Ocean-centric funding has increasingly drawn the attention and backing of major philanthropies, and a recent gift of $1.5 million from Marc and Lynne Benioff to the Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) is a prime example. Oceans, which hold about 97 percent of our planet’s water, continue to undergo warming, pollution and species loss—ominous developments that explain the considerable amount of donor attention they receive.

Current fishing and pollution regulations don’t help corals cope with climate change, study says.

Hurricanes are nothing new in many coastal vacation rental markets. But as vacation rental managers and DMOs learn new lessons with each storm, the industry’s response in the aftermath evolves.

Another push for passage of a new US federal aquaculture law is in full swing with a petition to Congress signed by 122 professionals mostly from aquaculture or other seafood-related industries.

By now, everyone knows: the climate is changing, sea levels are rising, and the crises are likely to happen sooner than expected. Still, it’s one thing to know, and another thing to really see these potential disasters. Luckily (or unluckily), there’s no lack of tools to help the apathetic develop a visceral sense of what could be at stake.

Conservationists say they're in "a perpetual state of alert" over the threat of seismic airgun blasting.

Innovate UK-supported study explores utility of multi-use floating platforms

A recently disclosed internal memorandum from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works details a nascent effort to issue guidance that achieves “nationwide consistency” on a series of issues that are routinely raised in the permitting of dredge and fill activities under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

A top democratic House lawmaker is calling on a Trump nominee to be removed from consideration after reports that he was involved in a discrimination and sexual harassment settlement at his former company.

Abstract Currents, wind, bathymetry, and freshwater runoff are some of the factors that make coastal waters heterogeneous, patchy, and scientifically interesting—where it is challenging to resolve the spatiotemporal variation within the water column. We present methods and results from field experiments using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with embedded algorithms that focus sampling on features in three dimensions.

NEW YORK (February 12, 2019) - WCS has announced 13 new grants to nonprofit organizations implementing on-the-ground, science-driven projects that will help wildlife and ecosystems adapt to climate change. These grants are made through the award-winning Climate Adaptation Fund, part of WCS's Conservation Solutions division, which provides a total of $2.5 million in grant awards between $50,000 and $250,000 to conservation non-profit organizations annually.

New Orleans neighborhoods that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 were more likely to gentrify over the following 10 years, researchers find.

At midnight on February 12, 1983, the 605-foot cargo ship Marine Electric was sailing northward 30 miles off Virginia's eastern shore, plowing slowly through the gale-force winds and waves stirred up by a winter storm.

New GIS-based tool identifies best locations: Researchers have developed a mapping tool that identifies sites for re-establishing oyster reefs that maximize their ecological benefits -- such as water filtration. This Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based tool could inform restoration of other vital, sensitive coastal habitats.

Researchers in Sitka have been looking at the impact of microplastics on local shellfish. Their findings illustrate a possible connection between microplastics in butter clams and household laundry.

Published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, the findings compiled by a team of hurricane experts – several of whom work for NOAA – concluded that rapid intensification is happening more often than it should.

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey recently announced plans to change the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintained channel depth values on raster nautical chart products, which include paper nautical charts and the corresponding digital raster navigational charts (NOAA RNC®).

A new report outlines the numerous risks insurers face from climate change. Intelligent climate change investors must take steps to “limit economic exposure to expensive failures while, at the same time, preserving exposure to the enormous upside potential brought about by the upcoming paradigm shift.”

A recent study argues that cities need to start treating Airbnb like any other hotel business, and regulate it accordingly.

The uptick in mine closures since 2008 has largely been driven by economics, and smaller, less profitable mines have been more susceptible to closures. Several factors dictate the profitability of mines, including the method used to extract the coal.

With the rise in natural disasters over the past few years and as climate change continues to be a challenge, natural disaster resiliency is top of mind for commercial property executives.

US: The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) announced the availability of a new way to access and process lidar point cloud data from the 3DEP repository.

The United States was hit by $14 billion weather and climate disasters in 2018, costing the country roughly $91 billion, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA said that 2018 was the 8th consecutive year that saw at least eight billion dollar disasters striking the U.S..

