For the holidays you can’t beat home sweet home. “Home” means something different for each wildlife species in their ocean habitat of the Gulf of Maine. For example, animals like the Atlantic wolffish tend to live in rocky areas where they can hide out, guard their eggs and ambush prey. Wolffish depend on this particular type…
Dec 18
2012
2012
Dec 14
2012
2012
Healthy Habitat Helps Create Healthy Fisheries
One of the fundamental concepts of marine ecology and modern fisheries management is that fish and other ocean wildlife need various types of habitat to feed, grow, and reproduce. Healthy ocean habitat is crucial to the well-being of ocean ecosystems and also provides spawning grounds for commercially important groundfish. New England’s ocean waters are home…
Oct 16
2012
2012
Seafood for Thought: Fish Need Homes Too
Note: This blog was originally posted on One World One Ocean as part of their National Sustainable Seafood Month Campaign. When you buy a piece of cod, do you wonder how many are left in the ocean? Are you curious about what kind of gear was used to catch the fish? Gillnets? Hooks? Or, maybe it was a bottom…
Oct 12
2012
2012
Providing Ocean Beauty, Health, and Wealth Demands NOAA Leadership
Cod swim through the kelp forest on Cashes Ledge The beauty, health, and wealth provided by the productivity of New England’s ocean is illustrated in the diversity of ocean and coastal habitat found in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, southern New England waters, and the far edge of the Outer Continental Shelf. New…
Sep 20
2012
2012
Cashes Ledge –Taking A Closer Look
What’s so special about Cashes Ledge? In this second of a planned series of dives on this New England biodiversity hotspot, Brian Skerry was joined by marine ecologist, Jon Witman, an expert on Cashes Ledge. Jon has been studying Cashes Ledge for 35 years, and has been watching how the diversity and abundance of sea life…
Aug 20
2012
2012
Treasure on Cashes Ledge: An Ocean Refuge in Need of Protection
New England is as famous for its coastline as for its fish – but what lies beneath New England’s waves goes largely unseen and unremembered. One of these unknown treasures is Cashes Ledge, a 25-mile long underwater mountain range which lies 80 miles off the coasts of Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire and shelters one…
Jul 17
2012
2012
Waves of Change: Regional Ocean Planning Works for Ships and Whales
Shipping lanes in and around San Francisco Bay are being changed to protect the many whales that feed in its krill-rich waters. Blue whales, fin whales, and humpbacks will all benefit from the changes. This action took two years of collaboration, data-sharing, and negotiating among the shipping industry, government agencies, and environmental groups. This, in…
Jul 10
2012
2012
What Single-Celled Diatoms Know That We Can’t Seem To Take Seriously
A recent scientific article from four Maine ocean scientists reminded me of a not-very-good environmental joke. An archangel was reporting to God all the terrible things that humans had done to the earth’s environment. God listened patiently as the list expanded, interjecting regularly that the archangel was not to worry; these events had all been anticipated. But when the angel reported that there was now a hole in the ozone layer, God bolted upright in shock: “I told them not to mess with the ozone layer!”
Jun 8
2012
2012
Celebrating World Oceans Day
On the occasion of World Oceans Day, it is worth reminding ourselves about how utterly dependent we are on the ocean – for the fish and shellfish that grace our dinner tables, for our summer recreation – on, in, and alongside our ocean – for the tremendous untapped renewable resources of the wind, waves and…
Feb 21
2012
2012
Letter to Secretary Bryson: New England Can’t Afford To Put Gulf of Maine Cod at Risk
Gulf of Maine cod, the lifeline of our inshore fishing fleet up and down the coast of New England, is in a biological crisis. That is why I wrote today to the Honorable John Bryson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, calling for federal fisheries disaster relief and interim emergency action. You can read…