oceanpolicy.com

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced a new framework with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for monitoring underwater sound in an effort to “help safeguard marine resources” amid offshore wind energy development.  NMFS said that the framework — which provides recommendations for offshore wind stakeholders to monitor and reduce the impact of wind projects using passive acoustic [...]

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service today announced that it is seeking comments by Friday, Nov. 26 on its proposal to rescind a final rule published in Dec. 2020 that added a definition of “habitat” to the Endangered Species Act implementing regulations related to critical habitat designations, finding that the find that the definition and the preamble of [...]

The State Dept. today announced that the Shipping Coordinating Committee will hold a public teleconference meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 17 in preparation for the 77th session of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee, to be held virtually on Nov. 22-26. Agenda items include identification and protection of Special Areas, Emission Control Areas, and Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas, air [...]

NOAA today announced that the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Advisory Committee will hold a virtual public meeting on Monday, Nov. 29 and Monday, Dec. 6. The meeting will include updates from NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, the U.S. IOOS Office, IOOS Marine Life Program, Interagency Ocean Observation Committee, National Ocean Service (coastal resilience), as well as a briefing on hurricane intensity forecasting, and [...]

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking comments by Jan. 24, 2022 on draft 2021 marine mammal stock assessment reports (SAR’s) for marine mammals in the Atlantic (includes Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. territories in the Caribbean), Alaska, and Pacific regions.  NMFS also seeks new information for strategic stocks that were not [...]

The Coast Guard today announced completion of the Port Access Route Study for the Approaches to the Chesapeake Bay, VA, which was conducted to determine whether to recommend changes to enhance navigational safety by examining existing shipping routes and waterway uses as offshore energy development matures and to evaluate the need for establishing or changing existing vessel routing measures. [...]

The White House today announced President Biden’s intent to nominate Martha Williams to serve as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Williams currently serves as Principal Deputy Director of the Fish & Wildlife Service, with previous experience including positions as Director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Assistant Professor of Law at the [...]

The Coast Guard today announced its decision to recertify the Cook Inlet Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council through Aug. 31, 2022.  The Advisory Council monitors the activities of terminal facilities and crude oil tankers pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Habitat Protection and Ecosystem-Based Management Advisory Panel will hold a public webinar meeting on Nov. 3-4. Among other things, the Panel will hear a presentation from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on offshore wind in the South Atlantic region and provide input on activities, receive [...]

During a speech at the American Clean Power’s Offshore WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition in Boston today, Interior Sec. Deb Haaland today announced a framework to meet the administration’s goal to develop 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Pursuant to the strategy, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could hold up to 7 offshore wind lease sales [...]