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Huge Oil Slick From Russian Ship Heads for British Coastline

The oil slick off Ireland, which was caused by a refuelling accident involving the Admiral Kuznetsov, top left (Maritime and Coastguard Agency)

Coastguards in Britain and Ireland were on red alert today after a Russian aircraft carrier spilt an estimated 1,000 tonnes of oil off the southern Irish coast.

The spill, which happened as the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was refuelling at sea, caused a slick that is now more than three miles long and almost as wide.

It is the biggest oil spill in waters around the British Isles since the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven in 1996, causing widespread damage to the Pembrokeshire coast.

Posted in biodiversity, Environment, oceans, oil, pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009
9:38 AM

CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Luke Eshleman (202) 265-7337

NOAA Sea Grant Seeks to De-Fund Scientist for Advocacy

Protest on Oil Industry Bias in Sea Grant Seen to 'Cause Problems Nationally'

WASHINGTON - February 10 - A well-respected University of Alaska marine scientist will have his federal funding cut after a top National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration official complained about his "advocacy" on behalf of marine conservation, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). NOAA's pressure has led university officials to seek elimination of any further NOAA Sea Grant funding for the scientist's work.

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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Links:
Posted in conservation, Environment, oceans

Navy Plan to Increase Warfare Training off Oregon Coast Draws Objections

Tugboats tow the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama through Puget Sound in 2006, with Mount Rainier in the background. Submarine exercises would increase under the Navy's plan for more training off the Pacific Northwest coast. (Anthony Madina/U.S. Navy)

You may not realize it, but the Navy has been conducting warfare training exercises off the coast of Oregon, Washington and Northern California for decades, firing missiles and machine guns, dropping bombs and practicing crucial sonar detection of submarines.

Posted in conservation, oceans

World's Major Fishing Nations Failing on Sustainability

Leatherback turtle hatchlings. Australia on Sunday listed the world's largest sea turtle, the leatherback, as endangered due to the threats posed by overfishing and the unsustainable harvesting of its eggs and meat (AFP/File/Jimin Lai)

More than 40% of the world's fishing is carried out unsustainably and largely in defiance of international codes of conduct, according to a new study. The team that carried out the research said that voluntary schemes to prevent overfishing should be replaced with binding international laws that can better protect marine ecosystems.

Scientists graded the 53 major fishing nations - those that take 96% of the world's marine catch - on how their intentions matched actions in complying with the UN's code, a voluntary measure developed in 1995 as a potential way to tackle overfishing.

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, Environment, oceans, Sustainability

Japanese Whalers Accused of 'Military-Grade' Weapons Againt Protesters

File image shows two whales (front and partly seen at right) being dragged on board a Japanese whaling ship after being harpooned in Antarctic waters. Japanese whalers were accused Monday of injuring two anti-whaling activists in a high seas clash in the Antarctic and of deploying a new \"military grade\" acoustic weapon against protesters. (AFP/Australian Customs Service/Ho)

TOKYO - Two of the crew of the Steve Irwin have sustained injuries in the clashes in poor weather in Antarctic waters, according to Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd and captain of the ship. One campaigner was injured after being struck by a water cannon, the other hit in the face by a metal ball.

"Our research whaling fleet only used water cannons and did not use any other weapons," said Toshinori Uoya, a spokesman for the Far Seas Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Tokyo.

Posted in Activism, conservation, oceans, protest, Japan

Climate Change May Be Stoking Stronger Winds, Altered Oceans

Sunset is seen over the sea. Global warming may create \"dead zones\" in the ocean that would be devoid of fish and seafood and endure for up to two millennia, according to a study published on Sunday. (AFP/File/Adek Berry)

The specter of an ocean floor littered with dead shellfish, rock fish, sea stars and other marine life off the Oregon coast spurred Mark Snyder, a climate change expert, to investigate whether California's coast faced a similar calamity.

It could, the UC Santa Cruz earth scientist said, citing climate change, which some scientists believe is responsible for stronger and more persistent winds along the coast. There's no debate that windier conditions drive more upwelling of nutrient-rich deep ocean waters.

Posted in biodiversity, conservation, Environment, global warming, oceans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2009
5:00 PM

CONTACT: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Chris Cutter (IFAW, Headquarters)
+1 (508) 744-2066
ccutter@ifaw.org

US Plan to Expand Whaling Released

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass. - February 2 - Documents released today by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) confirm the United State's leadership in negotiations to undo the global moratorium on commercial whaling and extend unprecedented authorization to the Government of Japan to kill whales off its coastline and in international waters.

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Posted in conservation, oceans

Rising Acidity Is Threatening Food Web of Oceans, Science Panel Says

A coral reef in the depth of Ras Mohammed protection area near Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, July 2005. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must fall sharply to avoid inflicting acid damage to the world's marine ecosystems, more than 150 scientists warned Friday. (AFP/File/Tarik Tinazay)

The oceans have long buffered the effects of climate change by absorbing a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But this benefit has a catch: as the gas dissolves, it makes seawater more acidic. Now an international panel of marine scientists says this acidity is accelerating so fast it threatens the survival of coral reefs, shellfish and the marine food web generally.

Posted in biodiversity, climate change, Environment, global warming, oceans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2009
2:08 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity
(415) 436-9682 x 308 or (510) 845-6703 (cell)

EPA Agrees to Review Ocean Acidification Impacts Under Clean Water Act:

Agency Will Analyze Effects of CO2 Emissions on Water Quality

SAN FRANCISCO - January 27 - In response to a petition and threatened litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to review how ocean acidification should be addressed under the federal Clean Water Act. Ocean acidification, the "other CO2 problem," results from the ocean's absorption of excess CO2 in the atmosphere, which increases the acidity of the ocean and changes the chemistry of seawater.

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At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.
Center for Biological Diversity Links:
Posted in biodiversity, Environment, oceans, water quality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2009
3:00 PM

CONTACT: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Chris Cutter (IFAW, Headquarters)
+1 (508) 744-2066
ccutter@ifaw.org

Jake Levenson (IFAW, Headquarters)
+1(508) 744-2235
jlevenson@ifaw.org

Newspaper Reveals Secret US Plan to Expand Whaling

YARMOUTH PORT, Mass. - January 26 - According to secret documents obtained by the Washington Post, outgoing Bush Administration appointees have been engaged in intense, closed-door negotiations to undo the global moratorium on commercial whaling and extend unprecedented authorization to the Government of Japan to kill whales off its coastline and in international waters.

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Posted in conservation, oceans
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