Contact: David Helvarg
Phone:  202- 491-6296
E-mail: Helvarg@bluefront.org

Ocean and Coastal Health Draws Advocates to Nation’s Capitol

Blue Frontier Joins Hundreds of Ocean Advocates at the Blue Vision Summit and Peter Benchley Ocean Awards to Learn, Inspire and Act to Solve Ocean Health Crisis

May 3, 2013 – Blue Frontier Campaign is joining a growing movement of ocean conservationists, business leaders, scientists, recreational ocean users and youth advocates to address the need for common sense solutions to improve the health of our ocean, coasts and the communities that depend on them.

Our oceans and coasts provide tens of millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars a year to the national economy. In order to gain the economic benefits that we all want and depend upon, we need to better protect, restore and conserve the blue in our red, white and blue. This is the message Blue Frontier will share at the nation-wide Blue Vision Summit in Washington, D.C.

Blue Frontier will be hosting the Blue Vision Summit May 13-16 and, along with marine conservationist Wendy Benchley, co-hosting the 6^th annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards the evening of May 15. This year’s winners include Rep. Ed Markey (D MA) for excellence in policy and President Macky Sall of Senegal for Excellence in National Stewardship.

Marine pollution, rising sea levels, loss of vital habitat, dangerous oil drilling and spills, and the increasing severity of coastal storms like Katrina and Super-Storm Sandy are just a few of the issues that ocean advocates will address at the 4-day conference. We will also offer solutions. The soon to be implemented U.S. National Ocean Policy established by President Obama is the nation’s first comprehensive plan to promote ocean health and help provide some of the tools that federal and state agencies need to better address the ocean health issues of today and in the future. The centerpiece of the four-day ocean themed conference will be a full day on Capitol Hill meeting with Congressional representatives to discuss the economic and conservation benefits of the National Ocean Policy and advocating for measures to protect seafood safety and punish illegal and pirate fishing. We will also be speaking to our elected representatives about the need to adequately fund our frontline ocean agencies including NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard. The full Blue Vision Summit and Peter Benchley Ocean Award agendas can be found at: http://www.bluefront.org/blue_vision_blog/2013-summit/

More information about the National Ocean Policy can be seen here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans

Blue Frontier will join with ocean leaders Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Rep. Ed Markey, Representatives Sam Farr (D-CA), Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, marine artist Wyland, Sherman’s Lagoon creator Jim Toomey, Taylor Shellfish, aquariums and marine labs, surfers, divers, fishermen, educators, and many other salty folk at BVS4.

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Blue Frontier Campaign  P.O. Box 19367  Washington, D.C.  (202) 387-8030  www.bluefront.org

Blue Notes #110: King Tide Coming to DC & More

April 16, 2013

By David Helvarg

In this issue

King Tide coming to DC
Unhappy Anniversary Deep Water Horizon
Seaweed Spotlight
And a quote

King Tide coming to DC

What do Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representatives Ed Markey and Sam Farr, a syndicated cartoonist, a coast guard admiral, a port director, an oyster farmer, a young sub pilot and a coastal paddler all have in common? They, along with hundreds of other ocean champions, will be participating in Blue Vision Summit 4 this May 13-16 to send a message to our nation’s leaders in Washington: “Now is the time. Our oceans are rising and our voices are too!”

This year’s Blue Vision Summit and 6th annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards represent both a challenge and hope for ocean conservation in the United States and across our blue marble planet.

The challenge is what brings blue activists coming back to D.C. every two years, to educate our elected officials on the vital importance our public seas play in assuring the safety, security and stewardship of our nation. Representative Sam Farr of Monterey once told me that, “California is the one state where you can get elected or lose your job based on your position on coastal protection and offshore oil.” We need to spread that inspiration and fair warning to 49 other states and their elected officials. This year’s Summit will focus on three themes: responding to coastal disasters in ways that will protect the ecosystems that protect us all, making climate a blue issue and highlighting youth leadership for ocean conservation. We also plan to hold the largest Healthy Ocean Hill Day in history on May 15 with hundreds of people from across the nation meeting directly with their representatives on Capitol Hill to let them know we expect them to support a common sense ocean policy for the nation and stop slashing the budgets of frontline marine agencies like NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard. We’ll also be encouraging them to support bills that fight both seafood fraud (mislabeling of edible marine wildlife) and illegal pirate fishing. This is something we’re obliged to do as citizens and legally permitted to do as non-profit educational groups, activists, businesspeople, scientists and youths.

