S.952 HABHRCA Reauthorization reported favorably

Via GovTrack.us:
The Snowe-sponsored 2009 HABHRCA Reauthorization [S.952] was ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for consideration by the full Senate.

S.952 is "a bill to develop and promote a comprehensive plan for a national strategy to address harmful algal blooms and hypoxia through baseline research, forecasting and monitoring, and mitigation and control while helping communities detect, control, and mitigate coastal and Great Lakes harmful algal blooms and hypoxia events."

According to the CRS summary:

Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2009 - Amends the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 to require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to establish criteria for determining which states should serve on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia and to implement a nominations process to select representatives for such Task Force.

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Talking Trash: SEAPLEX and Project Kaisei

As the ORV Alguita is wrapping up their 52-day exploration, two new research cruises are headed to the "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch":

From August 2-21, a group of doctoral students and research volunteers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will embark on an expedition aboard the Scripps research vessel New Horizon to explore the problem of plastic in the North Pacific Gyre. The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) is the first of its kind and will focus on a suite of critical questions.

How much plastic is accumulating, how is it distributed, and how is it affecting ocean life? The researchers hope to provide critical, timely data to policy makers and combine Scripps' long tradition of Pacific exploration with focus on a new and pressing environmental problem.

Visit the SIO SEAPLEX web site.

Another group, Project Kaisei, set sail yesterday:

Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel. This first research expedition, scheduled for the summer of 2009, will be critical to understanding the logistics that would be needed to launch future clean-up operations and testing existing technologies that have never been utilized under oceanic conditions.

Visit the Project Kaisei web site.


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House Recess Roundup

The House is in recess until September 4 for the Summer District Work Period. Here is the status of the major bills that have advanced past the introduction step:

• H.R.14: The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act of 2009
  Status: Passed under H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Became Public Law No. 111–11 on 3/30/09
  


• H.R.21: The Ocean Conservation, Education, and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act (AKA Oceans 21)
  Status: In committee
  


• H.R.365: The Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act
  Status: Passed under H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Became Public Law No. 111–11
  


• H.R.366: The Ocean Research and Exploration Enhancement Act of 2009
  Status: Passed under H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Became Public Law No. 111–11
  


• H.R.367: The Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009
  Status: Passed under H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Became Public Law No. 111–11
  


• H.R.368: The Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program Act
  Status: In committee
  


• H.R.509: The Marine Turtle Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2009
  Status: Passed in the House - Received in the Senate
  


• H.R.556: The Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act
  Status: Passed in the House - Received in the Senate
  


• H.R.844: The Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Amendments of 2009
  Status: Passed in the House - Received in the Senate
  


• H.R.860: The Coral Reef Conservation Act Reauthorization and Enhancement Amendments of 2009
  Status:On the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 103.
  


• H.R.1053: The Chesapeake Bay Accountability and Recovery Act of 2009
  Status:In Committee.
  


• H.R.1080: The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act of 2009.
  Status:On the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 126.
  


• H.R.1108: To provide for State enhanced authority for coastal and ocean resources, expansion of America's supply of natural gas and oil, and for other purposes. (AKA Rigs to Reefs)
  Status: In committee
  


• H.R. 2093: The Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009 to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to beach monitoring, and for other purposes
  Status: Passed House - Received in the Senate
  

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A New Definition Of Seawater

Via ScienceDaily.com:

Science Adopts A New Definition Of Seawater

The world's peak ocean science body has adopted a new definition of seawater developed by Australian, German and US scientists to make climate projections more accurate."The new approach, involving Absolute Salinity, takes into account the changes in the composition of seasalt between different ocean basins which, while small, are a factor of about 10 larger than the accuracy with which scientists can measure salinity at sea."

"The new description allows scientists to calculate the errors involved by using this approximation while also presenting a much more accurate measure of the heat content of seawater, namely Conservative Temperature."

Read the article at Science Daily.
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Reauthorizing the Chesapeake Bay Program

The US Senate Commitee on Environment & Public Works, Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife is holding a hearing today, August 3rd, entitled: "A Renewed Commitment to Protecting the Chesapeake Bay: Reauthorizing the Chesapeake Bay Program." at 02:00 PM EDT in the EPW Hearing Room - 406 Dirksen.

Read the list of panel members at the EPW website.
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Hilborn/Worm study published

Dr. Ray Hilborn and Dr. Boris Worm and 19 others have collaborated on a paper published in this week's Science which recommends that catch limits must be more conservative than they have been in the past but sees hope for the eventual recovery of depleted stocks.

New Analysis of Global Fisheries Data Suggests Many Marine Ecosystems Can Recover Under Appropriate Management[NOAA]

An international team of scientists with divergent views on ocean ecosystems has found that efforts to rebuild many of the world’s fisheries are worthwhile and starting to pay off in many places around the world. Their study puts into perspective recent reports predicting a total collapse of global fisheries within 40 years.

The PEW Charitable Trusts issued a statement on the report:
Statement on the Hilborn-Worm Study on Rebuilding Global Fisheries Published in 'Science'

“A large and diverse group of leading fisheries scientists and ecologists have concluded that the common benchmark now used to determine the amount of ocean fish to catch is not a viable approach for managing our oceans. The study disproves the notion that we can push catch targets to their limits and still maintain healthy ocean ecosystems. Fishing targets must be more conservative than they have been in the past." [More]

The seemingly good news was greeted by a fresh round of conspiracy theories in the pages of the Gloucester Daily Times:
Upbeat fishing study raises red flags

Until yesterday, the academic-science-media crusade against alleged "overfishing," mobilized by the Pew Environment Group and the Environmental Defense Fund, suffered from a bad reputation in some circles.[More]

Read the article at Science:
Rebuilding Global Fisheries [Subscription Required]


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Oyster Restoration

I saw a presentation of this research at the NCBO Fisheries Science Symposium this past April and it was very impressive. The VIMS scientists found a correlation between height of the restored reef and the resultant density of oysters with the higher-relief reefs being significantly more successful.

From this weeks Science:
Unprecedented Restoration of a Native Oyster Metapopulation

A group of researchers is claiming an "unprecedented restoration" of oysters in the Great Wicomico River, a small tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Thanks to a large network of reefs created in 2004, a booming population of native oysters has taken hold, the group reports in a paper published online by Science this week. Some researchers herald the accomplishment as a model for restoration, but others say that the new populations have yet to prove they can survive now-endemic diseases.

Read the article at Science [PDF Subscription Required]
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