Forage fish — small, schooling fish like herring and smelt — form the base of complex and vibrant ocean food webs around the world, acting as main prey sources for a variety of marine animals like whales, dolphins, sea birds and large fish, as well as a food source for people. Last month, in a … Read more
On April 16, the Texas House took a significant step toward protecting sharks and oceans by passing House Bill 1579, which would make it illegal to buy or sell shark fins in Texas. The House vote came after more than 24,000 Oceana Wavemakers signed a petition urging for the bill’s passage. The bill, introduced by … Read more
The tragedy that occurred five years ago today is not a distant memory for many: an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 people and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Over 200 million gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico before responders were able to cap the … Read more
Last week, Oceana released a report that uncovered seafood fraud in iconic Maryland crab cakes. Oceana found that 38 percent of 90 crab cake sampled from the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area were mislabeled, sometimes described as “Maryland” or “blue crab” when they did not contain actual blue crab. This Q&A with Oceana senior scientist … Read more
Shark lovers can finally breathe a sigh of relief — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has finally finished their assessment of the nine current state shark fin trade bans throughout the country and have concluded that all of them can remain standing. Last year, NOAA challenged these bans, suggesting that federal fisheries law … Read more
If you’re a seafood eater, you’ve probably read about Oceana’s groundbreaking work on uncovering seafood fraud in the United States. Just last year, Oceana found a bait and switch in America’s favorite seafood, shrimp, with many species being labeled as wild and locally-caught when they were actually farmed and imported. Prior to that, Oceana found widespread … Read more
What do you get when the world’s leading marine conservation group, a digital mapping non-profit and a data-storing giant team up? Global Fishing Watch (GFW), a free online tool that will allow anyone to track movements of fishing fleets around the world. GFW uses data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a tracking system used … Read more
The Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud announced this month, at Seafood Expo North America in Boston, its plan to crack down on pirate fishing. The just-released Task Force’s Action Plan includes directing the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to use trade agreements to “pursue international commitments to … Read more
Many of the ocean’s tiny fish, the backbone of the marine food web, will now receive landmark protections thanks to years of work by Oceana. On March 10, with a unanimous vote, the Pacific Fishery Management Council prohibited new directed commercial fisheries for seven groups of forage fish. In total, the fish groups make up … Read more
On March 2, 2015, America’s offshore wind industry reached a major milestone. Deepwater Wind announced that its 30 megawatt offshore wind farm, known as the Block Island Wind Farm, is now fully financed. Once built, the project will produce enough energy to power 17,000 homes annually, which is nearly 17 times more power than the … Read more
We have already protected over 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.
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