COS Influences Final Report to Obama on BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Submitted by cosedit on Fri, 2011-02-25 17:15
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Assessing the Final Report of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling

Kimi Narita  By Kimi Narita, Center for Ocean Solutions Legal Intern

Back in early August 2010 Meg Caldwell, Executive Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions (COS), was asked to testify before the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (Commission).  Her testimony would address the statutory and regulatory framework for outer continental shelf (OCS) leasing and would identify potential changes to both minimize the likelihood of another catastrophic oil spill occurring and prepare the nation should another disaster occur.  August was a busy month for the COS staff, particularly myself and Meg Caldwell, as we conducted research, corresponded with other ocean experts, and drafted her testimony.  Caldwell flew to Washington D.C. and presented her testimony to a very appreciative Commission on August 25, 2010, and we assembled her written testimony the following week.  Caldwell’s testimony stressed that the current laws and regulations are written and administered in a way that leads to poor environmental review and minimal inter-agency consultation.  Read more...

Gulf oil spill overlaps critical bluefin tuna habitat during spawning season.

Submitted by eloury on Fri, 2010-06-25 15:12
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This map shows the track (yellow line) and daily positions (dots) of an electronically tagged giant bluefin tuna, which spent March 23-May 24, 2009, in the Gulf of Mexico. The track is overlaid on the area of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as of May 24, 2010 (black). (Credit: Tag-A-Giant Foundation and Stanford University)

Erin Louryby Erin Loury

Science Communication Intern/M.S. Candidate at Moss Landing Marine Labs

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill may spell big trouble for the Atlantic bluefin tuna, one of the most commercially valuable species that is already beleaguered by overfishing.   The area of the Deepwater Horizon spill coincides with critical bluefin spawning grounds, which the fish return to with amazing fidelity, a new study finds.

Dr. Steven Teo of the University of California at Davis and Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University recently published a paper in the journal PLoS ONE, which reveals pronounced differences in habitat use between bluefin and yellowfin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico.  Using electronic tagging and fisheries catch data, Teo and Block discovered that bluefin are highly specific in their habitat use.  These giant fish select cool, productive water masses in the slope waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a site fidelity reminiscent of salmon returning to their natal streams.  In contrast to yellowfin tuna, which are more widely distributed throughout the warm Gulf waters, "The bluefins' habitat requirements are relatively exact, so we can predict with reasonable accuracy where bluefin tuna are likely to be spawning at any given time based on oceanographic data,” Dr. Teo said. 

Unfortunately, this predictive power leads to a troubling prognosis in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Read more...

The Ocean's Stars Call for Action at the National Marine Sanctuary Leadership Award Dinner

Submitted by eloury on Wed, 2010-06-16 22:21
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Meeting some ocean stars at Capitol Hill Ocean Week: Sylvia Earle (in blue) and Julie Packard pose with COS scholarship recipients Erin Loury and Malin Pinsky at the National Marine Sanctuary Awards Dinner

by Erin Loury

Science Communication Intern/M.S. Candidate at Moss Landing Marine Labs

 

 

The National Marine Sanctuary Awards Dinner has all the glitter and star wattage of an ocean-themed Academy Awards.  Malin and I were fortunate enough to attend along with the rest of the Center for Ocean Solutions team as part of Capitol Hill Ocean Week.

Also in attendance were such ocean luminaries as Jane Lubchenco (head of NOAA), Julie Packard (Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium), Lt. Don Walsh (one of two explorers to reach the bottom of the Marianas Trench),  Robert Ballard (discoverer of the Titanic), Sylvia Earle (ocean explorer and TED prize winner), and the family of Jacques Cousteau.  Read more...

Oil dominates discussions at CHOW10

Submitted by ahemphill on Thu, 2010-06-10 10:21
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Deepwater Horizon

Malin Pinskyby Malin Pinsky, Ph.D Candidate, Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford 

Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) has taken place every year for the past decade, but this year has
taken on a special meaning for one unfortunate reason: oil that
continues to pour from the broken Deep Horizon well. Almost every
speaker, no matter what their planned topic, somehow touches on the
“disaster” and “tragedy.” A representative of the fishing industry got
up yesterday and berated government officials for regulating fisheries
more tightly than oil drilling. Hard to argue with. Perhaps we’ll see
the equivalent of fisheries observers on every rig in the coming
years.  Read more...

As the Gulf oil leak disaster worsens, Capitol Hill focuses attention on the health of our ocean

Submitted by eloury on Mon, 2010-06-07 11:31
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Fishing boats drag oil booms as the U.S. Coast Guard trains for controlled burns of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (photo: U.S. Navy, Jeffery Tilghman Williams/Marine Photobank)

by Erin Loury, Science Communication Intern/M.S. Candidate at Moss Landing Marine Labs

 If you’ve been following the Center for Oceans Twitter feed, or any other marine news outlet, you’ll know that the environmental conditions of the Gulf Coast have gone from bad to worse.  Images slowly seeping to into the public consciousness via various news channels depict ruined wetlands, defaced beaches and birds beleaguered by thick, brown oil.  Projected movement of the oil plume indicates that this is truly a national, and indeed international, crisis.

What more fitting topic, then, for leaders in ocean policy, research, management and conservation to discuss than “Clean Energy and a Healthy Ocean: Navigating the Future.”  Read more...

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