by Andrew Sharpless

Posted 5 months ago In a disappointing move, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee gave its blessing for offshore drilling in Florida last week, potentially opening Florida’s coasts to oil and gas development. Read More

Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago Great news – we’re one giant step closer to ending needless mercury pollution from chlorine plants in the United States. Read More

Posted 6 months ago Whether you believe in end times or not, the oceans are sending clear signals that they are in distress. Read More

Posted 8 months ago In the minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez poured 10.8 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. The spill turned pristine spruce-lined waters into a sticky death trap for countless animals, including a quarter of a million birds. Read More

Posted 8 months, 4 weeks ago If President Barack Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary sticks, we will have a knowledgeable voice as the secretary who oversees much of the nation's oceans management, including fisheries.

Coming from a coastal state, former Washington Governor Gary Locke should appreciate the importance of our oceans to the people of the United States and the health of our nation's economy. Read More

Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago It's a watershed day for Arctic conservation.

Facing dramatic evidence of climate change in the Arctic, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously on Thursday to prevent the expansion of industrial fishing into all U.S. waters north of the Bering Strait. There are no large-scale commercial fisheries currently operating in the U.S. Arctic, and now there won't be.

Nearly 200,000 square miles of pristine Arctic waters -- an area bigger than California -- will remain untouched by the extensive fishing nets, miles of hooked longlines, and destructive bottom trawls of industrial fishing. This means that the unknown but… Read More

Posted 10 months ago Pity the poor false killer whale.

Fishermen in Hawaii who set longlines studded with thousands of hooks over dozens of miles often snag the whales -- actually large dolphins -- instead of their desired tuna or swordfish. Even the federal government, in the form of the National Marine Fisheries Service, acknowledges that the false killer whale is seriously threatened by longline fishing. NMFS has named the whale a top priority for protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

In 2004, NMFS determined the fishery was killing false killer whales at a level that mandated action under the Marine Mammal Protection… Read More

Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago President George W. Bush deserves praise from ocean lovers for his creation of three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. This action protects some of the few remaining pristine coral reefs in the world by prohibiting all forms of commercial fishing and severely restricting recreational fishing.

These are among the last places on the planet where you can still see sharks and other top predators in something like a healthy state. President Bush -- and the Pew Environment Group, Marine Conservation Biology Institute and Environmental Defense Fund, who worked so hard for these monuments -- can be… Read More

Posted 11 months, 1 week ago President-elect Barack Obama's appointment of Jane Lubchenco, an Oregon State University marine biologist, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could be a major positive step for protecting America's fisheries.

In recent years, NOAA has ignored scientists' advice when it comes to setting quotas for some of our most vulnerable fish species, favoring commercial interests over conservation. With a scientist like Lubchenco in charge, I hope that NOAA will start to take a more scientific tack in its management.

Lubchenco, a well-regarded researcher and professor, will have her hands full. America's fisheries are among the best-managed in… Read More

Posted 1 year ago I'm not sure what the marine equivalent of a bandwagon is (a love boat?), but there's one headed our way. I'm talking about the movement called "individual fishing quotas," as described in a recent Los Angeles Times article. The original theory is straight out of the free market school of economics: Give people the ownership of something, and they'll be good stewards. As I've written before, this isn't necessarily so.

Indeed, as the article points out, such programs can't work unless there are restrictions on overall catches. And they also can't work unless there are mechanisms -- including… Read More