Articles from Oceana

A new Oceana analysis reveals the global scale of China’s visible fishing fleet

Long voyages can be a risk indicator of seafood sourced from illegal fishing or human rights abuses

The country’s massive distant-water fishing operation fuels speculation of suspicious activity by a fleet identified for human rights abuses

United States to expand offshore drilling in Gulf of Mexico, putting communities and climate in jeopardy

Today, Oceana released the results of a new poll finding that 66% of voters in Hancock County, Maine, oppose a controversial proposal to build a large-scale commercial fish farm in Frenchman Bay, right next to Acadia National Park. If allowed to move forward, this monster fish farm would result in massive amounts of water pollution — discharging more than 4 billion gallons of untreated sewage a day — while also threatening those that rely on the bay for food, jobs, and a cherished way of life.

The Biden administration failed to deliver meaningful action to protect our oceans from illegal fishing on the world stage this week at the annual Our Ocean conference, taking place in Palau.

Today the Biden-Harris administration announced a wind energy auction will take place off the Carolinas on May 11, for 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay offshore wind energy area off North Carolina’s coast. This action builds on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to bringing 30 GW of offshore wind power online by 2030 and North Carolina’s goal of 2.8 GW of offshore wind power by 2030. This marks the Biden-Harris administration’s first lease sale off the Carolinas.

On Sunday, reports surfaced of a major oil spill disaster currently unfolding off the California coast. The city of Huntington Beach reported that the 126,000-gallon oil spill is causing “substantial ecological impacts occurring at the beach and at the Huntington Beach Wetlands.”

Today, Rep. Jared Huffman (CA-02) — chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee — and Rep. Ed Case (HI-01) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the primary law governing U.S. marine fisheries that has been in place since 1976 and last reauthorized in 2006. The legislation, titled the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act, would improve habitat conservation, bycatch management, and requirements to rebuild stocks.

Today, Oceana launched a national business coalition to help win policy victories that protect, restore, and maintain ocean abundance and biodiversity. The National Business Coalition for the Oceans builds on the success of regional alliances along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Eastern Gulf in the fight to stop the expansion of dirty and dangerous offshore drilling, and will engage in other important issues like stopping plastic pollution, protecting endangered species, promoting responsible fishing, stopping illegal fishing, and expanding transparency. According to Oceana, our clean coast economy supports around 3.3 million American jobs and $250 billion in gross domestic product through activities like tourism, recreation, and fishing.