News from Across the American Shoreline

A landmark settlement with an oil and gas company that could potentially unlock big dollars to help restore Louisiana’s disappearing coast has yet to advance, three months after the tentative agreement was announced. The deal with Freeport calls for the company to pay up to $100 million in cash and in what Carmouche calls “environmental credits.”

But governments struggle to curb illegal sand-mining

A judge has sentenced Mark Edward Zywotko, 47, of Cape Coral to 60 days in federal prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for committing mail fraud in the perpetration of a fraudulent scheme to overharvest more than 50,000 pounds of Gulf reef fish from the waters off Southwest Florida.

For the first time, indigenous communities living around the Bering Sea were invited to share their perspectives of the changing Arctic for the 2019 edition of NOAA’s annual Arctic Report Card.

“There is no higher priority for me and for my department in British Columbia than addressing the Big Bar landslide on the Fraser River,” – Bernadette Jordan, Canada’s new Fisheries Minister

The City Dock Action Committee presented its final report Tuesday to the Annapolis City Council, offering new details on a project that would remake the downtown area and how supporters plan to pay the estimated $50 million price tag.

The area had damaging flooding from Superstorm Sandy and Tropical Storm Irene, and such storms are expected occur more often, said the report. Sea level over the next 50 years is expected to rise 0.4-3.2 feet in New Haven.

Six towns have a new ally as they work to address rising sea levels and plan for the resiliency and sustainability of the coastline they call home.

Stantec has been picked as lead designer for the Battery coastal resilience project in Lower Manhattan in New York, USA.

The Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources invites the public to attend a presentation on coastal resiliency at noon Jan. 28.

When coastal communities start losing their battles with sea level rise, king tides and storm surges, one of the first signs of retreat will be the relocation of their water supplies even further inland to escape saltwater intrusion. An emerging motivation for Florida cities and counties is fear of losing their municipal bond credit ratings and tax bases.

WASHINGTON, DC (WAVY) — Two U.S. senators and one House representative from Virginia are pushing for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to include sea-level rise in its Fiscal Year 2020 Work Plan.

The installation could power 4.5 million homes.

Resources Radio: This week, host Daniel Raimi talks with Megan Mullin, an associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Mullin talks about her research, which analyzes how communities pay to rehabilitate beaches affected by erosion and how differential tax rates can affect levels of support for these beach nourishment projects.

Kitty Hawk town council members met on Monday, Jan. 6. Their agenda included an agreement with APTIM regarding a post-hurricane beach profile survey and a discussion of the newly planned library for Southern Shores.

The Town has a goal to dredge canals within the community to keep them navigable and to maintain property values.

ATLANTIC BEACH, NC (WNCT) – A project is concerned with rainwater pollution and flooding in a coastal city.Homeowners in Hyde County can apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to elevate their homes.

On the afternoon of January 15, activist Diane Wilson kicked off a San Antonio Estuary Waterkeeper meeting on the side of the road across from a Formosa plastics manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas. After Wilson and the waterkeeper successfully sued Formosa, the company agreed to no longer release even one of the tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles into the region’s waterways.

East Yorkshire councillors bemoan lack of national guidance and funding

The tropical Maldives may lose entire islands unless it can quickly access cheap financing to fight the impact of climate change, its foreign minister said.

California’s coastal waters are acidifying twice as fast as the global average, according to a new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

New Delhi: Given the heat of climate change and the government’s plans to create sustainable cities that offer citizens a decent quality of life, the use of intelligent technological tools to address environmental threats is critical.

From time to time it comes to our attention either through our own experience or through information from our readers, various situations that can only be described as “odd”.

After I returned from a long and demanding scientific expedition in the coastal areas of North Africa, my colleague took me for a walk on Corona del Mar State Beach. A few steps in, he started recalling 15-year-old memories of the beach and how it has changed since. The beach seemed to be disappearing because of sea level rise, he said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — As Egypt marks the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal, marine biologists are bemoaning one of the famed waterway’s lesser known legacies — the invasion of hundreds of non-native species, including toxic jellyfish and aggressive lionfish.

On a tucked-away South Shore beach, there once were cool shallows to swim and buried shells to dig up. For those living feet away, there was the sound of the water, the constant, gentle splash on sand.

The federal agency says that in addition to coastal Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties in Mississippi, the declaration covers adjacent counties and parishes.

Florida has reached a deal with a real estate company to acquire 20,000 acres of the Everglades that is slated for oil production in order to protect the wetlands, Florida’s governor announced Wednesday.

Bhitarkanika National Park has been declared Odisha’s first Critically Vulnerable Coastal Area (CVCA) by the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry.

Climate crises, like financial crises, will be damaging, unpredictable and almost impossible to avoid

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Common murres look like skinny penguins but fly like F-15 fighter jets.

New Hampshire is drafting plans for how its lobster fishery will help meet new federal goals for protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales.

A six-mile-long barrier would help protect the city from floodwaters during fierce storms like Sandy, but critics say rising seas make the option inadequate.