It’s a wrap for 2018, and the numbers show a great year for American wind power. AWEA’s U.S. Wind Industry Fourth Quarter 2018 Market Report reveals that consumer demand combined with policy stability and low, stable prices helped wind power capacity installations rise to the third strongest quarter in the industry’s history. Another big highlight—demand from corporate buyers hit an all-time high in 2018.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has renewed for the third year a reinsurance program that transfers future catastrophic flood insurance losses to the private sector

Naval sonar has been linked to mass strandings of otherwise-healthy whales for nearly two decades, but the precise mechanisms of how it affects whales has eluded scientists. Now, researchers have explained key details of how this disruptive signal triggers behavior in some whales that ends in death.

The debate surrounding flood “resilience” has been filled with talk of rising seas, climate change and imminent coastal exodus — lures meant to distract us from rigorous thought.

Kelly Bowers and husband, Robert, had no idea what building to Fortified standards meant when they were looking to construct a new home in 2012. As they investigated building options, the couple learned about insurance discounts offered only in Alabama which encourage people to build sturdier structures in the state’s coastal region.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Warmer water temperatures, combined with low-level exposure to chemicals already known to be harmful to aquatic life, influence the expression of genes in the offspring of an abundant North American fish species – and threaten organisms whose sex determination is sensitive to water temperature.

Storms, floods, drought and heat waves worry largest companies. Merck, Apple, Home Depot also see new revenue opportunities.

The flood insurance protection gap in the United States is massive, but the take-up rate of private flood insurance continues to be low. The relative inability of private insurers to penetrate the flood insurance market has been blamed on the lack of risk models, low consumer demand, high private premiums and, most of all, on the availability of relatively inexpensive government-sponsored insurance.

Christopher Clark, a senior researcher in the bioacoustics program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, who has studied whale communication for 40 years, described the noise as a “living hell” for undersea life, which is exquisitely tuned to sound.

WASHINGTON – Today, Reps. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (I-MP) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act to ban the buying and selling of shark fins in the United States. Shark finning, the practice of cutting the fins off a shark and discarding its body at sea, is illegal in U.S. waters. However, fins are still traded, imported and exported throughout the U.S., including from countries that do not have adequate protections in place for their shark species.

A researcher’s decision to put an underwater drone in Hurricane Irene’s path is helping to transform the science of hurricane intensity prediction.

Rescuers who respond to distressed whales and other marine animals say the federal government shutdown is making it more difficult to do their work.

The regional councils keep working on provisional funds while the shutdown shutters federal offices and the Federal Register

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The oil and gas industry should not be spared the pain of the partial government shutdown, according to the chairman of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

Federal fishing regulators have until April 16 to rewrite a rule that sets annual catch limits (ACL) for commercial fishing of anchovy in federal waters off the northern coast of California, a judge has ruled.

Various duty refund programs remain on hold as numerous CBP employees are on furlough during the federal government shutdown.

The waters are rising. Finally, somebody here is paying attention. Kudos go out to the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach for its Rising Water Series, which kicked off earlier this month with a talk by environmental journalist Jeff Goodell. He is the author of “The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World.”

It has been nearly eight years since Congress gave away control over spending. Next January when the new House of Representatives meets to adopt its rules, it can correct that mistake by striking its “temporary” ban on congressionally-directed-funding, or earmarks. Since 2008, Congress has only once passed a few funding bills on time, and the Congressional Civility Rating has accelerated its nosedive. There is no such rating, of course, but you get my point.

The Atlantic County Utility Authority will host a program to help people get involved in environmental advocacy.

With the global population expected to reach over nine billion by 2050, food production will need to increase by almost 70 per cent to meet the increasing demand.

Mexico won't pay for President Trump's border wall. But Northern Californians might. Many of them live near the American River, one of the country's most flood-prone urban watersheds.

Work on controversial revisions to a US offshore drilling safety rule is currently being held up by the ongoing partial government shutdown, but when ultimately finalized, the changes will be challenged in court by multiple states, sources said.

Representatives from the oil and gas industry are beginning to worry that the partial shutdown of the federal government, now the longest in U.S. history, could impact drilling on federal lands and blunt permitting for infrastructure, including pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities.

Almost 16,000 desalination plants worldwide produce bigger-than-expected flows of highly salty waste water and toxic chemicals that are damaging the environment, a U.N.-backed study said on Monday.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 15, 2019--JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU), along with The Nature Conservancy, whose mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends, today released a new report focusing on the connection between natural resources and tourism. The report’s results revealed that the Caribbean is more dependent on tourism than any other region across the globe and highlights new data on the benefits that coral reefs provide to the travel industry and the region’s economy.

