Funding Brighter Future for NOAA
One of Ocean Conservancy’s goals each year is to help ensure that our nation’s premier ocean agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is appropriately funded in the federal budget. This budget...
Funding Brighter Future for NOAA
It’s common knowledge that coral reefs are the rainforests of the sea—hosting an abundant variety of sea life and crucial habitat for about 25% of all ocean species. It’s true that most people could easily identify a cor...
All About Soft Corals
The puffins flap vigorously to stay aloft, and those with full bellies can only flop across the water. Shearwaters earn their name as they zip over the wavetops. Kittiwakes and fulmars circle a little higher, looking bac...
My Trip Along the Alaska Marine Highway System
The ocean is filled with a wide variety of organisms that employ different strategies to survive and thrive in the marine environment. For example, all animals need to eat but use different methods to do so—from great wh...
How Does Filter Feeding Work?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved being on the water. I come to it naturally: My mother grew up in a family of sailors, and while I never had the chance to sail with them myself, I spent my childhood hearing abou...
Setting Sail to Collect Ghost Gear in Maine
Pufferfish , also known as blowfish or balloonfish, are likely among the most recognizable fish in the sea. The pufferfish’s iconic ability to “puff up” in defense against predators is a widely known fact, but did you kn...
Fun Facts About Pufferfish
A few weeks ago, I woke up to a series of text messages from friends and family. One read, “Umm, Anja are you on the reddit front page.” I did a double take. Yes, I had spent years studying how mealworms can eat plastics...
How Much Plastic Do Mealworms Really Eat?
The ocean is full of mysteries, and nowhere is more mysterious than the deep sea. Because of its intense pressure, utter darkness and freezing temperatures, the deep-sea habitat is not for everyone. But from tube worms t...
Ultra-black Fish Are “Living Black Holes”
After a two-year delay due to the pandemic, the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference returned to an in-person event this June. Thousands of people from around the world gathered in Lisbon, Portugal, to discuss the bigges...
Building Power for the Ocean at the UN Ocean Conference
The ocean is full of mysteries and every once in a while scientists get a glimpse of something extraordinary. Last year, I was delighted to see, for the first time, scientists had captured photos of one of those camera-s...