Center For Coastal News

An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent whale entanglements is exciting conservationists, but getting a frigid reception from harvesters worried it will drive them out of business and upend their way of life.Injuries to endangered North Atlantic Right Whales ensnared in fishing gear have fueled a prominent campaign by environmental groups to pressure the industry to adopt on-demand equipment that only suspends ropes in the water briefly before traps are pulled from the water.The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch…

Researchers from NOAA, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust discovered an intact shipwreck resting hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron. Located within NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the shipwreck has been identified as the sailing ship Ironton. Well preserved by the cold freshwater of the Great Lakes for over a century, the 191-ft. Ironton rests upright with its three masts still standing."Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century…

The GEBCO NF- Alumni Team was announced as the $4 million grand prize winner of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a three-year global competition that challenged teams to advance deep sea technologies for autonomous and unmanned, fast and high-resolution ocean exploration. The team's winning concept includes the use of a unique unmanned surface vessel (USV) / autonomous underwater vessel (AUV) and associated combination of communications hardware and software to process and transmit data remotely.

For experts in the field of ocean mapping it is no small irony that we know more about the surfaces of the Moon and Mars than we do about our planet's sea floor."Can you imagine operating on the land without a map, or doing anything without a map?" asked Larry Mayer, director of the U.S.-based Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, a research body that trains hydrographers and develops tools for mapping."We depend on having that knowledge of what's around us - and the same is true for the ocean…

Recently, NOAA Fisheries released the implementation plan to support the latest National Saltwater Recreational Fishing Policy. The policy, announced at the Progressive Miami International Boat Show in February, was developed with input from recreational fishing and boating communities, conservation organizations, and managers across the nation. It incorporates a number of concerns voiced by the boating and fishing communities including public access, resource stewardship, regulatory education, science innovation, and better lines of communication between state and federal rule makers with the community. The implementation plan itself…

Stevens Institute of Technology has received a five-year, $6.6 million research grant from the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey (PANYNJ) to improve preparedness and resiliency at critical Port Authority infrastructure sites through an innovative observation and forecast system that provides information on the potential risk and magnitude of overland flooding prior to and during significant storm events. "We have envisioned a road map to more accurate flood forecasting by creating an ensemble of forecasts that, when brought together, should provide unprecedented levels of accuracy and uncertainty quantification," explained Stevens Professor Alan Blumberg, director of the University's Davidson Laboratory and principal investigator for the research .

System is designed to universally interface with a vessel’s existing navigation equipment and autonomously deliver water depths seen by the vessel to a central server. Almost four years and 100 million soundings later, the concept is a reality. Almost two years after we first reported (December 2011 edition of MarineNews) on an innovative, depth sounding recorder device that made wide swaths of data available to perhaps anyone who wants it, the concept envisioned by ARGUS has developed into a viable tool that could change the way that government agencies schedule surveys and dredging. Today, about 40 boats have voluntarily placed on board their vessels the ARGUS (Autonomous Remote Global Underwater Surveillance) system transmitters.

The Campobello Island Whale Rescue team disentangles whales caught in fishermen's gear and nets around the Bay of Fundy off the east coast of Canada. Campobello Whale Rescue Team began after Mackie Greene witnessed a fin whale wrapped in fishing gear while leading a whale watching trip. Since then he and his team have worked with over 20 whales, risking their lives driving a Zodiac up next to animals that can be 40 to 70 or more feet long, and cutting through the lines entangling them.

NOAA’s newest survey ship, the 'Ferdinand R. Hassler will operate mainly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Caribbean Sea and Great Lakes, acquiring data to update NOAA’s nautical charts. Her mission, however, is not limited to collecting bathymetry, explains retired NOAA Capt. Andy Armstrong, co-director of the Joint Hydrographic Center/Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire. Local government officials have provided a warm welcome to Hassler’s crew. Noting “the enthusiastic welcome from the townspeople and local businesses,” Hassler commanding officer Lt.

