National Marine Sanctuary Foundation News

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary on Wednesday announced the successful digital acoustic tagging of 14 sei whales in waters offshore Massachusetts. This is the first time researchers have successfully tagged an endangered species in the United States using an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone. The data will help authorities to better inform offshore wind energy area selection.BOEM said that the collected data would shed important light on the whales’ acoustic behavior…

The future could be bright for small island nations. Cheap sustainable energy is the core component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.Engineers like making things, but rarely think of the social impact that flows from their creations. Today, while we are standing at the threshold of sustainable energy, we should take a moment to reflect on the social impact of sustainable energy. Access to sustainable energy puts us at the threshold of massive social change and…

Partners in an initiative to cut air pollution and protect whales have announced results from the 2017 program and publicly recognized the 11 shipping companies who participated, reducing speeds to 12 knots or less in two regions. For the first time the program included speed reduction zones in the San Francisco Bay Area in addition to the Santa Barbara Channel region. The voluntary incentive program started July 1 and ended November 15, 2017. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data for ship speeds in the program verified that more than 140 transits were successful in reducing speeds to 12 knots or less, and more than half of these were successful in achieving a bonus incentive for slowing to 10 knots or less.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)  is pleased to announce that the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary has honored MOL with an award for the company's participation in the 2016 Vessel Speed Reduction (VSR) incentive program. Launched in 2016 by NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Volgenau Foundation, the VSR program is a voluntary program that incentivizes containerships to slow down to speed at or below 12 knots, thereby reducing air pollution and enhancing protection of endangered whales in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Evergreen Line has received recognition for its excellent performance in a voluntary environmental and ecological protection program, which started on July 1 last year and ended on November 15. The initiative was aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions of vessels and avoiding whale collisions by encouraging slow sailing speeds in California's  Santa Barbara Channel region. The recognition ceremony took place on January 23, 2017. Vessels enrolled in this program were required to reduce speeds to 12 knots or less within 95 nautical miles of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This practice helps to minimize the emissions of greenhouse gases and thus reduce their influence on air quality within the port community.

A ship management company has pleaded guilty and was sentenced October 27, 2015 for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea and for falsifying its oil record book, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Rear Admiral David R. Callahan, Eighth District Coast Guard Commander. Chandris (Hellas) Inc. is headquartered in Greece and operated the M/V Sestrea - an 81,502 ton cargo ship that made calls in multiple ports in Texas. Chandris pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as a violation of making a false statement for making a false entry in the ship’s oil record book. Shortly following the plea, U.S.

Greece-based Chandris was sentenced for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship and falsifying its oil record book while docked in Corpus Christi, AP says quoting, a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Chandris (Hellas) Inc pleaded guilty to both violations and was ordered to pay an $800,000 fine along with a $200,000 community service payment to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. Chandris also was sentenced to three years probation, meaning all ships managed by the company will have to comply with an Environmental Compliance Plan, according to the news release. According to court records, the chief engineer of the M/V Sestrea -an 81…

U.S. Carbofin S.p.A., an Italian domiciled company that owned and operated the M/T Marigola was sentenced to pay an overall criminal penalty of $2.75 million for knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. During 2013 and 2014, on numerous international voyages, senior members of the crew of the M/T Marigola directed the installation and use of a so-called “magic hose” to dispose of sludge, waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the sea bypassing required pollution prevention equipment.

'Window in the Waves', featuring Coral Reef in Gulf of Mexico will go on the air in May and June next. It is the story of the Flower Garden Banks, a documentary by Director of Photography Todd Richard of Synergy Productions in association with Louisiana Public Broadcasting. • Wednesday, May 21, 2014 at 8 p.m. • Sunday, June 1 at 12:30 p.m. • Sunday, June 8 at 9:30 p.m. • Tuesday, June 10 at 11:30 p.m. • Tuesday, June 24 at 11:30 p.m. Located 110 miles off the Louisiana/Texas coast, the corals of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary rank among the healthiest in the world. 'Window in the Waves' tells the intriguing story of how these reefs were formed and why they are crucial to the global environment.

$1 Million Settlement Enhances Land and Sea in the Eastern District of Texas. BEAUMONT, Texas — U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced a settlement reached with a European shipping corporation has resulted in significant enhancements to nature conservation groups in the Eastern District of Texas. The $1 million settlement was announced at a press conference on the banks of Village Creek in Hardin County, Texas today. CIMPSHIP Transportes Maritimos, S.A., a Portuguese corporation headquartered in Funchal, Portugal, was initially indicted in 2010 and charged with conspiring to violate environmental laws causing willful pollution of waterways within the Eastern District of Texas.

USS Monitor, famous for its role in the first battle of ironclads during the American Civil War, was designed by Swedish-born John Ericson and built in 118 days in Brooklyn, N.Y. beginning Oct 25, 1861. Less than two weeks after its Feb. 25, 1862 commissioning, it entered Hampton Roads on March 8 for the fateful encounter with its confederate rival. A little more than nine months after that, the ship sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina Dec. 31, 1862, taking with it 16 Sailors.

DC Federal Court plea agreement requires Singapore-based Pacific International Lines, to pay US$2.2-million. The offenses relate to the operation of the company's container shilp M/V Southern Lily 2 in June 2012. The company previously pleaded guilty to three felony charges that it made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by concealing illegal waste water operations and discharges in a falsified oil record book – a required…

German Shipping Companies Convicted in Texas and Alaska for Environmental Crimes; Companies to Pay $1.2 Million for Covering up Marine Oil Pollution and Obstruction of Justice. WASHINGTON – Two German shipping companies pleaded guilty today in federal court in Houston to criminal charges that they concealed the illegal dumping of oil at sea from U.S. Coast Guard inspectors. Nimmrich & Prahm Bereederung and Nimmrich & Prahm Reedrei, the operator and owner of the commercial cargo vessel M/V Susan K…

In the district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced Michael Murphy, a former chief engineer employed by Offshore Vessels, LLC (OSV), to two years probation. Judge Vance also ordered Murphy to pay a criminal fine of $5,000. On Oct. 20, 2010, Murphy pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with submitting a false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. Murphy had served aboard the R/V Laurence M. (L.M.) Gould (R/V Gould), a 2,966 gross ton American-flagged ship owned by OSV that served as an ice-breaking research vessel for the National Science Foundation on research voyages to and from Antarctica. Murphy admitted that on or about Sep.

A Louisiana ship-operating company was sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on charges related to the illegal discharge of oil into the oceans, the Justice Department announced. Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV) was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The community service funds are to be used to study polar water pollution and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Antarctic region. OSV also will serve a period of probation for three years, during which it will be required to operate under an Environmental Compliance Plan.

•    Frances G. •    Terry D. •    Cherry A. The bipartisan Commission, established through an Executive Order, is tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent – and mitigate the impact of – any future spills that result from offshore drilling. The Council is co-chaired by former two-term Florida Governor and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency William K. Reilly. Frances G. Frances Beinecke is currently the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit corporation that works to advance environmental policy in the United States and across the world. Ms. Beinecke has worked at NRDC for 35 years, serving as executive director, associate director and deputy executive director.

A Panamanian company that operated a 40,000-ton oil tanker ship that regularly made calls in multiple ports in Texas pleaded guilty Oct. 21 in federal court in Houston for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea, the Justice Department announced. Styga Compania Naviera S.A., the operator of the M/T Georgios M, pleaded guilty to three felony violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law. According to a plea agreement filed with U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the company has agreed to pay a $1m criminal fine along with a $250…