Coastal & Marine Conservation

Our policy engagement training partners, COMPASS, published an abridged version of a UCSD TedX Talk by Fellow Natalya Gallo. Her preparation and persistence enabled her to become a resource for international policy makers, bringing ocean science to climate discussions.

The National Audubon Society is getting involved in a lawsuit over the future of a national monument in the ocean off New England because of the area's importance to seabirds, especially colorfully beaked puffins. Fishing groups sued in federal court against creation of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which former President Barack Obama designated in 2016. The case is on appeal. Court documents show Audubon has moved to file a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of keeping the monument.

... “We typically think about climate change in terms of extreme events like hurricanes and wildfires, but it actually causes impacts in all sorts of other ways,” said coauthor Miyuki Hino of Stanford University. “This is one way where it’s really a part of people’s daily lives. It’s chronic.” Annapolis is seeing seas rise at about twice the global rate, and Hino said the flooding there foreshadows the problems other coastal communities can expect.

Conscious Company Media recently chose its 2019 lineup of courageous female-identifying game-changers paving the way for positive global impact. Fellow Melissa Garren was one of them! ... Melissa Garren is a marine biologist on a mission. She helped found Pelagic Data Systems in 2014 to address the interwoven challenges coastal communities face when it comes to food scarcity and the sustainability of fisheries.

Fellow Ayana Johnson has started writing regularly on ocean conservation and other topics related to her work for Scientific American's online column Observations. Recent posts include: 9 Ocean Conservation Groups You Don't Know about... but Should The Top 10 Oceran Conservation Victories of 2018

Fellow Ayana Johnson was featured in a "Strong Opinions Loosely Held" video on how ocean conservation is a social justice issue. Watch the video on Facebook

A pokey, pudgy three-person submarine will soon go on display in San Diego, and people who peer through its hatch are likely to ask: “Do scientists really explore the ocean in that?” The observatory on the deep submergence vehicle Alvin is barely six-feet wide. The portholes are about the size of dinner plates. There’s no central heating, no kitchen, and no bathroom.