Advocacy

Over the past century, populations of shellfish on the East Coast—particularly of the native Eastern oyster—have declined to a fraction of their previous numbers due to overharvesting, water pollution, disease, and habitat destruction.

From clean electricity investment credit to environmental justice to funding for coastal ecosystem restoration, YSE faculty offer insight into how the Inflation Reduction Act may help us meet urgent environmental challenges — and where there’s still work to be done.

Beach renourishment benefits property owners, tourism, small businesses, the general public and residents. It creates jobs, raises the overall standard of living and protects our barrier island ecosystem. Lastly, it guarantees enjoyment by future generations.

Many of Australia's coastal ecosystems, such as oyster reefs and kelp forests, are heavily degraded. New research has identified a series of barriers to critical restoration work, including a lack of funding. Scientists have called for a national road map to restore coastal ecosystems

The International Seabed Authority, the intergovernmental body tasked with overseeing deep-sea mining in international waters, concluded its recent set of meetings, which ran from July 4 to Aug. 4, 2022.

Nearly every day, Florida resident Pradeepa Siva goes paddleboarding through Doctors Pass in Naples. The thin passageway between Moorings Bay and the Gulf of Mexico is home to a couple of friendly dolphins, which Siva often sees on her outings.

More than a mile beneath the surface of the ocean lie some of the most expansive and least studied habitats on earth.

Disaster funding – including penalties from Deepwater Horizon and other funding linked to extreme weather events – is fueling critical coastal protection and restoration.

Restoring sea otters to the Oregon coast could aid in the fight against climate change, but opponents say maintaining status quo of local fisheries is more important.

Plundering the Pacific for its rich natural resources has a long pedigree. Think of the European companies strip-mining Nauru for its phosphate and leaving behind a moonscape.

Deep-sea mining can supply metals for a green transition, but a true green transition should protect the ocean’s blue carbon rather than open up a new resource frontier.

On a slice of West Haven’s shoreline is a beach. But not the regular kind — here, people come to observe birds, not pitch umbrellas.

When it comes to the Ocean, the 20th century’s “extract and earn” philosophy is finished. Widespread plastic pollution, depleting resources, acidifying waters and expansive dead zones mean we must forge a new path. The only way forward is circular and sustainable.

Spanning from Jacksonville, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is home to many descendants of West and Central African people who were enslaved and bought to this region in the 18th century.

North Carolina’s Outer Banks area is a famed vacation spot, but its islands are always on the move; as sea levels rise and storms strengthen, engineers are battling to keep island communities from washing away.

Plundering the Pacific for its rich natural resources has a long pedigree. Think of the European companies strip-mining Nauru for its phosphate and leaving behind a moonscape.

The species has had a troubled history with insecticides. Now climate change and sea level rise are affecting its habitat in Texas.

Two sewage line breaks on the Tijuana side of the U.S.-Mexico border sent contaminated water toward the Tijuana River beginning Sunday morning.

Jamaica will not support deep-sea mining in the International Seabed Area without a suitable regulatory framework being in place, says Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith.

For most of human history, the oceans have been seen as a global commons, the benefits and resources of which belong to us all in equal measure. But our seas – and the marine environment as a whole – are being ravaged by exploitation for corporate profit. The result is a social, economic and ecological crisis that threatens the very life support system of the Earth.

A beach advocacy organization is calling on Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders to direct the state Department of Public Health to review water quality flagging accuracy for all ocean beaches in the state, arguing the system used to broadcast if water is safe to swim in is “fundamentally flawed.”

The words “blue economy” will soon shape the future of Canada’s oceans, from the fiords and straits of British Columbia to the rugged coastlines of the Atlantic to the vast seascapes of the Arctic.

After heavy criticism, The Trustees of Reservations announced Thursday afternoon it was withdrawing a draft beach management plan that placed significant restrictions on over sand vehicles (OSV) and dogs.

Across Nova Scotia, conflicts over who owns the shore are increasing as coveted and costly waterfront property runs out

More than 20 million liters of essentially raw sewage is pumped out to sea every day through the Green Point marine outfall pipe, situated at Mouille Point. Studies have shown antibiotics and other chemical compounds contained in the sewage are accumulating in marine organisms and can also be found in the wet sand on Cape Town’s Atlantic Ocean beaches.