This Weekend: Protect the Land (and Water) of the Free and the Home of the Brave!

As Independence Day draws near, a number of things are sure to run through your mind: what am I going to wear this weekend? Do I have enough red, white, and blue? Where are we going to sit for the fireworks? Is the barbecue set up? Often, we tend to focus on the tradition-side of holidays, and forget to really take a moment and remember what we’re celebrating. The Fourth of July is a day to celebrate our independence, and the rights we are granted in this country. And what better way is there to express our freedom and our patriotism than uniting together to advocate for our country’s greatest resources?

Last week, a nomination hearing with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation was held for Secretary of Commerce nominee John Bryson, and the nominee for Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Terry Garcia. During this hearing, members of the Committee questioned nominees about how they would hold their positions, what kind of actions they would take, and whether or not they would uphold the promises they made regarding the economy and the environment. Throughout the month of June and into the beginning of July, members from Federal agencies working on the National Ocean Policy have conducted listening sessions around the country, asking for public input on their current strategic plans. NOAA and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are struggling to stay afloat in this economy, and need their budgets to stay intact. With arguments over the President’s right to preserve land through the Antiquities Act, and countless other laws that are under debate, there couldn’t be a better time to share your voice.

Use this long weekend to relax, but also to think about what you can do to help our country and its natural resources. Write a letter to your Senators or Representatives. Start a conversation about how to save beautiful corals that are quickly dying, or how to help the population of Hawaiian monk seals recover, or make a phone call to discuss the necessity of protection for our oceans, and the importance of marine national monuments and marine sanctuaries which protect rare and beautiful flora and fauna. Now is the time to start a wave of change for our oceans, to explore the high seas of policy, to dive into politics, and be a part of the incoming tide of change. Exercise your constitutional right to participate in our government!

It’s easy to do – attend one of the listening sessions on National Ocean Policy. Make a simple phone call, or send an e-mail or a letter, expressing your desire to see more protection of our marine resources. Click here to get started! And have a great 4^th of July!

Northwest Ocean Acidification

Brought to you by our friends at Sightline

Oceans–and their salt-water extensions, like Puget Sound–play an enormous role in our region’s culture and prosperity. Marine life, from oysters to king crab, have supported Northwest communities for generations. But years of addiction to fossil fuels have put them at risk. This series explores the local costs of ocean acidification –the process by which water absorbs too much carbon pollution, becoming more corrosive. These changes in our water’s basic chemistry place our complex web of marine life in jeopardy.
It’s not tomorrow’s problem; it’s happening here and now. (Photo credit: Rik_C, flickr)

Project Posts

Trouble on the Half Shell

Baby oysters and carbon dioxide don't mix.

Jennifer Langston on June 22, 2011

The Puget Sound Shuffle

How will Northwest creatures fare in more acidic seas?

Jennifer Langston on June 6, 2011

Coming to a Shore Near You

Acidified water has shown up sooner than we thought.

Jennifer Langston on May 26, 2011

The Acid Test

Why ocean acidification matters to you.

Jennifer Langston on May 24, 2011 

Visit the Sightline website for more information and to read the full articles. 

Pacific Plankton Crosses to Atlantic...Thanks to Arctic Meltdown

From our friends at Scientific American:

Neodenticula seminae, a microscopic strand of photosynthesizing plankton, is common in much of the northern Pacific Ocean.

The plankton hadn't been seen in the northern Atlantic in some 800,000 years—until a survey in 1999 turned up a bunch in the Labrador Sea. Researchers speculate it traveled along with a pulse of warm Pacific water, part of the changing circulation patterns in the far north due to global warming.

Warming’s most obvious oceanic effect is the opening of the fabled Northwest passage for the first time in recorded history. Which makes it more likely for N. seminae to have fellow travelers.

Pacific zooplankton—microscopic animals—have made the trip, and clams, oysters, snails and slugs may soon follow. These Pacific denizens could displace or disrupt their Atlantic cousins, potentially transforming the entire food web. Which is why a consortium of 17 marine institutes in 10 European countries is now monitoring the migrations, an effort known as Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research.

Read more...

Save the Federal Weatherization Assistance Program

Hi Everyone,

I don't often send around petitions, but this cause is particularly important to me and I hope you'll sign it!  For over a year now I've been working on the Weatherization Assistance Program, which brings much needed energy repairs to low income people.  Our clients live off of very little, and the work that we do to make their homes energy efficient not only reduces their energy bills so they can buy necessities like food and clothing, but it also makes their homes safer and more comfortable.  These homes are often freezing in the winter and some have dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide that would go undetected if it wasn't for this program.  Weatherization also brings needed repairs to low income apartment buildings where the tenants live in poor conditions, because they are not a priority to the building management.  

We've been able to do a lot of great work as a result of the stimulus money, but now Congress is looking to reduce our funding.  Read the petition to find out more.  

Please sign today!

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-federal-weatherization-assistance-program

Thank you!

Gwen

World's oceans in 'shocking' decline

This story has made it into my inbox three times this morning, so it's clearly making the rounds in the marine environmental community, so I thought it would be good to share it with all of you:

The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists.

In a new report, they warn that ocean life is "at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history".

They conclude that issues such as over-fishing, pollution and climate change are acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised.

The impacts, they say, are already affecting humanity.

