Editor

NOAA today announced the release of the 2022 Status of Stocks report, which summarizes efforts to rebuild and recover domestic fisheries by evaluating over 490 NOAA-managed stocks.  Between 2021 and 2022, the number of stocks on the overfishing list fell from 26 to 24, while the number of overfished stocks dropped from 51 to 48. NOAA Administrator […]

During a U.S. House Natural Resources Energy & Minerals Subcommittee budget oversight hearing today, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Liz Klein testified along with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Deputy Director Paul Huang and the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Among other things, Republicans underscored the importance of offshore oil and gas, stressed the need for

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced its request for information and nominations by Monday, June 12 regarding potential commercial wind energy development in ~9.8 million acres in the Gulf of Maine off Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. As part of the comment period, BOEM specifically seeks comments on the suitability of the following areas for potential

In a Proclamation issued today commemorating April 22, 2023 as Earth Day, President Biden called climate change “a clear and present danger” and asked Americans to “reflect on the need to protect our precious Earth; to heed the call to combat our climate and biodiversity crises while growing the economy; and to keep working for

President Biden on today issued an Executive Order on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All, which calls for advancing environmental justice by implementing and enforcing environmental and civil rights laws, preventing pollution, addressing climate change and its effects, cleaning up legacy pollution, investing in and supporting culturally vibrant, sustainable, and resilient communities,

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking comments by Monday, May 22 on its proposal to authorize Attentive Energy, LLC to take small numbers of 15 species of marine mammals by Level B harassment incidental to high-resolution geophysical surveys off New York and New Jersey in the New York Bight.  The surveys

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced that public listening sessions will be held on Thursday Apr. 27 and Thursday, May 25 in order to provide information on $25 million in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to support clean water in underserved Gulf of Mexico communities.  EPA is also interested in receiving public input on

The National Science Foundation today announced that its Advisory Committee for Polar Programs will hold a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, May 17.  Agenda items include a review and evaluation of the COVID Protocols Subcommittee report, and a vote on whether it should be forwarded to the Office of Polar Programs. The Committee provides advice

The State Department this week announced that the Shipping Coordinating Committee will hold a public meeting in Washington, DC on Monday, May 22 in preparation for the 107th session of the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee, to be held in London on May 31-June 9.  Meeting topics include development of a goal-based instrument for maritime

The U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee today held a hearing on discussion draft legislation that, among other things, would establish NOAA as an independent executive branch agency and require a study examining the feasibility of transferring all or part of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act management functions to the