I am writing to you to introduce our new chairman for Oceana’s board of directors, Simon Sidamon-Eristoff, and other new board leaders. Our board of directors develops all strategy, budgets, and direction for Oceana’s campaigns around the world. Comprised of 19 leaders in business, academia, philanthropy, and the arts, the board has overseen the organization’s … Read more
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Royal Dutch Shell roughly two years ago against 13 environmental and Alaska Native entities, including Oceana. Shell sued the groups in a “preemptive” move to keep them from being able to sue Shell over its plans to drill … Read more
Earlier this month, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) concluded its meeting in Genoa, Italy to discuss protections for various marine species, including bluefin tuna, sharks, and swordfish. At the same time, the IUCN World Parks Congress concluded its once-a-decade meeting with new protections for marine habitat and other developments for … Read more
If you’re an avid scuba diver, you’re probably all too familiar with decompression sickness (DCS)—more commonly known as the bends—a disease that can strike astronauts, divers, and others, and arises after inadequately recompressing after changes in pressure gradients. In the marine environment, scientists long thought that many diving vertebrates—like sea turtles and marine mammals—were immune … Read more
Last week, Oceana in Chile recommended that the Chilean government lower the total annual catch quota for common hake—a severely overexploited species— in 2015 by about 1,000 tons because of declines. According to Chile’s Fisheries Development Institute, common hake biomass declined by over six percent this year. “Increasing the quota for hake will only accelerate … Read more
Belize’s Mesoamerican reef is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Central America. Crystal blue waters, white sand beaches, and vibrant coral reefs are home to dolphins, sea turtles, and hundreds of species of fish. But a part of this beautiful protected area is under immediate threat from developers, who want to build a … Read more
Monitoring global fishing activity is a monumental task. I’d like to introduce you to a groundbreaking new tool, created by Google, SkyTruth, and Oceana, called Global Fishing Watch. Using satellite data emitted by fishing vessels, the program gives people around the world a simple online platform to visualize, track, and share information about ocean fishing activity. … Read more
Illegal and unsustainable fishing activity is taking a tremendous toll on the world’s oceans, stripping them of healthy fish populations and damaging precious ecosystems. Not only does the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that nearly one-third of assessed marine fish stocks have been overfished, but they also estimate that 90 percent were either … Read more
Did you know that shark finning is still allowed in the U.S.? Despite the finning prohibition ushered in by the 2010 Shark Conservation Act, some east coast states were still allowing fishermen to fin spiny dogfish sharks at sea as long as the removed fins did not weigh more than five percent of the bodies … Read more
Today, Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google announced their partnership to develop a new big-data technology platform, called Global Fishing Watch, that analyzes massive amounts of satellite data to create the first ever global view of commercial fishing. The prototype was unveiled today at the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia—an international forum held every … Read more
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We have already protected over 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.