Marine

When Northwest coasts were hit by a major algae bloom this fall, the results were devastating to seabirds. Thousands died after being exposed to toxic sea foam – foam that was produced by the algae breaking apart in the waves. As for people, news stories at the time said there was no danger to human...
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New rules approved today by the Fish and Wildlife Commission will ban fishing and hunting at Oregon’s first two Marine Reserves. The rules will take effect July 30, 2011 for the Otter Rock reserve near Newport and the Redfish Rocks reserve near Port Orford. Marine reserves are sort of like state parks in the ocean....
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It’s not as if California Sea Lions are strangers to the Oregon Coast, but this winter they’re showing up in unusually large numbers. Wildlife officials think the reason is El Nino, the every-so-often warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean near South and Central America. They say during an El Nino, the prey that...
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I love stories that challenge conventional wisdom. This is one of them. Take a guess at what kind of Oregonians are most likely to support wave energy. If you think it’s people who hold strong pro-environment views and love nature, you’d be wrong. New research from Oregon State University paints a very different picture. The most...
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The drive to develop wave energy off the Oregon coast may be moving too quickly for many people in the state. A new survey by Oregon State University shows that while a lot of Oregonians like the idea of wave energy, they’re also concerned about impacts on the coastal environment and commercial fishing. One of the...
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Saying our coast ecology is under deep stress, Environment Oregon is calling for a major expansion of the state’s system of marine reserves. Marine reserves are sort of like state parks in the ocean.  They’re areas where most major commercial activity, such as fishing and energy development are banned. But recreation activities, such as diving,...
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Allowing oil and natural gas drilling off the Oregon coast is not worth the risk, according to a new report from Environment Oregon. The environmental dangers are well known. Offshore oil spills can kill or harm marine life, fish and seabirds. They damage coastal ecosystems and can be awfully expensive to clean up. But this new...
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With time running out on this year’s legislative session, work is accelerating on bills that are central to the environmental agenda in Oregon.  The Senate approved two bills and the House passed one. Here’s a look at each of them: Flame Retardant Ban The House voted 39-19 to approve a bill that phases out Deca-PBDE, a flame...
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The news that native oyster beds are disappearing around the world has hit home especially hard here in Oregon. According to the Nature Conservancy, 85% of the world’s wild oyster reefs are gone. In our state, they’ve been teetering on the edge of extinction for almost a century. Confused? Wondering where all those oysters...
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It’s a good news/bad news kind of story for the North Atlantic Right Whale. First the good news. Researchers at Oregon State University, working with NOAA, have discovered a population of right whales they thought were extinct. They found them off the southern coast of Greenland, in an area known as Cape Farewell...
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