We can rebuild marine life and restore much of the world’s oceans in just 30 years if we take action to protect species and ecosystems at risk. A team of marine scientists from 10 countries reached this conclusion after reviewing past ocean recoveries following conservation interventions. “This provides a window of opportunity to mitigate existing … Read more
Dr. Marla ‘Max’ine Valentine is a new addition to Oceana taking on the role of Illegal Fishing and Transparency Analyst. Marla graduated from Louisiana State University in 2013 with a Master of Science in Oceanography that centered on deep-sea benthic ecology using ROVs following the Deepwater Horizon Incident. She defended her doctorate at Old Dominion University in 2018 focusing on biogeochemical cycling … Read more
There was a time when Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was great in every sense of the word. In 1981, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) signed off on a plan to make the reef a UNESCO World Heritage Site, writing in its evaluation that the area “comprises some 2,500 individual reefs of all … Read more
Billions of people around the world, including 90% of the U.S. population, as of April 2, have been instructed to stay at home in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. That’s a lot of people who have suddenly found themselves stuck indoors. If cabin fever starts to set in, the ocean can be … Read more
Thanks to campaigning and legal work by Oceana and our allies, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published a final rule that will finally curtail the destructive California-based swordfish drift gillnet fishery. However, Oceana’s and your work is not yet done as the U.S. government appears to be intent on sustaining this destructive fishery – … Read more
Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation, released a report today finding that the beverage industry could decrease marine plastic pollution by 4.5 billion to 7.6 billion bottles each year, a 22% decrease, by increasing the market share of soft drinks and water sold in refillable bottles by just 10% (in … Read more
Canada borders three oceans, boasts the world’s longest coastline and has a rich history of fishing. And yet, for many years, the country and its fishers have suffered the consequences of an outdated and problematic legal framework for fisheries. The federal Fisheries Act was enacted in 1868, making it older than the telephone, the light … Read more
Today, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross finalized a new rule to prevent sea turtle deaths in select U.S. shrimp trawls in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. The new rule will require Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) – metal grates inserted into shrimp nets that are 97 percent effective at allowing sea turtles to escape … Read more
It’s been a big week for our U.S. oceans. Just this week, Oceana and our allies won two important victories that will help protect biodiversity and increase abundance in U.S. oceans. We also advanced an important milestone in the battle to save sharks from the fin trade: Won New Protections for Corals, Sponges, Underwater Canyons … Read more
Yesterday evening, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted overwhelmingly not to move forward with further consideration of permitting a West Coast-based pelagic longline fishery on the high seas (beyond 200 miles from shore) at this time. Pelagic longlines are a harmful fishing method that has been prohibited off the West Coast for decades due to … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.