Environment

Spring exploded across California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument in 2017. Thanks to an unusually wet winter, much of the state experienced a “super bloom” of wildflowers. But nowhere was the display more magnificent than in the area east of San Luis Obispo, where visitors flocked to see a flower-carpeted valley captured in thousands of images. Read More

Safety always matters, but in some activities—industrial fishing, for example—the consequences of unsafe practices can be swift and tragic. This is a particular concern for crews involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing because they are more likely than other fishers to work on vessels without basic safety equipment or protocols.  Read More

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the sustainability of the world’s fisheries. But it is far more than just an environmental hazard. Illegal fishing is now widely associated with crimes such as piracy, human trafficking, and arms and narcotics smuggling. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),... Read More

The financial drivers behind illegal fishing can lead to poor safety and labor conditions for vessel crews. When stocks are overfished, fishers’ catch and income are reduced. Read More

No nation on Earth has ever commercially fished in the high seas of the Arctic Ocean for one simple reason: Throughout human history, those waters have been covered with ice. This week before the annual Arctic Circle gathering in Reykjavík, Iceland, scientists from nine countries reminded the world of a letter—signed by more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries in... Read More

Spring exploded across California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument in 2017. Thanks to an unusually wet winter, much of the state experienced a “super bloom” of wildflowers. But nowhere was the display more magnificent than in the area east of San Luis Obispo, where visitors flocked to see a flower-carpeted valley captured in thousands of images. Read More

Safety always matters, but in some activities—industrial fishing, for example—the consequences of unsafe practices can be swift and tragic. This is a particular concern for crews involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing because they are more likely than other fishers to work on vessels without basic safety equipment or protocols.  Read More

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the sustainability of the world’s fisheries. But it is far more than just an environmental hazard. Illegal fishing is now widely associated with crimes such as piracy, human trafficking, and arms and narcotics smuggling. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),... Read More

No nation on Earth has ever commercially fished in the high seas of the Arctic Ocean for one simple reason: Throughout human history, those waters have been covered with ice. This week before the annual Arctic Circle gathering in Reykjavík, Iceland, scientists from nine countries reminded the world of a letter—signed by more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries in... Read More

The Western Antarctic Peninsula and South Scotia Arc regions are some of the most biologically important areasof the Southern Ocean and have experienced the impacts of a changing climate more than almost anywhere elseon Earth. Regional warming is leading to changing weather conditions, substantial declines in sea ice formation,and winter habitat loss for wildlife such as Adélie and... Read More

WASHINGTON—The Pew Charitable Trusts praised last week’s news that Namibia and Peru have joined the Port State Measures Agreement, the first binding international treaty designed to stop illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The news came as leaders from more than 100 countries convened Oct. 5-6 at the Our Ocean conference in Malta to discuss maritime security, marine... Read More

Superlatives can only begin to capture the severity of this hurricane season. Hurricane Irma churned for days as the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean. It drenched states in the Southeast after leaving a trail of destruction across the Caribbean and Florida. This latest catastrophe comes only two weeks after Hurricane Harvey redefined flooding disasters in the United States. Read More

The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project applauds the Chilean government’s declaration today of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Rahui Marine Protected Area (MPA) to safeguard the waters surrounding the iconic Pacific Ocean island, which is known—as are its inhabitants—as Rapa Nui. Read More

The Pew Charitable Trusts expressed concern today about the Bureau of Land Management’s recommendations for changes in the management of sage-grouse habitat on public lands across the West. These recommendations stem from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s order in June that directed an agency review team to assess federal and state conservation efforts that were the result of years of... Read More

The public comment period on 22 national land monuments proposed for possible modification or elimination has ended. Now Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has the task of weighing the enormous outpouring of submissions as he considers his recommendations to President Donald J. Trump, expected by the end of August. Read More

The financial drivers behind illegal fishing can lead to poor safety and labor conditions for vessel crews. When stocks are overfished, fishers’ catch and income are reduced. Read More

The whale shark, the largest fish in the sea, is facing population declines and was reclassified as endangered last year by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). At the same time, the ecotourism value of these migratory sharks in places like Donsol Bay, Philippines, has made shark tourism a lucrative alternative to fishing. To address the declining population and preserve... Read More

The Southern Ocean—the waters surrounding Antarctica—is the one of the last untouched wilderness areas on the planet. But a warming climate and increased fishing pressures put this vast area and its iconic species such as penguins, whales, and seals at risk.  Read More

The devastating floods from Hurricane Harvey have left thousands of Texas residents homeless. As the recovery begins, we’re rebroadcasting a recent conversation at Pew between Joseph Riley, the former mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, who’s now a Pew distinguished fellow, and Jim Brainard, six-term mayor of Carmel, Indiana, in which they discussed their cities’ experiences... Read More

Forage fish, the small, often schooling species that support the marine food web, are now protected from unsustainable fishing along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Here are a just a few of the species safeguarded and the marine predators that depend on them. Read More