Sarasota County will dedicate $20 million toward the Nathan Benderson Park project and plans to reallocate money budgeted for tourism promotion

Whidbey Island County commissioners are “aghast” at recent actions taken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that could affect local shoreline property owners.

Our latest paper, led by Marta Ribó, is out today in Nature Scientific Reports. With this new research, we can now identify which sections of the East Australian coast are likely to have a future and ongoing sand supply sand which sections are inherently vulnerable to erosion due to a lack of sand supply thousands of years ago.

Mekong river is Southeast Asia's largest river, measuring up to 4,800 kilometers and bridging the countries of Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam up to the Tibetan plateau. The Mekong river is an important body of water as it provides livelihood to the people of these countries at the same time, its 800,000 square kilometer river basin is home to different species of plants and animals.

Two small islands in South Sumatra have disappeared as a result of rising sea levels driven by climate change, while four other islands are already on the brink of vanishing, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has claimed.

Queensland farmers will be able to use their smartphones to track in real-time how much fertiliser is washing off their crops and polluting the Great Barrier Reef.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Galveston District and the Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 (DD7) are set to begin construction of the Port Arthur and Vicinity Coastal Storm Risk Management Project (CSRM).

Hampton’s Public Works Department saved taxpayers more than $100,000 by replenishing Buckroe Beach with dredged sand from Indian Creek…but not all were impressed.

Coming soon to our Manasota Key beaches: The Gulf of Mexico. Like it or not, if we don’t add more sand periodically, our beachfront homes and condos will fall into the Gulf. I’m not talking about any sea level changes or global warming here — just the normal course of shifting sands. I can’t say beach renourishment is good, but I understand it’s necessary because we built on migrating barrier islands. These islands aren’t stable. They never have been. The beaches will always be temporary.

The project's consultant writes the homeowners wanted to create a more natural shape to the dune to stabilize the sand.

The U.S. Department of Interior Secretary’s reversal of a rule that limited where sand within federally restricted coastal zones may be placed is a change that makes good economic sense, proponents say, but one that environmentalists say is a step backward in protecting sensitive coastal resources.

TCarta Marine, a provider of marine geospatial products, is commercializing a new technique to derive highly accurate shallow-water bathymetry measurements from NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite data. The new methodology is being developed with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2018, NSF awarded the company a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to commercialize new satellite-derived bathymetric (SDB) measurement technologies. Referred to as Project Trident, the research focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) - machine learning and computer vision - to determine shallow-water seafloor depth in variable water conditions.

The 2020 Marco Speaker Series presented by the Audubon of the Western Everglades (AWE) was held at Mackle Park on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020. It was led by biologist Ryan Young on Florida’s Mangroves and their Importance in the Environment.

"The moment of crisis has come" in efforts to tackle climate change, Sir David Attenborough has warned.

US atmospheric agency also says that ocean heat content is the highest in recorded history.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeks to dramatically increase the supply of radio occultation soundings it feeds into weather forecast models.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has made the fourth and final set of awards as part of a broader professional and technical services contract vehicle to support the agency’s environmental intelligence gathering mission.

EThekwini Municipality has assured dog owners that once the festive season is over, dogs will be allowed onto Vetch’s beach again.

Dredging to deepen the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah has resumed after an 18-month pause, Col. Daniel Hibner of the Army Corps of Engineers recently announced as the second half of the $973 million expansion has started to get under way.

The unprecedented death of nearly one million birds between 2015 and 2016, whose remains washed ashore in Alaska, US, was brought on by a severe and long-lasting marine heatwave, a new study says.l

Archaeologists have found a collection of seashells and volcanic rock once owned by Neanderthals in Grotta dei Moscerini in central Italy.

Members of the American lobster industry are hopeful the thawing of trade relations between the U.S. and China will reopen one of the biggest markets in the world for lobsters.

Space Coast voters agreed to tax themselves to clean up the Indian River Lagoon.

A state project to help four species of fish pass more easily between the ocean and lakes and rivers in eastern Washington County is getting a $30 million boost from the federal government.

Innovative efforts are underway to help turn the tide for small-scale fishers in a way that benefits both these vulnerable communities and the natural resources they depend upon for survival. For this to happen, the supply chain has to be disrupted.

Local shark researchers are waiting on the release of anticipated federal funding to conduct a two-year study which will attempt to identify when water conditions are ripe for an increased presence of white sharks.

When the big waves come, so does a tsunami of viral videos of bad behavior and sheer disregard for safety. This season's run of awful videos was gut wrenching and frustrating. Still, it started me thinking more about that behavior. While the most recent tragedy where two children were lost to waves was not a result of willful disregard (it was more likely a freak wave), there were an unbelievable array of storm vids showing a complete recklessness.

Ranch owners fight legislation that gives the government unfettered access to private, sensitive coastal land and potentially punishes owners for defending their way of life

A new conservation area is to be created and an existing one extended in a bid to protect the breeding grounds of threatened seabirds.

How did the monstrous giant squid—reaching school-bus size, with eyes as big as dinner plates and tentacles that can snatch prey 10 yards away—get so scarily big?

