News from Across the American Shoreline

There were 323 surveys performed in February 2021 a total of 7,584 surveys that Nurdle Patrol has performed since November 2018. A total of 3,598 different sites have been surveyed. Feel free to browse all the data on the map at www.NurdlePatrol.org.

State officials have warned that a proposed seawall to protect the Marines’ Puuloa Range Training Facility would cause massive coastal erosion.

A much sought-after ghost study of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) that mysteriously could not be traced has suddenly been released to the public, but it is almost unreadable due to heavy redactions.

PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency and JTC will embark on site-specific studies at the coastlines of City-East Coast and Jurong Island this year, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu during the Committee of Supply debate on Thursday.

Town Manager Roger Hernstadt will apply for county, state funding to cover work on central, south end of beach

Part of the mission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is to manage lands and restore habitats for the diverse native fish, wildlife and plants that call them home.

With Jamaica and the Caribbean still under the weight of climate change threats, despite the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the case was recently made for a scale up of investment in holistic coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs.

NEWPORT — A Carteret County-based environmental nonprofit has released a statewide plan to address stormwater flooding through nature-based projects and practices.

Ferreira Construction on Tuesday began laying down a temporary road on the north and south beach access points -- at either end of Oceana Key Biscayne apartments -- as well as a temporary path along the beach, which will be used by smaller trucks to move sand.

The owners of an oceanfront home lost their claims against the city of Malibu relating to their plan to install signposts marking where the public beach ends and their private property begins.

In a recent study, we discovered that a relatively small number of companies, headquartered in a few countries, generate most of the revenues from using the ocean.

Skipjack are the world’s most abundant tuna. They’re resilient, but can they outswim our demand for this pantry staple?

The loss of seagrass in the waters around the UK is much higher than previously estimated. A new study published in Frontiers in Plant Science concludes that, with high certainty, at least 44% of the UK's seagrasses have been lost since 1936, of which 39% has been since the 1980s.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers following its decision to deny Pinellas County’s request for flexibility in securing easements to renourish local beaches which make up a significant portion of the county’s Shore Protection Project.

Six months ago, communities across 21 parishes in Louisiana experienced the devastating effects of Hurricane Laura.

As a result of the governor’s decision Tuesday to lift the state’s mask mandate and all restrictions tied to capacity, the news comes as a double-edged sword that’s positive financially, but at the cost of less power for Texas businesses.

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography report that a whole ecosystem of microbes below the sea dines not on sunlight, but on chemicals produced by the natural irradiation of water molecules.

COLUMBIA — S.C. House lawmakers are deciding this week how to pay for a new state office that will tackle the effects of extreme weather.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Wednesday announced it is resuming preparation of a final environmental impact statement on the Vineyard Wind offshore energy project, reversing a move to end the permitting process in the final weeks of the Trump administration.

These sea creatures are on quite the California adventure. The baby white abalone started their lives in the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab in Northern California. This week they boarded a private plane for a trip south, where they’ll vacation in labs and aquariums, eating buffets of kelp and hanging out to grow just a bit more.

In partnership with five other federal partners (FEMA, USGS, USDA, USACE, NPS), NOAA maintains an inventory of available topo and bathy elevation data. The inventory just recently underwent a rebuild with new features, so we wanted to get the word out to elevation data users. I have attached the text. The link to the USIEI is coast.noaa.gov/inventory.

Sea levels rising and falling over hundreds of thousands of years may have helped build the oceanic structures

Growing opposition to a proposed wind farm off the coast of Long Beach Island is about more than just having an altered beach view of the horizon. So much more, according to a lifelong Ship Bottom resident and business owner.

Sipekne'katik chief urges bands in Atlantic Canada to reject Ottawa's position

Knesset committee chair warns that in a future pollution disaster, ‘we won’t have water to drink and our children won’t be able to bathe in the sea for decades’

The Army Corps of Engineers’ Wilmington District has published its final environmental review required for the elimination of the environmental window for dredging the harbors at the state’s two seaports.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began to implement its sunset plan for paper nautical charts last month, starting with the current paper chart 18665 of Lake Tahoe.

WASHINGTON — The waterfront of the U.S. Naval Academy is more frequently being affected by rising sea levels, the academy’s superintendent said.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) and Wright Brothers National Memorial had the highest levels of visitation in January 2021 than any other January on record.

LINCOLN BEACH — Early Saturday morning, several Lincoln Beach residents awoke to find a seawall on Lincoln Avenue had collapsed from erosion, dozens of its 35-foot tall concrete pilings breaking free and tumbling onto the beach below by Monday afternoon.

