The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is preparing the call for information for an oil and gas lease sale scheduled to be held in the Beaufort Sea in 2017. The government is moving forward despite the inability to respond to or clean up an oil spill in unfavorable Arctic conditions and the fact that … Read more
Many marine species face endless obstacles: Overfishing, pollution, and habitat destruction are large threats, as well as climate change and its associated negative impacts. Factors ranging from their habitat, food source, predator defense, migration routes, and breeding grounds are already changing from warming seas, and these impacts are so widespread that it’s caught fisheries managers’ … Read more
In response to pressure from conservation groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) today announced an area closure for the swordfish drift gillnet fishery in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California from July 25 through August 31 to prevent entanglements and drownings of endangered loggerhead sea turtles. This year’s El Niño conditions — warmer than … Read more
Yesterday, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced an area closure for the California swordfish drift gillnet fishery after facing mounting pressure from Oceana and our partner conservation groups. This closure, known as the Pacific Loggerhead Conservation Area, will occur from July 25 to August 31, 2014 in an area that stretches just north of … Read more
WASHINGTON – Today, the Obama administration released a decision authorizing the use of dynamite-like blasts to search for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean floor in an area twice the size of California, stretching from Delaware to Florida. While the decision includes limited protections for species like the critically endangered North Atlantic right … Read more
Washington, DC- Today, Oceana sent a response to the Council Coordination Committee (CCC) for the eight United States regional fishery management councils addressing its comments on Oceana’s March 2014 report Wasted Catch: Unsolved Problems in U.S. Fisheries. Oceana’s report is based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date government data. Oceana’s Responsible Fishing campaign director Dominique … Read more
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced emergency actions designed to protect endangered sperm whales from being caught in the California swordfish/thresher shark drift gillnet fishery. The regulations state the NMFS will shut down California’s drift gillnet swordfish fishery if a single endangered sperm whale is killed or injured by the destructive nets. Independent observers … Read more
The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to clean up California’s swordfish drift gillnet fishery by considering placing the first ever “hard caps” on the numbers of several protected species that can be injured or killed in the fishery. These species include fin, humpback, and sperm whales and leatherback, loggerhead, Olive ridley, and green sea turtles. … Read more
The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to cease consideration of a proposal to expand the use of deadly drift gillnets off California and instead requested extension of emergency regulations that went into effect last year to protect endangered sperm whales from entrapment in drift gillnets, until permanent protections are implemented. Oceana provided testimony at the meeting and … Read more
Discarding fish is akin to throwing money into the ocean, yet the U.S. fishing industry wastes millions of pounds of seafood each year. Bycatch is not only wasteful, but kills countless numbers of marine creatures like dolphins, sea turtles, and sharks in the process. A new Oceana report reveals that the economic losses from bycatch … 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.