June 2004 - Oceana USA

California, on the road to protecting the oceans from cruise pollution

California has the second largest cruise ship market in the United States, and the industry expects the number of calls (nearly 800 in 2003) to increase by 25% during the next decade. Currently lax state and federal anti-pollution laws allow cruise ships to dump inadequately treated sewage in state waters, untreated sewage 3 miles from … Read more

"What Th’?"

Controversy over sea turtles has moved to the most seemingly innocent and unlikely of places… Mark Trail in the Sunday comics. For those of you who usually go for comics with an immediate punch line, Mark Trail was created over fifty years ago and teaches readers about various wild creatures via the adventures of naturalist … Read more

Chile has ratified the Protocol of the Galapagos Agreement

Great news! The Chilean Congress has ratified the Protocol of the Galapagos Agreement (for conservation of living marine resources on the high seas of the Southeast Pacific). Parties to the Agreement were initially, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. This agreement might potentially extend within the region if ratified by all member states. Last year, Oceana’s … Read more

Dept of Homeland Security seeks exemption from environmental regulation

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed on June 14, 2004, making secret part or all of some Environmental Impact Statements on its actions. The proposed directive, published in the Federal Register, would carve a major loophole in the 34-year-old National Environmental Policy Act — which requires that the federal government publicly disclose the environmental … Read more

Dirtyfishing: A Neglected Old Shoe in the U. S. Commission’s Closet

The U. S. Commission on Ocean Policy recently released its Preliminary Report, and in a moment of inexcusable oversight, failed to adequately address one of the most significant issues facing ocean fisheries today, bycatch. Although the commission recognizes that protecting our oceans is vital to sustain life on earth, the summary on bycatch does not … Read more

June 8th is World Oceans Day

June 8th is the twelfth annual World Oceans Day. What can you do to mark the day? June 8th is the twelfth annual World Oceans Day. Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, WOD is a day for people to reflect on the importance of the oceans in our everyday lives, … Read more

Wanted! Seas and Oceans. Dead or Alive?

That’s not an environmental group’s message, though it might as well have been. It’s the theme chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme for this year’s World Environment Day, June 5. As UNEP puts it, the “theme asks that we make a choice as to how we want to treat the Earth’s seas and oceans. … Read more