us senate | Southern Fried Science

Ice-free Arctic and salmon symphonies: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, July 12 2018

Posted on July 12, 2018 by David Shiffman

Cuttings (short and sweet):

Follow environmental social scientist Angela Dean on twitter!
Ice free passage for ships could cause problems for marine mammals. From MongaBay
Bone scraps hint at whale harvest by ancient Romans. From Nature News.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and and Transportation is holding a hearing entitled “SHARKS!” “We don’t see many in South Dakota” says chair John Thune.

Spoils (long reads and deep dives):

Symphony of the salmon: How scientists are learning by putting fish migration to music. By Kevin Davenport, for the Idaho Statesman.
Island of Coral Resilience Shows Hope – and Limits – for Reefs’ Future. By Jessica Leber, for OceansDeeply
Krill fishing firms back Antarctic sanctuary. By Matthew Taylor, for the Guardian.
Fish Fried: What Rio Grande Drought Means for Endangered Silvery Minnows. By Maggie Grimason, for Revelator.
New Surveys Give a Clearer Picture of Recreational Fishing. By Meredith Moore, for the Ocean Conservancy blog.
Rats are wreaking havoc on our coral reefs and reducing fish numbers. By Nick Kilvert, for ABC news.

Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!

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U.S. Senate passes Shark Conservation Act, but at what cost?

Posted on December 20, 2010 by David Shiffman

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog-cation to bring you some exciting news- today, the U.S. Senate passed the Shark Conservation Act!

The act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year, closes important loopholes in current U.S. shark management policy by banning the practice of removing fins * at sea (for almost all species, more on this later). It also provides a framework for Federal officials to work with our trading partners that don’t similarly protect sharks.

It was expect to easily pass the Senate, but as we reported earlier this fall, Republican firebrand Tom Coburn blocked it and related conservation legislation. Senator Coburn’s stated objection to the bill was that it would cost too much, but the estimated cost according to GovTrack is less than $1 per American taxpayer.