MYRTLE BEACH — As “Cottontail,” a deceased North Atlantic right whale, drifts some 15 miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, images of great white sharks circling and feeding on it should come as no surprise — it’s simply part of the ecosystem that is usually out of sight.

Humans were present in Florida by 14,000 years ago, and until recently, it was believed the Bahamas – located only a few miles away – were not colonized until about 1,000 years ago.

Everyone likes manatees. Except, perhaps, for whoever scraped "TRUMP" into a manatee in 2020.

Pebble Limited Partnership can appeal the denial of a primary environmental permit for the company’s large mine proposal but the State of Alaska cannot, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials ruled in separate Feb. 24 decisions.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is set to release new rates this fall, and it’s likely to result in an increase in premiums for Louisiana homeowners. One study finds rates would need to quadruple for the program to stay afloat.

As the heart of South Padre Island’s meeting and event business, the South Padre Island Convention Center is accustomed to hosting an array of year-round corporate and consumer events.

EMERALD ISLE — After several delays, the 2-million-cubic-yard Emerald Isle beach nourishment project got underway late Friday afternoon.

Two of Volusia County's legislators have filed identical bills that would increase the use of seawalls to protect beach properties from rising seas.

Legislation to establish enforceable climate emission reduction targets for Rhode Island haven’t fared well in recent years.

Permafrost thaw is one of the world’s most pressing climate problems, already disrupting lifestyles, livelihoods, economies, and ecosystems in the north, and threatening to spill beyond the boundaries of the Arctic as our planet continues to warm.

They are sponsoring legislation to clear up loan terms and make septic-to-sewer projects eligible.

PORTLAND — Federal energy regulators have given Oregon State University initial approval for a groundbreaking wave energy testing facility off the coast.

Most coastal residents are suitably enthralled with charismatic or charming marine animals such as killer whales, the iconic Pacific salmon or furry sea otters. But what of the lowly sea cucumber?

New research is causing scientists to rethink how polynyas—massive openings in the sea ice—are formed

CNN — Remember the movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," in which a catastrophic series of global disasters strike after climate change causes the world's ocean currents to stop?

Legal moves by Florida's top wildlife official for the right to develop submerged land he owns in the Lake Worth Lagoon drew blistering criticism from two dozen people at a meeting Friday of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Jessica Whitehead, formerly chief resilience officer for North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, is now the Joan P. Brock Endowed executive director of the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience, or ICAR, at Old Dominion University, the university announced Thursday.

Bob’s Bayou Black Marina in Gibson can stay open for at least another 12 months.

Digital tools allowing fishermen to share ideas and monitor catches are helping to tackle overfishing and protect livelihoods

Over the last five construction seasons, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District worked on a project to reconstruct a mile-long seawall at the Cape Lisburne site in Alaska.

On Wednesday evening, Feb. 24, Dare County held an online public meeting about beach nourishment for Avon.

The Southern Maine Regional Sustainability and Resilience Program is helping six York County towns address climate change impacts and advance resilience efforts.

These sea creatures are on quite the California adventure.

You’re going to need some double-sided tape.

Ann Moore, 2020 Port Chair of the Port of San Diego, California, highlights the new integrated port planning process adopted by the port and how this is progressively delivering greater benefits to all stakeholders.

Eminent scientists warn that key ecosystems around Australia and Antarctica are collapsing, and propose a three-step framework to combat irreversible global damage.

Officials have a new plan to manage rising water. Succeed or fail, it will very likely become a case study for other cities facing climate threats.

Mayor Gavin Buckley announced last week that the City of Annapolis was suing 26 oil and gas companies for damages the city has and will continue to incur due to climate change. The mayor had no other choice but to sue.

The money will help the county divert sewage water from the channel to the ocean, which will revitalize the wetlands.

During normal operations and maintenance dredging in preparation for continued deepening of the Savannah River, dredgers under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered several historical artifacts that do not appear to be related to the CSS Georgia.

Documents show DFO is surveilling Mi’kmaw communities to keep tabs on treaty fishing but has few policy options to respond

The winter storm that swept across Texas and took power, water and lives last month also hit the state’s coastal fisheries.

Rutgers research shows stormwater could be important source of plastic pollution

The project will be completed in several phases.

Majority Iberdrola-owned utility says competition from likes of BP and Shell 'clarifies industry is for real'

Last year, Louisiana joined a growing list of states that pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2050.

More than 70,000 Beaufort County homes are likely to experience some form of damage due to flooding over the next 30 years, which could cause insurance rates to skyrocket, according to a nationwide study released this week.

A sheet of ice the size of the iconic lake on the New York-Vermont-Quebec border or the city of Los Angeles rapidly separated itself from the Brunt Ice Shelf on Antarctica last week.