E-Navigation has been a hot topic in the maritime industry for some time, and it is likely that it will continue to be into the future. But for many in the industry, the subject remains an abstraction that everybody is talking about but few can properly explain. That is why the Future Challenges in e-Navigation session is one of the highlights of the Transas Simulation User Conference 2013 with its theme, Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simulation. The session will…

Grady-White Boats President, Kris Carroll, has received an antique sextant commemorating the inaugural Eddie Smith Manufacturer of the Year Award from the Center for Coastal Conservation in recognition of her commitment to the preservation of America's fishery resources. The Eddie Smith Manufacturer of the Year award was established by the Center to honor extraordinary commitment to conservation by manufacturers. An icon in marine manufacturing , Smith served on the boards of National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA)…

Three NOAA scientists were named as recipients of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. “It is very gratifying that NOAA scientists are honored by this significant award,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “We are immensely proud of these three individuals. They represent the best of NOAA science. Recipients are: James A. Morris, Jr., Ph.D., an ecologist at the National Ocean Service’s Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in Beaufort…

It’s been called everything from the Graveyard of the Atlantic to Torpedo Junction. By whatever name, the seas off the coast of North Carolina during World War II were the site of a devastating period for the United States, during which dozens of ships—mostly merchant vessels—were sunk by German U-Boats. Today, the remains of those ships, along with several U-Boats, rest at the bottom of the Atlantic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that from January to August 1942, more than 50 vessels were lost to the U-Boat assault.

From an unassuming block structure nestled between luxury waterfront condominiums, a team of international scientists quietly conducted experiments last week that will have a profound impact on the way ships protect themselves from mines in the future. Research Project operations took place June 10-15 in the Gulf of Mexico at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren's Coastal Systems Station (CSS) training range in Panama Beach. Forty five technical experts from the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Australia, the U.S. and NATO's Supreme Allied Command Atlantic Undersea Research Center in La Spezia, Italy supported the trials. ship USS Warrior (MCM 10) and US Coast Guard patrol boat Coho were also key elements of the trials.

Techno-Sciences Inc. is being awarded an $11m cost-plus-fixed-fee, fixed-price contract by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego, CA, for technical support to the Malaysian Integrated Maritime Surveillance System (IMSS) to include upgrades to a command center and coastal surveillance stations in Malaysia. Work will be performed in Beltsville, Maryland (50 percent), and at sites throughout Malaysia (50 percent), and work is expected to be completed September 2009. This contract was awarded as a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, Phase 3 follow-on contract, under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2301(c)(5).

The Naval Historical Center’s (NHC) search for Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones' ship Bonhomme Richard received further support in early February, when it was recommended for funding through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration's competitive grant process. The NHC and Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) plan to launch a search for Bonhomme Richard off the coast of England in July. "You cannot find an underwater archaeological site more important to the U.S. Navy than that of John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard," said Dr. Robert Neyland, head of the NHC's Underwater Archaeology Branch. "Locating and identifying the remains of this great ship would validate Jones' accomplishments, do great service for U.S.

The new research vessel, delivered to Old Dominion University's Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, is expected to commence a growing trend in research boat design -- toward smaller, faster and more versatile vessels — equipped to study a variety of sea characteristics. Designed by Roger Long Marine Architecture of Portland, Maine, the all-aluminum vessel has a modified V-hull that measures only 55 ft. with a 17-ft. beam. Its five ft. draft allows the vessel to work in shallow waters of the Chesapeake Bay and along the Virginia coastline, up to 100 miles. The vessel's design firm and Gladding Hearn teamed to construct a similar size vessel for the University of New Hampshire in 1992…

A federal judge in Boston on Friday cleared the way for rescuers to use a sedative to free a whale tangled in fishing line while fighting for its life off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass. District Judge George O'Toole rejected a motion by an environmental activist who said a sedative would kill the 50-ton North Atlantic right whale -- one of an estimated 100 to 500 of the endangered species remaining. The Center for Coastal Studies, a rescue group from Provincetown, Mass., plans to sedate the whale on Saturday and remove green fishing line deeply embedded in the whale's upper jaw. The whale suffers from a massive infection and has been uncooperative with rescuers. Environmental activist Richard Max Strahan argued the sedative, untested on right whales, would kill the animal.

Official U.S. Navy file photo of father of the U.S. Navy, John Paul Jones' tomb at the U.S. Naval Academy. Jones is forever immortalized by uttering the words, "I have not yet begun to fight", during the battle between his ship Bonhomme Richard and HMS Serapis, off the coast of England in 1779. The Naval Historical Center and other researchers are planning an expedition to try to find the wreck of Bonhomme Richard in the Summer of 2006. The Naval Historical Center (NHC) announced in October it is joining the Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) in spearheading an expedition in the summer of 2006 to search for the remains of American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones’ ship Bonhomme Richard.