In collaboration with the National Science Foundation and 16 international partners and through the Belmont Forum, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the award of funding for two 3-year projects to study multiple uses of the oceans, with a focus on identifying pathways toward responsible development and minimizing conflicts. The projects – “An Assessment Framework for [...]
Archive | June, 2020
BOEM Announces Completion of Paleocultural Landscapes Project
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the completion of a 6-year study to help establish a methodology for better locating, identifying, and understanding ancient sites where indigenous people may have been present in federal waters. BOEM notes that the study results, which include best practices to improve the effectiveness of tribal engagement and [...]
NMFS Seeks Comments on IUU Fishing, Bycatch, and Shark Fishing
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking information by Thursday, Dec. 31 regarding nations whose vessels are engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, bycatch of protected living marine resources, and/or fishing activities in waters beyond any national jurisdiction that target or incidentally catch sharks. The information is being sought pursuant to the High [...]
Select Committee on Climate Crisis Majority Staff Releases Action Plan
The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Majority Staff today released a report on “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.” The 547-page report features 12 pillars, including one to “Protect and Restore America’s Lands, Waters, Ocean, and Wildlife” that includes [...]
USCG Seeks Comments on Northern NY Bight Port Access Route Study
The U.S. Coast Guard today announced that it is seeking comments by Friday, Aug. 28 on its efforts to conduct a Port Access Route Study to evaluate the adequacy of existing vessel routing measures and whether additional vessel routing measures are necessary for port approaches to New York and New Jersey and international and domestic transit areas in [...]
USCG Seeks Comments on Possible U.S. Atl. Coast Shipping Safety Fairways
The Coast Guard today announced that it is seeking comments by Tuesday, Aug. 18 on the possible establishment of 9 shipping safety fairways along the U.S. Atlantic Coast that were identified in the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study in order to “protect maritime commerce and safe navigation amidst extensive offshore development on the Atlantic Coast.” The announcement notes [...]
NOAA Announces 2020-2026 R&D Vision Areas
NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research today announced the availability of the agency’s R&D Vision Areas for 2020-2026, which it says will “provide a common understanding among NOAA’s leadership, workforce, partners, and constituents on the value and direction of NOAA R&D activities.” NOAA R&D priorities over the next seven years will focus on the following vision areas: Reducing [...]
Comments Sought on Offshore Wind Project-related Supplemental EIS
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, July 27 on a draft Vineyard Wind Offshore Wind Energy Project Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement analyzing reasonably foreseeable effects from an expanded cumulative activities scenario for offshore wind development, new fishing data, a new transit line alternative, and changes to the Construction and Operations [...]
WH Releases Ocean Exploration Strategies for Permitting and Mapping
Following up on last November’s Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska, the White House today announced the release of a document outlining opportunities and actions to increase the efficiency of the permitting and authorization processes for ocean research, mapping, and characterization activities across regions. Additionally, the White [...]
BOEM Announces Availability of FY 2021-22 Studies Development Plan
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the release of its FY 2021-2022 Studies Development Plan, which outlines the agency’s research priorities and describes proposed studies for the covered period. Nine of the Plan’s proposed studies will be presented at the upcoming National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 13th meeting of the BOEM Standing Committee on Offshore [...]
