Celebrating 47 Years of Protecting the Ocean
Next week is our anniversary—47 years of advocating for our ocean. The occasion serves as an opportunity to reflect on how much we have done, and how much we have left to do. It is no secret that these are trying times f...
Celebrating 47 Years of Protecting the Ocean
Imagine the hustle and bustle of your favorite city. Maybe you hear the honking of horns, see skyscrapers reaching up to impossible heights, or smell a nearby food truck. Chances are you’re not thinking about the trash t...
NOAA is Helping Us Bring the Fight Against Ocean Plastic to the Big City
In the last decade, we’ve been able to make record progress in restoring the health of U.S. fisheries. The law that guides management of our federal marine fisheries, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, has been an important piece...
Climate-Ready Fisheries are Healthy Fisheries
The nautilus may just be one of the strangest looking creatures in the sea: its vividly-striped shell and numerous tentacles certainly make it stand out in the animal kingdom. And while it might look like the inspiration...
4 Things to Know About the Nautilus
Maybe you spotted this feathery friend flying overhead the last time you visited the shore. With their bills as big as their bellies, they’re hard to miss! If you’re lucky, you might have seen one plunging into the water...
Meet the 2019 International Coastal Cleanup Animal: The Pelican!
In many ways, Elaine Shen’s journey in marine conservation parallels the footsteps of Roger Arliner Young, the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in zoology. We met five years ago when Elaine was studyin...
For the Love of Our Ocean
For most of my life, the Florida Keys has been one of those “safe” places for me. Like those old, holey, worn out jeans you always reach for because they’re so comfortable, so the Keys are for me. This paradi...
A Heartbreaking Dive in the Florida Keys
My home state of Alaska is on fire—both figuratively and literally. More than 2 million acres of forest have burned this year, making 2019 one of the worst fire years Alaska has ever experienced. Already, more acreage ha...
Alaska is on Fire
At first glance, sea stars and brittle stars might appear to be the same—they (usually) have five radiating arms and creep along on the ocean floor. But although sea stars and brittle stars are similar, they’re actually...
The Difference Between Sea Stars and Brittle Stars
We get it—compared to charismatic megafauna like whales or quirky creatures like frogfish, plankton may not seem like the most interesting organisms in the sea. But these tiny plants and animals are extremely important—t...