Category: Conservation

Understanding the Executive Order on Deep-sea Mining and Critical Minerals: Part 1, what are we talking about?

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Featured, News

Late yesterday afternoon, the President signed and executive order on Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources. This order accelerates the US’s expansion into the nascent deep-sea mining industry, asserts its claims over minerals of the US outer continental shelf, and reasserts its claims over mineral deposits in the high seas, with some interesting caveats. … Read More “Understanding the Executive Order on Deep-sea Mining and Critical Minerals: Part 1, what are we talking about?” »

5 things you can do if you’re pissed off about the latest Trump EO

Posted on By Angelo Villagomez
Conservation, Featured, News, Policy

Donald Trump opened an area of about 250 million acres of protected American waters to industrial fishing fleets on Thursday.  This sets a very dangerous precedent that our public lands and waters are for sale to the highest bidder. I know that we’re all exhausted from the onslaught of daily outrages by the Trump administration.  … Read More “5 things you can do if you’re pissed off about the latest Trump EO” »

We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?

Posted on By David Shiffman
Academic life, Conservation, Science

The leading textbook in Marine Conservation Biology (Norse and Crowder) is 20 years old. It’s great and it shaped the field for a generation, but a lot has happened since it came out. There are new conservation threats, new policy tools, and new research methods to study them. And in that time, we’ve radically changed … Read More “We’re making a new marine conservation science and policy textbook. What do you want to be in it?” »

People and Ideas You Should Know: 5 Questions with Anupa Asokan

Posted on By Angelo Villagomez
Conservation, Education, Featured, Policy, Reviews and Interviews, Science

Anupa Asokan, founder and executive director of Fish On—a new fishing interest organization working to advance ocean conservation policy—recently published a peer-reviewed perspective in Frontiers, “Marine Protected Areas as a Tool for Environmental Justice.” Anupa is a lifelong fisherwoman and has become a passionate advocate for ocean conservation and justice.  I’ve known her for several … Read More “People and Ideas You Should Know: 5 Questions with Anupa Asokan” »

Open-source science hardware for an Open Ocean: Reflecting on the Year of the OpenCTD

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Education, Featured

At the beginning of 2024, I made a commitment to make it the year of the OpenCTD. A CTD is an oceanographic instrument that measures salinity, temperature, and depth. It is an essential tool in the conduct and marine scientific research. Access to CTDs often present a barrier to communities and knowledge seekers interested in … Read More “Open-source science hardware for an Open Ocean: Reflecting on the Year of the OpenCTD” »

The wrongest belief about the deep sea is wronger than you know

Posted on By David Shiffman
Blogging, Conservation, Exploration, Featured, Science

More people care about marine biodiversity and saving the ocean than ever before. But progress towards evidence-based conservation is hindered by widespread public misunderstanding of the key issues in play.   You’ve heard versions of this rant from me for 15 years, but this is not a post about sustainable fisheries, or shark conservation. This … Read More “The wrongest belief about the deep sea is wronger than you know” »

My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment

Posted on By David Shiffman
Conservation, Education, Science

As an informal learning assignment, I have my students use social media to follow ocean science and conservation experts for the semester. Each week, they’re asked to check social media for a few minutes, and report on something interesting they learned about marine science or conservation (and why they thought it was interesting.) I’m sharing … Read More “My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment” »

This Rum Protects the Ocean: the world’s first conservation distillery is open for business.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Featured

Five years ago, a small team of ocean scientists, conservationists, sea turtle patrollers, and distillers came up with a radical idea to create a sustainable, long-term funding model for Dominica’s Sea Turtle Conservation Organization and Ocean’s Forward. From dozens of meetings, market analyses, and viability assessments, the Rosalie Bay Distillery was born. The distillery would … Read More “This Rum Protects the Ocean: the world’s first conservation distillery is open for business.” »

Trump’s Project 2025 and a surprising outbreak of whalepox: this month on the podcasts.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Policy

Late last month, I joined Andrew Kornblatt and Francis Farabaugh on Ocean Science Radio to talk about Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, how it will effect ocean policy, and why the particular nastiness with which Project 2025 goes after NOAA is proof-positive that, no matter how hard they try and deny it, Project 2025 … Read More “Trump’s Project 2025 and a surprising outbreak of whalepox: this month on the podcasts.” »