Sound Environment

This section features updates from the many organizations dedicated to preserving and protecting the ocean, both locally and globally, and information about how you can take action!

Sound Environment

NOAA’s New Northeast Chief’s first official act – Undermining the Marine Mammal Protection Act?

By Benjamin Cesare

NOAA’s New Northeast Chief’s first official act – Undermining the Marine Mammal Protection Act?

Against the recommendations of the federally appointed Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team, John Harbor porpoise, a by-catch of commercial fishing, are often caught and suffocate in gillnets. © A. Reckendorf/WDC Bullard, the newly named Northeast Fisheries Administrator, recently announced that he is circumventing the process set out by the Marine Mammal Protection Act to reduce by-catch (incidental death) of harbor porpoise. Prior to Bullard’s August appointment, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a letter to fishermen in…

Sound Environment

Engaging the Public, Business, the Regulators and Environmental Groups: NAMEPA After Five Years

By Benjamin Cesare

Engaging the Public, Business, the Regulators and Environmental Groups: NAMEPA After Five Years

The North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) is a maritime industry-led initiative which operates as a voluntary, non-profit and nongovernmental organization committed to preserving the marine environment through educating seafarers, port communities and students about the need, and strategies, for protecting this important global resource and engages maritime businesses, government and the public to “Save our Seas” by promoting sound environmental practices. For more information, visit namepa.net. It is headquartered in Southport, CT. In 2007, when NAMEPA…

Sound Environment

Rozalia Project Summer 2012 Trash Tour: A lot of marine debris and amazing interns!

By Chris Szepessy

Rozalia Project Summer 2012 Trash Tour: A lot of marine debris and amazing interns!

by REBECCA INVER MOFFA  What an amazing 2012 Summer Trash Tour we’ve had at Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean! Starting June 3, we boarded our 60-foot mothership American Promise: Captain Kyle Vowels, first mate Sloane Suciu, interns Kayla Lubold, Laura Dunphy and Blais Hickey, Rozalia Project’s director Rachael Miller and me, the Science and Education Coordinator. Over the next few weeks we towed our nueston net off the Isles of Shoals, removed thousands of pieces of trash from beaches…

Sound Environment

Saving the Sound

By Chris Szepessy

Saving the Sound

by CONOR GRANT The Long Island Sound is one of the world’s most beautiful bodies of water. With its striking coastline and beautiful coastal towns and its convenient location between Connecticut and Long Island, the Sound is a popular spot for boaters, sunbathers, fishermen, and all variety of outdoor enthusiasts. For all those who have spent time in the area, it will come as no surprise that more than four million people have chosen to make their home in…

Sound Environment

Senate Panel Passes Legislation to Protect Long Island Sound

By Benjamin Cesare

Senate Panel Passes Legislation to Protect Long Island Sound

Without Passage of Legislation, Long Island Sound Stands To Lose Millions In Federal Dollars On June 22, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D – NY), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Charles E. Schumer (D – NY), Joseph Lieberman (I – CT) and Richard Blumenthal (D – CT) announced a key Senate panel’s passage of legislation to bring federal dollars to support the restoration of Long Island Sound. The Sound borders New York and…

Sound Environment

Clean The Bay is Expanding Operations Into Connecticut

By Benjamin Cesare

Clean The Bay is Expanding Operations Into Connecticut

Clean The Bay, a Rhode Island-based non-profit environmental organization that specializes in removing large debris from the shoreline, is headed back to Connecticut. Clean The Bay crews are scheduled to clean areas of shoreline in the Mystic, Stonington and Little Narragansett Bay areas. Equipped with a mechanized fleet of landing craft, a hard-working team of volunteers and an ambitious staff, Clean The Bay has removed thousands of tons of debris from Southern New England shorelines since its founding…

Sound Environment

The Search for Megalops

By Benjamin Cesare

The Search for Megalops

Become a Part of The Sound School’s Connecticut Blue Crab Population Habitat Study 2010-2015 © Steve Joseph   During the summer of 2011, The Sound School Regional Aquaculture Center in New Haven, CT invited members of the public, blue crabbers, teachers and students to become more involved in learning about the rapid population increase of blue crabs in our waters. Key to this study is the identification of blue crab recruitment sites – the post-plankton larval stages called “Megalops.” Over…

Sound Environment

Grading the Sound

By Chris Szepessy

Grading the Sound

by LEAH SCHMALZ AND KYLA MILES In January, Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, released its 2011 State of the Sound Report. The first of its kind, the report issues grades measuring the efforts put forth by Connecticut and New York to protect and preserve Long Island Sound. Guided by the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP), the report is divided into four main topics: habitat, water quality, stewardship, and emerging issues. Connecticut and New…

Sound Environment

CUSH, Inc.

By Chris Szepessy

CUSH, Inc.

New Name, New Leadership, Expanding Projects, Same Strong Commitment Last year was a dynamic one for the Southeastern Connecticut-based environmental group CUSH, Inc., marked by a growing mission, leadership succession, and a number of new or expanding programs. The acronym CUSH now stands for “Clean up Sound and Harbors” and the group’s mission statement now reads: CUSH is the only non-profit environmental group in Southeastern Connecticut with a mission to clean up and protect Fishers Island Sound…

Sound Environment

Water, Water Everywhere, But What Drops Should You Drink?

By Chris Szepessy

Water, Water Everywhere, But What Drops Should You Drink?

by SAILORS FOR THE SEA Here at Sailors for the Sea, we’ve been getting a lot of calls and emails lately asking, “how can I use fewer bottles?” It may be partially due to our recent push to get boaters and boating events to reduce their use of plastic by setting up water refill stations and owning refillable bottles themselves, and we’re happy to see that it’s catching on! It’s one thing to decide you want to take that…

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