Ocean Futures Society News

Paul Gauguin Cruises, operator of the highly-rated and longest continually sailing luxury cruise ship in the South Pacific, the m/s Paul Gauguin, announces that world-renowned oceanographer and environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau will guest host four sailings in 2013. Mr. Cousteau is a diplomat for the environment, educator, author, and film producer communicating his passion and concern for the Earth's oceans. For more than 60 years, he along with his father, the legendary Jacques Cousteau, and his family, have been part of the greatest exploration of the oceans in all of history. In 1999, Mr. Cousteau founded the Ocean Futures Society to explore global oceans…

The Navy and several plaintiffs, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the League for Coastal Protection, the Ocean Futures Society, and Jean-Michel Cousteau, entered into a settlement agreement to resolve a worldwide challenge to the Navy's testing and training with mid-frequency active sonar. The settlement essentially adopts the long range program for environmental analysis and research that the Navy undertook in August 2005, months before this lawsuit was originally filed. The Navy will continue to implement a variety of protective measures previously developed in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Larry Wieber's Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. (ACB) has maintained a low profile during its first four years of operation. With a growing demand for security craft, and ACB's stellar performances in front of government buyers, his company's success is now Bellingham, Washington's worst kept secret. Personal sacrifice and pain often accompany success. Larry Wieber never knew the pain part would be literal, not figurative. In the process of helping a television production company prepare a story on his unique craft before bad weather stopped filming, Wieber badly crushed one of his fingers while rolling one of his boats off its trailer.

In considering activities in the U.S. maritime industry for the short and long term, it is unwise to start the conversation without a mention of the patrol and defense needs of the country in the mounting effort to secure nearly 95,000 miles of coastline. As plans emerge during the coming weeks, months and years, the only certainty is increased funding for a variety of ships, boats and marine-borne electronic surveillance systems geared toward meeting and defeating enemy attacks, both large and small. An embodiment of the push for new technology is embodied in the activities of companies such as Larry Wieber's Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. (ACB) in Bellingham, Wash.

According to the Houston Chronicle, environmental groups sued the federal government to prevent the Navy from using active sonar during drills off Hawaii next month, saying the sound could harm whales and other marine mammals. The Natural Resources Defense Council asked a federal court in Los Angeles to issue a temporary restraining order unless the Navy takes "effective measures" to protect marine life when it uses high-intensity, mid-frequency active sonar to hunt submarines in the drills. Navy lawyers haven't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined to comment, but said the agency was confident the Navy would protect dolphins and whales.