Among the most active participants we’re expecting will be scores of high school and college students and young explorers who love the ocean, are finding new ways to protect it and are joining us from New York, California, Florida and other areas, even Colorado because at 5,000 feet above sea level they too understand that, “every state is a coastal state.”

The hope for ocean conservation will be reflected in this year’s Peter Benchley Ocean Award winners that include President Macky Sall of Senegal, a West African head of state who chased foreign fishing fleets out of his nation’s waters, providing a huge boon for local fishermen and their families; ocean scientists Dr. Boris Worm and Dr. Heike Lotze from Canada who in expanding our knowledge of marine ecosystems are carrying on the legacy of the late Ram Myers, our first science winner back in 2004; Representative Ed Markey, an ocean champion of the House now running for a Senate seat in his home state of Massachusetts; Nancy Baron and COMPASS, a long-time ocean communicator and the organization she works with translating marine science into public understanding; Sean Russell, a young man from Florida who has challenged recreational fishermen to clean up after themselves and helped show them how; and two California women, Karen Garrison and Kaitilin Gaffney, who effectively have helped move the state’s park system into the water column where 16 percent of state waters have now been protected after more than a decade of effort.

Please join them and other seaweed activists from around the nation and the planet to help us turn the tide for our ocean planet in the nation’s capitol this spring. Many thanks to our sponsors for making it possible to provide affordable registration fees and scholarships. Remember, we don’t know if we can win the fight for a healthy blue marble planet, all we know for certain is if we don’t show up for the fight we lose. Plan to join us and register today.

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Unhappy Anniversary Deep Water Horizon

It’s been three years since the predictable BP blow out and massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – predictable because of a lack of a safety culture within the company and any credible government oversight of drilling operations. In 2000, BP took me out to some of their deepwater rigs in the Gulf when I was writing my first ocean book, Blue Frontier. When I asked one of the rig bosses what would happen if there was a blow-out a mile or two below the surface his response was, “Guess we’ll find out when it happens.” Ten years later we found out and I got to see people I’d seen traumatized by Hurricane Katrina traumatized anew five years later. I also saw hundreds of oiled pelicans being scrubbed in Louisiana and close to a hundred dolphins and a humpback whale trapped and dying in oil slicks that stretched out to the horizons off Alabama.

Today new protections against the next oily disaster are about as effective as new laws protecting us from the next Wall Street bubble bursting, which is to say not at all.

Even as watchdog groups like the Mobile Baykeeper and Gulf Restoration Network report new deaths of marine mammals, ecosystem disruptions and BP oil continuing to come ashore 36 months later, recent attempts to drill the frontier waters of the Arctic Ocean have run into early – and also predictable – trouble. Shell’s drilling test platform lost power and grounded this winter and the Coast Guard is now asking the Justice Department to investigate possible criminal negligence on Shell’s part. Meanwhile Exxon is busy minimizing media coverage of its pipeline spill in Arkansas lest people make the connection between that and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Until we break the political power of Big Oil in Washington, our seas and waterways will remain at grave risk both from oil pollution and the consequences of burning fossil fuels that includes loss of Arctic sea ice, ocean acidification and ever more severe hurricanes and typhoons. We’ll be hearing more about this at Blue Vision Summit 4.

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Seaweed Spotlight

A regular feature of Blue Notes where we shine the light on a group from the Blue Movement Directory in order to create a more self-aware and collaborative movement. With our gathering of the ocean folk so close we thought this month we’d just ask some Seaweed leaders from nine of the states that will be represented there why they’re coming to the Blue Vision Summit this year.

“Blue Vision Summits provide a great opportunity to meet others throughout the country who work to protect our oceans. These summits allow me to raise Gulf issues to a national level while working with other participants to support national policies critical to the protection of marine resources.” Cynthia Sarthou, Gulf Restoration Network, Louisiana

“The Ocean River Institute will be attending this year’s Summit because it’s a part of the thing we do every day: try to save the ocean. When our coalitions are broad and diverse with enough savvy constituents calling for responsible stewardship then the politicians will act and do right for all.” Rob Moir, Ocean River Institute, Massachusetts

“Being in Colorado, it is especially important to both maintain and grow our network, and the Blue Vision Summit provides that opportunity in spades.” Vicki Nichols Goldstein, Colorado Ocean Coalition, Colorado

“We are returning to the Blue Vision Summit this year to continue to promote our youth voices for ocean conservation” Erin Sams, Teens4Oceans, Colorado