A new study identifies the non-native species most likely to invade the Antarctic Peninsula region over the next decade. It provides a baseline for all operators in the region to look at mitigation measures. The study is published in the journal Global Change Biology today, January 13, 2020.

Increasing sea rise is going to water down the value of some of the most coveted and expensive real estate in Florida, and insurance rates will go up too.

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.

Proposals for two offshore wind farms have been opposed by councillors concerned that substations will damage the look of a conservation area.

Modi govt identified 13 pilot beaches in July 2019 for voluntary eco-label Blue Flag. Ten of these sites are likely to be sent for certification soon.

Claire Neaton and Emma Privat are supporting their community by protecting a way of life and Alaskan salmon.

Turns out that “my relative” is on the dinner menu for some hammerhead sharks in Australia!

The rate of coastal erosion around the UK is expected to increase substantially in the future, according to a new study by the University of Plymouth.

Anthropogenic climate change and its associated rise in sea levels could prove a significant threat to some of the world’s iconic coastal space launch sites, including Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters announced on Jan. 14, 2020, the seven recipients of the 2020 Academy Fellows Award. Among them was UW-Green Bay Prof. Emeritus Hallet J. ‘Bud’ Harris (NAS), who has dedicated his career and life’s work to scientific solutions to Great Lakes issues.

The North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies is slated to present information on its climate science report when the state Climate Change Interagency Council meets Jan. 22 in Raleigh

Following the success of the DYNAREV experiment in the summer of 2017, a second Bath-led laboratory experiment on a low cost style of dynamic revetment was carried out in collaboration with researchers from institutions in both Europe and Brazil, supported by GCRF funding.

Recent studies of sediment types and shellfish resources, and preliminary consultations with regulatory agencies, have not dredged up any issues that would stall efforts to improve navigation in Nauset Estuary, a stakeholder group learned Monday.

Cermaq Canada, a division of a multi-national salmon farming company, was granted a lease option by the provincial government last year to pursue open-pen farming in 20 sites throughout Nova Scotia including in Chedabucto Bay. Since that time the company has been investigating the feasibility of expansion, examining the business, environmental and social climate related to the proposed site areas.

The idea is to build a buffer between the condos and the rising seas.

ECU Integrated Coastal Programs and the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) are hosting a lecture on the Outer Banks at the turn of the 20th century as part of its “Science on the Sound” lecture series.

A Long Beach conference explores new uses for oil rigs at the end of their life cycle.

The sand so many Manasota Key beachfront homeowners have been waiting for may be on its way soon.

Friends of RGV Reef has launched a major new phase of its artificial reefing project off South Padre Island, even as fishing boats reel in large numbers of red snapper the reef is already producing.

EMERALD ISLE — Bogue Banks’ next beach nourishment project is ready to roll, with dredging and pumping of sand set to begin the first week of February, a little earlier than originally planned.

TRENTON, NJ — The NJ Department of Environmental Protection is making $13.5 million in funding available for local projects to improve water quality and help prevent, mitigate and manage harmful algal blooms in lakes and ponds, building upon the state’s HAB response strategy announced by Gov. Phil Murphy in November.

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.

Presented with evidence that the striped bass population is struggling along the East Coast, a regional panel empowered to set catch limits reduced the harvest 18 percent for the coming season.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is phasing out traditional paper navigation charts, but one NOAA official says the chart for Carteret County should last through the year.

A nonprofit flood risk research organization is offering the first publicly available flood risk model that predicts the probability of flooding for homes and properties across the United States.

Do the thousands of drivers who zip down N.C. 191 through Bent Creek each day know they are passing through one of the rarest habitats in the state, and possibly the country?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use money from a disaster bill to provide long-awaited federal funding for a pair of North Carolina beach nourishment projects, according to a release from U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis.

As sea levels rise, the planet's natural bulwarks against the ocean could help protect the coastline. But these very habitats are also under threat.

Towers taller than the Statue of Liberty are popping up throughout the seas, generating energy for a booming industry.

Sea turtles continue to play a key role in the Cayman Islands economy. But the iconic sea creatures have become more valuable alive than dead.

EPA, Corps of Engineers Face Third Lawsuit on WOTUS Rule

The results of an 18-year study of Atlantic tarpon by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science revealed that these large silvery fish take extensive seasonal migrations--1,000s of kilometers in distance--beyond U.S. borders. The new findings can help protect the fish, which is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN--International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the main draw of a more than $6 billion catch-and-release sport fishing industry in the United States.

On a stretch of the Lower Keys, near an old borrow pit quarried during the construction of Big Pine, sea water and mud cover much of the rocky ground.

The Alabama Department of Conservation announced Monday that interested parties can begin submitting project proposals they wish to be funded through Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) monies.

Lance Underwood fears for local fisheries

NOAA is kicking off a year-long celebration to mark its upcoming 50th anniversary. Since its inception on October 3, 1970, NOAA has become one of the world’s premier science agencies that protects life and property, leads stewardship of the ocean and Great Lakes, and drives the blue economy — a mission that spans from the surface of the sun to the floor of the ocean.

Council has won a court battle to prevent significant vegetation clearing on sensitive coastal dunes at Castaways Beach.