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December 5, 2008

The Oceana Scanner

This week in ocean news,…Obama picked New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be the secretary of commerce, the most important post for the oceans. Some think it’s a consolation prize, others are “thrilled about Bill.”…Members of the UN climate summit gather in Poznan, Poland. Attending countries are setting the terms of a new deal on all aspects of climate change. The EU is — surprise! — leading the way, while everyone wonders if Obama will keep his promises.Wave power is coming ashore, and it’s powerful and predictable, if not quite popular yet. Ironically, the big unanswered question about hydrodynamic power is the risk it could pose to marine life from a large-scale project, which doesn’t yet exist….Whales and dolphins are increasingly threatened by ocean noise, said scientists at the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals….The Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to let older power plants draw in water for cooling without installing technology to protect fish and other marine life. …A men’s magazine lost $200,000 of precious and, er, inflatable cargo at sea en route to Australia. The somewhat tragic part of this comedy? If the goodies aren’t found, they will likely join the plastic trash floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch