Trump – Southern Fried Science

Save the seals. Congress is trying to shoot its way to salmon recovery

July 22, 2026 Southern Fried Science No Comments

Let’s not mince words: current federal ocean conservation policy is a cocktail of chaos and disaster, with a generous sprinkle of incompetence. Following a brutal stretch of legislative and regulatory rollbacks (including the completely indefensible bureaucratic magic trick of removing habitat destruction from the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm”) Capitol Hill decided to double … Read More “Save the seals. Congress is trying to shoot its way to salmon recovery” »

How Donald Trump’s Day 1 Executive Actions Impact the Ocean

January 21, 2025January 21, 2025 Andrew Thaler

Featured, Policy

It is day two of the Trump Administration. Yesterday saw a flurry of Executive Actions targeting immigration, climate change, energy, and social and justice issues. Trump also issued an executive order to overrule Trump’s Supreme Court’s upholding of Trump’s TikTok ban. In a sea of disinformation fueled by both propaganda, the reaction economy of social … Read More “How Donald Trump’s Day 1 Executive Actions Impact the Ocean” »

How the summer of sharks reshaped our understanding of US presidential elections.

January 1, 2025January 1, 2025 Andrew Thaler

Featured, Policy

The year was 1916, the First World War raged, Woodrow Wilson was in a desperate three-way race for reelection, and sharks were about to experience a shift in public perception that would endure into the next millennium. Prior to 1916, sharks weren’t regarded as particularly dangerous in the United States. A 1915 letter in the … Read More “How the summer of sharks reshaped our understanding of US presidential elections.” »

Donald Trump secures his legacy as the worst ocean president in American history.

January 11, 2021January 12, 2021 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Uncategorized

Donald F. Trump hates sharks. We learned that in 2013, when, during an entirely uncontroversial discussion about shark conservation foundations on Twitter, the would-be President of the United States of America blocked a small cohort of marine scientists.

Gracing David Shiffman and myself with a timeline blissfully free of his insufferable Tweets for eight years was the only good thing he has ever done for the ocean.

Initially, it appeared as though Trump’s war on the oceans would take a backseat to his other social, judicial, and environmental atrocities. Though a troubling selection for a host of reasons, Wilbur Ross’s appointment as Secretary of Commerce was seen as a relatively non-threatening move. His letter to NOAA staff, reassuring them that his department would continue to follow best-available science, was met with praise. His initial leadership appointments received bipartisan support.

It is clear now in hindsight, that that initial optimism was intensely naïve.

Mining historic shipwrecks for lead and other old things from the bottom of the sea. Also, Robots! Weekly Salvage: November 4, 2019

November 4, 2019November 4, 2019 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Transcript available below.

Walrus Attacks, Windships, Wild Oysters, and More! Weekly Salvage: September 30, 2019

September 30, 2019October 13, 2019 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

#Sharpiegate, mining the deep sea, electric eels, oil, and more! Weekly Salvage: September 16, 2019

September 16, 2019September 16, 2019 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Transcript provided below.

Snacking at vents, snorting eels, eating too much plastic, charming snails, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: December 10, 2018

December 10, 2018December 9, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Trump moves toward offshore oil testing in Atlantic and while almost every elected representative up and down the Atlantic seaboard is opposed to allowing offshore oil exploration in our waters, Andy Harris, who represents the Maryland eastern shore from his home in Cockeysville, far from any fisheries (not a lot of crabs on Loch Raven, FYI), still thinks it would be a grand idea to trash Maryland’s coastal economy.
Residents of MD 1, call your representative and remind him that he actually represents someone.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Start with some optimism: 5 Awe-Inspiring Ocean Discoveries of 2018.

Chesapeake Requiem, the Black Friday for Climate Change, whale earwax, killing the GRE, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: November 26, 2018

November 26, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Friend of the blog and submarine legend Erika Bergman is leading an expedition to Belize’s Blue Hole! Follow along as she maps this unique ocean feature: Belize Blue Hole 2018. Some dudes are tagging along, too.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The Fourth National Climate Assessment is out and it is grim.

Climate change affects the natural, built, and social systems we rely on individually and through their connections to one another. These interconnected systems are increasingly vulnerable to cascading impacts that are often difficult to predict, threatening essential services within and beyond the Nation’s borders.

The Gam (conversations from the ocean-podcasting world)

Speak Up for the Blue on art and the ocean.

Apple’s war on repair, mining the deep sea, reflecting on the mid-terms, (not) repelling sharks, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: November 12, 2018.

November 12, 2018November 11, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Take a moment. Breathe. Then get back to work.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Here Are All the Candidates With Science Backgrounds Who Just Got Elected. Note, my representative, Dr. Andy Harris, MD, also has a science background and he’s an awful, incompetent, ineffectual, and embarrassing representative, so having a “science background” isn’t everything.
Mining the deep ocean will soon begin. What will that mean for existing denizens of the abyss? Featuring Drs. Diva Amon and Leigh Marsh!