The Coast Guard today announced the availability of the Northern New York Bight Port Access Route Study, which assesses the adequacy of existing vessel routing measures and recommends that five shipping fairways and one federal anchorage ground be established in the Study Area. The Study was conducted to consider the need for recommended routing changes arising from the need [...]
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NOPC Comments on NOAA’s Implementation of 30×30
NOPC today submitted comments in response to NOAA’s Request for Information on how NOAA should use existing authorities and associated measures to conserve the country’s oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes in furtherance of the effort to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Mgmt. Council to Hold Public Meeting
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a hybrid in-person/virtual public meeting in Baton Rouge, LA on Jan. 24-26. Agenda items include a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management presentation on wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico and discussion on a draft response letter to NOAA’s request for [...]
NMFS Issues 90-Day ESA Finding on Sunflower Sea Star
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that comments are being sought by Friday, Feb. 25 on the agency’s finding that substantial scientific or commercial information exists indicating that it may be warranted to (1) list the sunflower sea star as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act and (2) designate critical habitat. The finding, made in [...]
NOAA Seeks Nominees for Hydrographic Services Review Panel Vacancies
NOAA’s National Ocean Service today announced that it is seeking nominations through Friday, April 15 for five vacancies on the Hydrographic Services Review Panel (Panel) that will open on Jan. 1, 2023. NOAA welcomes applications from individuals with expertise in marine navigation and technology, port administration, marine shipping or other intermodal transportation categories, cartography and geographic information systems, geodesy, physical oceanography, [...]
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Mgmt. Council Cmtes. to Hold Public Meeting
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting in Tampa, FL of its Standing, Reef Fish, Socioeconomic, and Ecosystem Scientific and Statistical Committees on Jan. 11-13. On Jan. 11, among other things Committees will review absolute abundance estimates for red snapper, greater amberjack, and other federally [...]
Comments Sought on Pacific Marine Monument Management Plan
NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that they are seeking comments by Thursday, Jan. 20 on their intent to prepare a Monument Management Plan for the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. The 2011 notice of intent to draft the Plan is being updated to include information relating to the monument’s expansion in [...]
Biden Administration Announces 30×30 Progress Report, New Advisory Cmtes.
The White House today announced the release of the inaugural progress report on implementation of the administration’s “America the Beautiful” initiative to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, as well the upcoming establishment of the Marine and Coastal Area-Based Management Federal Advisory Committee and Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council as a Federal Advisory Committee. As [...]
BOEM Announces Completion of NY Bight Offshore Wind EA Review
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the completion of its Environmental Assessment of the potential impacts of issuing wind energy leases in ~800,000 acres in the New York Bight and its decision to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact. BOEM Director Amanda Lefton called the decision “an important step forward in advancing the Biden-Harris [...]
Groups Across U.S. Urge Against Marine Monument Designations
More than 90 groups representing a wide array of commercial and recreational interests from across the United States today urged President Biden to use collaborative, inclusive, and science-based approaches to ocean management that support jobs and healthy communities and not to designate marine monuments under the Antiquities Act, which could threaten the economy, jobs, and [...]
