Eliminate NOAA Climate Research
their jobs, businesses, and seafood dinners.”Commerce Department officials did not respond to requests for comment.Under the proposal, NOAA would transfer key responsibilities of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for protecting endangered species and marine mammals to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is housed by the Interior Department.NMFS, known as NOAA Fisheries, would also lose funding for species recovery grants, interjurisdictional fisheries grants and habitat conservation and restoration - programs that are significant to the commercial fishing industries."NMFS should
Utility Serving San Juan Islands Proposes to Harness Tidal Power
2 megawatts with an annual output of 4.6–5.6 gigawatt hours annually — able to power 400 homes.As part of the permitting process, OPALCO anticipates state and federal interagency engagement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Washington Department of Ecology, the Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.Once the necessary environmental studies have been completed, permitting the deployment of this system is expected
Callan Marine Wins North Breton Island Restoration Project
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently awarded a $54 million construction contract to Callan Marine, Ltd. for the North Breton Island Restoration Project. The funds for the project come from the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment oil spill global settlement reached in 2016.Located northeast of Venice, La., the restoration project includes dredging 5.7 million cubic yards of material in order to restore the barrier shoreline through beach, dune, and marsh fill placement. It will utilize an offshore sand source located just a few miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.Callan
Study: How Much of Corals’ Nutrition Comes From Hunting
will respond to future changes.”Also collaborating on the paper were Emma A. Elliott Smith of the University of New Mexico, and Jennifer E. Smith of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The research was conducted under special use permits #12533-14016 and #12533-14012 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium (PARC). Funding was provided by the Scripps Family Foundation, private donors, and the NOAA Nancy Foster Scholarship
High Correlation of Biomass to Species Diversity in Northern Chukchi Sea - BOEM Study
cycles and increasing human activities in the Arctic make this region particularly important to monitor. In August 2015, the AMBON team of researchers from the University of Alaska’s School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, the University of Maryland, University of Washington, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) embarked on their first field effort under this project to sample marine biodiversity on the Chukchi Sea shelf. Despite challenging weather conditions, the team was able to complete sampling of the entire Chukchi shelf from
BOEM Proposes New Regulation for OCS
of material that has restored more than 269 miles of coastline. BOEM has established strong and effective partnerships, including those with state geological surveys and environmental agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Defense. The Secretary of the Interior was authorized to negotiate non-competitive agreements for the use of these marine minerals for coastal restoration by an Outer Continental Shelf Lands
NOAA, Deepwater Horizon Trustees Announce Draft Restoration Plans
the court will be asked to make it final. Public comments on the draft plan will be accepted at eight public meetings to be held between October 19 and November 18 in each of the impacted states and in Washington, DC. Comments will also be accepted online and by mail sent to: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 49567, Atlanta, GA 30345. The public comment period will end on December 4, 2015. The Trustees are proposing to accept this settlement, which includes, among other components, an amount to address natural resource damages of $8.1 billion for restoration and up to $700 million
Shell Gets APD for limited Arctic Drilling
work around the clock to ensure the utmost safety and environmental stewardship.” In addition to restricting Shell’s ability to work in oil-bearing zones, the APDs also define limitations related to marine mammal protection consistent with requirements established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Consistent with regulatory requirements, a USFWS Letter of Authorization (LOA) issued on June 30 requires Shell to maintain a minimum spacing of 15 miles between active drill rigs during exploration activities to avoid significant effects on walruses in the region. Under the limited
Shell Steps Closer to Arctic Drilling
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the nonlethal, incidental, and unintentional take of small numbers of polar bears and Pacific walrus that result from Shell’s exploratory drilling activities in the Chukchi Sea. The agency gave authorization despite finding information gaps regarding walrus and polar bear behavior in offshore environments, the immediate and long-term responses of these animals to drilling operations, and the subsistence hunting activities of several Native villages. With this authorization, Shell only requires one more drilling permit from the Bureau of
February 2025