Biologists have modeled the hagfish's gag-inducing defense mechanism mathematically.

Sea level rise over the 21st century will not be as severe as many climate models have predicted and should not present a major issue for re/insurers provided it is managed appropriately, according to Dr. Judith Curry, President of Climate Forecast Applications Network and Professor Emeritus, Georgia Institute of Technology.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH – A portion of North Topsail Beach is being removed from a longstanding designation that exempts property owners from receiving federal aid.

Sand dunes on coastal barrier islands buffer the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts from oncoming hurricanes. Every year, millions of public and private dollars fund the restoration of these barrier islands, but managers often focus on the recovery of smaller sand dunes and aim at making them bigger, for better storm protection.

A second wave of closures looms as the government funding fight barrels towards a record-breaking fourth week. Thousands of U.S scientists are heading into their fourth week of enforced leave, the result of a prolonged government shutdown that began on 22 December.

The partial U.S. government shutdown, which entered its 21st day on Friday, January 11, will likely delay two new Cape Hatteras National Seashore projects which were slated to begin in early 2019 – the new parking area at Kite Point, and the new Buxton Beach Day Use Area.

The gravity of the problem of climate change is rapidly coming into focus. On November 23, 2018 thirteen federal agencies under the leadership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including among others the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Defense, issued Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A group of nine Democratic state lawmakers from different coastal states announced Tuesday that they are going to use their coming legislative sessions to try to block attempts at offshore drilling.

Recognition is spreading that communities need to build resilience to climatic and coastal threats even as the world seeks ways to curb emissions driving global warming.

“The science is advancing fast, and that may surprise a lot of people.”

An 11th-hour attempt to weaken the country's fishery protections has been averted—for now.

Silica, a common ingredient in sand, concrete and glass, may have its origins in supernovae

Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are developing technologies that store, capture, convert, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

Rattlesnakes, bears, hurricanes, and freezing weather haven’t stopped ecologist Jeff Atkins from taking weekly hikes into Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park for the past 8 years to collect water samples from remote streams. But Atkins is now facing an insurmountable obstacle: the partial shutdown of the U.S. government, in its third week.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the National Flood Insurance Program, and this federally subsidized program has not aged well. In 2017, it had the second-highest claim loss year in its history. Hurricanes Harvey, Florence and Michael have exposed fundamental flaws in the NFIP.

AccuWeather CEO Barry L. Myers has stepped down as officer and director and sold all his interest in the company to move into a role leading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Myers' departure was effective Jan. 1.

MADISON, S.D. – The trū Shrimp Company, a pioneer in healthy, innovative and sustainable shrimp aquaculture, today announced that it is planning to build its first shrimp production facility, a Harbor, in Madison, South Dakota. trū Shrimp’s advanced technology is designed to raise shrimp in a near natural and disease-free environment. Construction is expected to break ground this summer in Madison’s Lakeview Industrial Park, with the exact timeline pending the completion of permitting and financing.

There’s reason to fret, seafood lovers. According to an international team of ecologists and economists, the world’s oceans will be empty of fish by 2048. The causes? Overfishing, pollution, habitat loss, and climate change.

An estimated ten percent of the U.S. Coast Guard's employees have been furloughed due to the partial government shutdown, and most of those who remain working face uncertainty about their next paycheck. About 160 of the 260 staff at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy are among those who are off work until the shutdown ends, and students are set to return for the next semester on Sunday.

The summer of 2018 was intense: deadly wildfires, persistent drought, killer floods and record-breaking heat. Although scientists exercise great care before linking individual weather events to climate change, the rise in global temperatures caused by human activities has been found to increase the severity, likelihood and duration of such conditions.

U.S. equity-firm founder piloted the craft to the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, in a bid to reach the deepest spot in each of the world’s oceans

Revisions to federal fishing regulations that have received widespread praise from competing interests are drawing a more cautious reaction from one commercial fishing group.

The Army Corps announced last Friday, December 28, in the Federal Register the selection of ten pilot projects pursuant to Section 1122 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2016.

Motivated by events like Hurricane Harvey, researchers are trying to determine how climate change interacts with agriculture, energy, transportation and other human systems

Over the course of 2018, we have seen how human impacts and global climate change are rapidly altering the world's oceans.

