WASHINGTON – Actor and ocean activist Reid Scott will be in Washington, D.C. on May 29 to urge Congress and the Obama administration to reconsider its proposed use of seismic airguns to look for oil and gas deposits deep below the ocean floor in an area twice the size of California, stretching from Delaware to … Read more
Today 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 emergency rule, prompted by advocacy by conservation groups goes into effect tomorrow and comes 20 days after the drift gillnet fishing season opened, despite a request from … Read more
SATURDAY, MAY 17th – Santa Monica, CA: Celebrity Ocean Activists gathered in Santa Monica, CA on Friday evening, May 16th, at the 2nd Annual Nautica Oceana Beach House party, which was supported by global apparel company Nautica and media partner LA Confidential Magazine. The event highlighted Oceana’s success in protecting and restoring the world’s oceans … Read more
Last weekend, PBS NewsHour Weekend Edition aired a feature story on Oceana’s campaign to end drift gillnet use off California. This commercial fishery sets out mile-long nets at dusk to catch swordfish and thresher sharks, but these nets also capture an abundance of other marine wildlife—including whales, dolphins, sea lions, sharks, and other ecologically and … Read more
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is updating their mercury-advisory guidelines for the first time in ten years, and is taking a new approach to advising mercury consumption: encouraging informed intake rather than avoidance. In an interview with the Associated Press last month, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg announced that the agency would be updating its … Read more
Oceana fights for the oceans all year long, but in honor of this year’s World Oceans Day, Oceana is releasing a new public service announcement (PSA) starring Brazilian champion big-wave surfer and ocean advocate Maya Gabeira. She wants to “help the oceans catch a break” and raise awareness for the need to save this precious … Read more
The giant foraminifer (Spiculosiphon oceana), a single-celled organism discovered by Oceana, has been named one of Top 10 New Species for 2014 by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s International Institute for Species Exploration (SUNY-ESF IISE). Spiculosiphon oceana was found during a 2012 voyage to the Seco de Palos … Read more
Earlier this week, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) reinstated emergency protections for sperm whales from California’s swordfish and thresher shark fishery, which protects these magnificent whales from accidentally being caught in drift gillnet gear. The agency will now require independent observers on all vessels in deep offshore waters where sperm whales are frequently observed, … Read more
After Oceana and the Humane Society of the Unites States pressured NOAA to back down from challenging shark fin bans, they listened – and upheld bans in several states. This article appeared in the recent issue of Oceana magazine. In our last issue, we revealed that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was taking steps to undermine state … Read more
Today, the California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife took the first step to prohibit the use of deadly drift gillnets in waters off California in order to protect some of the ocean’s most iconic wildlife. The 15-member Committee passed Assembly Bill 2019, legislation co-sponsored by Oceana and Turtle Island Restoration Network. The bill … 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.