How Much is That Coral in the Window?
Do you remember the last time you saw brightly colored coral? Perhaps it was in an aquarium at a restaurant or doctor’s office. How did it get there? Thanks to improving aquarium technologies in the last 30 years, a trip...
How Much is That Coral in the Window?
Bob Spies is Senior Scientist and former President at Applied Marine Sciences, which he founded in 1990. He has served as Chief Science Advisor to governments on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration Program, and Scienc...
Hard Lessons From a Disastrous Oil Spill
Every year, we landlubbers heartily partake in the tradition of April Fool’s Day—the one day it’s deemed acceptable (nay even expected), to pour salt in an unsuspecting glass of water or hide tiny photos of disgruntled c...
4 Ocean Tricksters
Chefs know food—better stated, chefs know good food. And now, more and more chefs are helping lead the charge for sustainable food. Restaurants support millions of jobs and billions of dollars in economic impact in commu...
3 Ways Chefs are Advocating for Sustainable Seafood
For the last two years, the Trump administration has proposed double-digit percent budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), our nation’s premier ocean agency, tasked with managing our oc...
Trump Aims to Slash NOAA … Again
Whale experts may have just discovered an entirely new species of orca—Type D. After reported sightings of what some believed to be a different breed of orca, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisher...
Mysterious Orca Could Be a New Species
Any mama will tell you—pregnancy can be a pain. But humans aren’t the only species to experience inconvenience in order to procreate. In fact, some of us humans might benefit from a reminder of just how wild the gestatio...
What is Gestation Like for Ocean Animals?
Alaska’s remote coastal communities aren’t on the road system, so when they need fuel—like diesel, home heating fuel, gasoline or jet fuel—it is delivered by ship. The coastal waters in western and Arctic Alaska are shal...
Improving the Safety of At-Sea Fuel Transfer
The first whale I ever saw was a beluga whale. I was perhaps four years old, visiting an aquarium, and stood fascinated by a creature so large, graceful and beautiful. Little did I know I would someday see hundreds of be...
How Can We Help Beluga Whales?
Thirty years ago—just after midnight on March 24, 1989—the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The damaged ship spilled roughly 11 million gallons of oil into the ocean, killing and injuring...