Eight competitive lease sales for offshore wind acreage have generated almost half a billion in revenue for the U.S. federal treasury. A dozen official leases have been awarded, with three more to be awarded following anti-competitive review on the heels the sale of three leases offshore Massachusetts in mid-December.

The Surfrider Foundation released their annual State of the Beach report for 2018 in mid-December, and the results are disappointing, to say the least.

Plastic pollution has gotten to the point of crisis, so what can we do about it?

The Trump administration is restarting the sale of flood insurance policies during the government shutdown, backtracking on a controversial FEMA decision to halt new coverage, a senior administration official said. The move was a swift change of course after FEMA on Wednesday said that insurers should no longer sell new policies backed by the flood insurance program during the shutdown.

When the Big One hits, the United States won’t be ready for it. In this case, the big one is a power outage “of a magnitude beyond modern experience” that could paralyze entire regions for weeks or months, cripple the country’s operations, and strain emergency organizations well past their ability to respond, according to a new report from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC).

“It’s nearly here. It’s just around the corner!” shared American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) CEO, Tom Kiernan, at the opening session of 2018 AWEA Offshore Wind Conference in Washington, D.C. last October. He’s referring to the message relayed over the last few years that the offshore wind is coming to the United States. “That’s no longer just a message. This is an exciting, transformative time where offshore wind is happening now.”

The US government shutdown has forced the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to leave its research vessels in port, the NW News Network reported.

America’s coastal cities are preparing for legal battles over real estate that slips into the ocean.

The U.S. House voted to pass the Modern Fish Act on Wednesday, just two days after the Senate approved it unanimously, swiftly sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for a signature.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has warned US member ports what to expect in the event of a government shutdown.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it will be funding 91 transportation infrastructure projects through the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao calls the $1.5 billion in funding “a down payment on this administration’s commitment to America’s infrastructure.”

Beginning on December 14, 2018, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works (ASA-CW) is seeking public input on the development of implementation guidance for various provisions contained in the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA 2018).

A study of hurricane-hit areas of the United States has revealed a trend of larger homes being built to replace smaller ones in the years following a storm. The research, led by the University of Southampton (UK) and published in the journal Nature Sustainability, shows that the sizes of new homes constructed after a hurricane often dwarf the sizes of those lost.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the the Modern Fish Act on Monday. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

The so-called Modern Fish Act received unanimous support in the Senate late yesterday, Monday, Dec. 17. Whether or not you’re a stakeholder in the Gulf Coast or South Atlantic fisheries, this act is a sign of things to come. Here’s why.

The ghosts of harvesting can haunt today's conservation efforts.

El Niños will be stronger and more frequent in the decades ahead because of global warming, causing “more extreme events” in the United States and around the world, a news study says.

Analysis from the Surfrider Foundation outlines coastal states' responsiveness to shoreline erosion, rising tides and extreme weather events

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — U.S. commercial fishing generated more than $144 billion in sales in 2016, buoyed by growth in key species such as sea scallops and American lobsters, the federal government reported on Thursday.

Countless wetlands and thousands of miles of United States waterways would no longer be federally protected by the Clean Water Act under a new proposal by the Trump administration.

(CN) – Rebounding from a drop in revenue the previous year, fisheries across the U.S. generated $212 billion in 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.

The Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies (CASS) is deeply concerned with the proposed rule issued Dec. 11 by the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to replace the 2015 Clean Water Rule (Waters of the United States Rule or WOTUS).

The challenges ahead from climate change are sobering. At least 13 federal agencies reported in the Fourth National Climate Assessment on the effects on sea level rise, hurricanes and other real dangers. And as the Tampa Bay Times editorialized, it’s grim news for Floridians.

A surging interest in remote sensing and analytics has seen technology developments linked to these domains take off as we head into 2019. Airborne Lidar bathymetry (ALB) is no exception to recent innovations, especially with the growing recognition in the importance of high-resolution data to inform management of our oceans, seabed and coastal zone. In our recent discussions with ALB manufacturers and experienced operators, several significant new developments were revealed.

An immediate threat cited by the report is that many communities will again have to move away from tribal homelands

This week,, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced a package of 91 new infrastructure projects across the United States worth a combined $1.5 billion.

It’s a question that will become only more urgent as climate change continues to fuel extreme weather.