The panel was convened by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), and brought together experts from different disciplines, including coral reef ecologists, toxicologists, and fisheries scientists.
Its report will be formally released later this week.

Read the full story in the bbc news

Super Cute Ticklish Pengin Video

Washington State Ignores Increasing Acidification of its Oceans

News on Ocean Acidification from our friends at Center for Biological Diversity:

Rising Carbon Pollution Already Harming Oysters Along Coast

Washington state announced today which marine waters have water-quality problems but completely failed to identify waters that are suffering from ocean acidification. The Pacific Northwest is one of the hotspots where ocean acidification is already harming marine life. Wild oysters in Washington have failed to reproduce for the past six years, and scientists have linked this to ocean acidification. 

“No one can afford to have their head in the sand when it comes to ocean acidification,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Ocean acidification is the biggest threat facing our oceans, and it is already killing off Pacific shellfish. Washington state’s decision to ignore the water-quality problem of acid seas is a risk to wildlife and to communities that depend on healthy oceans.”

Today the Washington Department of Ecology issued a proposed list of waters with water-quality problems, a biennial requirement of the Clean Water Act. The state was compelled to consider the impact of ocean acidification by a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity against the Environmental Protection Agency after that agency approved Washington’s 2008 list, which omitted ocean-acidification problems. Despite a growing body of scientific evidence that Washington’s waters are already suffering the negative impacts of acidification, the state declined to identify waters threatened by ocean acidification in its newly released 2010 list of impaired waters.

“Washington state is a bellwether for the impacts of dumping carbon into our oceans,” said Sakashita. “We are already seeing corrosive waters along the Pacific Coast and in the Puget Sound. Ocean acidification has killed billions of juvenile oysters and threatens to unravel the marine food web unless we act now.”

Ocean acidification impairs the ability of marine animals to build the protective shells they need to survive. Seawater is becoming more acidic due to carbon pollution absorbed by the oceans; globally, oceans have become about 30 percent more acidic since the Industrial Revolution, and acidification is accelerating. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found that corrosive waters are upwelling onto the continental shelf during certain seasons along the entire Pacific Coast, and that Puget Sound has grown far more acidic, which is significantly attributable to carbon dioxide. 

The Washington Department of Ecology is accepting comments for 30 days.

The Unfulfilled Promise of the World’s Marine Protected Areas

There is an excellent article up on Environment 360 today, and I suggest you give it a good read. It's very thought provoking. Let us know what you think!

Biologists and conservationists maintain that establishing marine reserves — areas where fishing is off-limits or severely restricted — offers the best hope for recovery for our overstressed oceans. So why is such a small area of the world's oceans protected?

Capitol Hill Swept Up by Oceans Week

Last week in DC, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation hosted Capitol Hill Ocean Week, or CHOW. It was a week full of interesting, insightful, and invigorating discussions about the state of our waters, and what needs to be done in the future. The theme of the week was “American Prosperity and Global Security: Ocean Solutions for the 21^st Century,” and the panels and discussions truly aligned with this theme. Leading members of NOAA participated, as well as other high-ranking government officials. Senators Whitehouse (RI), Begich (AK), and Murkowski (AK) presented panels, and panelists included members of the US Departments of Energy, the Interior, State, and Transportation, as well as members of the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, the US Air Force, JAG, the USDA, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), the Canadian Embassy, and BP. As you can see, the panels were diverse, and the members each alluded to various parts of many threats facing our oceans.

There was a Leadership Awards Dinner on Tuesday night, where several people were honored for being Volunteer of the Year for various National Marine Sanctuaries, including our own board member, Lance Morgan, PhD., for his efforts in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Also honored was the late Senator Ted Stevens, who “was honored for his leadership as a US Senator in advancing national and global ocean policy. Over the course of his 40-year career in the Senate, Stevens became the leading voice for ensuring sustainable fisheries in US waters” (this from the NOAA NMFS website). For more information on Senator Stevens, and his valiant conservation efforts through programs such as the Magnuson-Stevens Act, click here. Senator Stevens’s daughter, Lily Stevens Becker, accepted the award in his memory. Following more panels on Wednesday, NOAA hosted their annual Fish Fry, a delightful event featuring creatively prepared sustainable seafood.

My favorite of the panels was entitled “Will Expanding the Ocean Knowledge Base Make a Difference for Security and Prosperity?” Dr. Jerry R. Schubel, President and CEO of Aquarium of the Pacific, hosted this panel. His lively energy and inciting questions made for excellent debate and discussion. The panelists were also incredible; they held an array of positions, and provided many different views on the same subjects. David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy, was particularly captivating. He explained all the issues well, and even managed to slide in a few jokes here and there, keeping the audience awake and attentive. He discussed the need for knowledge and resources. The members of this panel unanimously agreed that the best way to convert information into action is finding a way to make the issues apply to the public’s daily lives. Do you think that sounds like a good idea? How can we make issues apply to daily life? What is the best way of conveying these issues?

The overall message of the week seemed to be, “There are a lot of issues, and we need to increase awareness of these issues, and then we need to do something to solve the problems”. It strongly reiterated the need for approval of Senator Whitehouse’s bill creating a National Endowment for the Oceans. (See last week’s blog for more info on the Endowment and how you can help!)