Cottontail never had a chance.

Florida lawmakers Friday unveiled a series of bills they say would protect homeowners and businesses from rising seas and flooding brought on by climate change.

The decrease in people in the beach resorts has made it possible to carry out work with large machinery and dumping of sand on beaches of important tourist destinations such as Varadero, declared the director of the Commercial Division of Coastal Engineering of the company Inversiones Gamma S.A., Ernesto Tristá.

Scientists from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation have published their findings on the state of coral reefs in the Chagos Archipelago, considered the last frontier for coral reefs

Off the coast of England, there’s a tiny, wind-swept island with the remains of a lifeboat rescue station from the mid-1800s.

A major wind farm off the U.K.’s east coast featuring huge turbines has produced its first power, in the latest example of how the sector’s technology is growing in size.

A new study by researchers at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science suggests that continued warming of Atlantic coastal waters may enhance the spread of invasive blue catfish within the Chesapeake Bay and other estuaries along the U.S. East Coast.

Researchers at Stanford University and the Peruvian non-profit Planeta Océano have described the movement patterns and habitat use of giant oceanic manta rays off northern Peru. Their findings are published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence.

Floridians would be asked to approve a tax break for people who elevate their homes to avoid the threat of flooding, while up to $100 million a year would be set aside to help local governments combat rising sea levels, under proposals announced Friday by House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor.

Flooding is not uncommon in coastal North Carolina following heavy rains and hurricanes.

There wasn’t much reason to leave the neighborhood. That’s what people remember about Soria City, one of Gulfport’s historic Black communities, during the mid-20th century.

Deep in Australia's southwest is a hidden hotspot of biodiversity.

A mammoth Environmental Impact Report released by the City of Oakland on Friday details the proposed, privately-financed waterfront stadium project at Howard Terminal on the estuary.

Inuit communities in northern Canada say they fear mine expansion will harm wildlife and cultural practices.

SOCASTEE, S.C. (WBTW) — Residents along Folly Road in Socastee are dealing with major flood levels as the Intracoastal Waterway reaches 18.1 feet.

Newswise — Freshwater is accumulating in the Arctic Ocean.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) around O'ahu do not adequately protect populations of herbivorous reef fishes that eat algae on coral reefs.

Maine has joined the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, a public-private partnership that could expand the state's access to research and resources for its offshore wind program.

The 188 giant wind turbines that Dominion Energy plans to plant 27 miles off the Virginia Beach shore will be the utility’s biggest project since its nuclear plants went online in the 1970s — but all that energy won’t do much good if it doesn’t reach customers, says Kevin Curtis, the company’s vice president-electric transmission.

More than a month has passed since New Hanover County’s beach towns were shocked to learn their longstanding shoreline maintenance projects did not receive federal funding, leaving them in a scramble to figure out how they may move forward with nourishing the beaches this fall.

Emergency repairs on Highway 1 at Rat Creek, where a debris flow washed out a 150-foot section in January forcing the closure of the roadway, will begin Monday with an estimated reopening of the highway along the Big Sur Coast for early summer 2021.

Miami-Dade’s new strategy for adapting to sea level rise comes down to two main ideas: build up higher and back away from the water.

Meteorologists have noticed storms forming earlier in the year.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) — The federal government is giving more than $8 million to two New Jersey towns to elevate flood-prone homes, including a Jersey Shore resort dealing with the effects of rising sea levels.

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls called for a state investment of $100 million per year to fight sea-level rise and inland flooding, plus creation of a research hub at the University of Central Florida’s St. Petersburg campus to study those problems.

As locals and tourists head to some Wilmington-area beaches this summer, they will be paying for parking for the first time.

Alaskans are preparing for another salmon season of poor to average runs to most regions. The big exception once again is at Bristol Bay, where another massive return of more than 51 million sockeyes is expected. Managers predict that surge will produce a harvest of over 36 million reds to fishermen.

A remotely controlled sailboat that maps the ocean floor, collecting DNA samples and transmitting real-time data to scientists sounds like the stuff of science fiction. But it’s real and it’s actually pretty close to home.

It’s laudable that South Carolina lawmakers are scrutinizing the State Ports Authority’s request to borrow up to $550 million to make upgrades to the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal taking shape along North Charleston’s waterfront. As one of the state’s largest public investments in recent years, it merits close examination.

Tens of thousands of acres of seagrass that is critical to the health of the Indian River Lagoon have disappeared. It's threatening a number of species, including manatees, who depend on seagrass for food.

Outreach with Fishing Community Underway

After numerous delays because of coronavirus pandemic-related issues with the crews of the contractor, the massive Emerald Isle beach nourishment project is scheduled to begin Thursday.