“I’m excited to join ocean activists from around the country at the Blue Vision Summit. It’s time to take the message of the oceans to Washington, D.C.!” Peter Stauffer, Surfrider Foundation, Oregon

“I look forward to the Blue Vision Summit…to hear from those who are involved in quantifiable progress in marine conservation, scientific research and ocean management policy – to meet and speak with those who truly are making a difference.” Richard Theiss, RTSea Media, California

“The Blue Vision Summit is a great opportunity to learn and get together with fellow ocean advocates and let your local congressman and others know what’s important for our nation’s marine and coastal environment.” Paul G. Johnson, Florida Coastal & Ocean Coalition, Florida

“The Blue Vision Summit is a rare and important opportunity for true blue leaders to unity and identify allies for real ocean protection.” Cindy Zipf, Clean Ocean Action, New Jersey

“Way down here on the coast, we often forget we have partners working across the nation to protect our beaches. Joining colleagues at the Blue Vision Summit reconnects us, gives us hope and the knowledge that we can make a difference when we work together.” Casi Callaway, Mobile Baykeeper, Alabama

“The Blue Vision Summit is a one-of-a-kind gathering where ideas can start to become policy change in the course of a few short days.” Jim Toomey, Sherman’s Lagoon, Maryland
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And a Quote

From author Isak Dinesen: “The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears or the sea.”
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Blue Vision Summit | Peter Benchley Ocean Awards | Make a Donation | Blue Movement Directory

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REGISTER & WIN

Register for Blue Vision Summit 4 by April 15th and you’ll be entered to win one of these awesome prizes.

The bag, t-shirt and necklace were donated by United by Blue. Mares mask and snorkel set donated by Ocean First Divers in Boulder, Colorado.

6th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards  |   Benchley Awards Home   |  Blue Frontier Campaign Home  |  Blue Vision Summit 4

March 19, 2013
By David Helvarg

In This Issue
Notes from a book tour
Green Money for Blue Seas
Seaweed Spotlight: The National Marine Educators Association
Tired of reading?

Notes from a Book Tour

My latest book The Golden Shore – California’s Love Affair with the Sea is about how the Pacific defines California and how to live well by the sea while restoring and protecting it. My book tour is providing a chance to re-connect with various Seaweed groups and ocean heroes who are part of that process.

We had 200 folks at the book launch Feb. 26 at the San Francisco Aquarium of the Bay sponsored by the Bay Institute and America’s Cup Healthy Ocean Project. Sylvia Earle introduced me as a “trouble-maker” for the seas (I was touched) and lauded California’s recently expanded marine parks and sanctuaries.

In San Diego I met with the board of San Diego Coastkeeper who are working to protect Southern California’s watersheds and reduce coastal pollution. At the Birch Aquarium at Scripps I spoke to a big salty crowd and was impressed by the aquarium’s interactive climate change exhibit, sea dragons (natch) and Executive Director Nigella Hillgarth’s pix of Pacific sunsets that she gets to take every evening from her office deck.

In Orange County I met with the staff of Surfrider Foundation who are stoked about the imminent declaration of Trestles (famous surf spot at Camp Pendleton Marine Base) as the first surfing beach to make the national registry of historic landmarks. Speaking of historic, that evening I spoke at Crystal Cove State Park, a 1920s beach cottage colony where they used to smuggle booze during prohibition. In keeping with tradition, a Mexican Panga (small boat) full of marijuana had been busted in the cove a week earlier.  Thank you Crystal Cove Alliance and foundation supporter friends for helping make this happen (the talk, not the pot bust). And thanks to marine artist Wyland for the tequila that followed.

Jean-Michel Cousteau introduced me at the Santa Barbara Library on an 80 degree blue sky winter day when you’d rather be at the beach. I admitted that showing my 4-minute book video in front of a Cousteau was sort of like bragging about my bodysurfing prowess in front of Kelly Slater. In LA I did a radio interview at Redondo Beach where George Freeth popularized surfing in California more than a century ago. That afternoon I joined a roundtable aboard the Queen Mary sponsored by NAMEPA – the North American Marine Environment Protection Association, a maritime industry initiative to promote best practices to protect the marine environment (also a Blue Vision Summit sponsor). That evening I also spoke at the Aquarium of the Pacific after dinner with some blue folk including Aquarium President Jerry Schubel and Port of Los Angeles Executive Director (and 2012 Peter Benchley Ocean Award winner) Geraldine Knatz who is leading the greening ports movement. After my talk I went for drinks with blue filmmaker Richard Theiss and marine artist Claudio Garzon.

In Marin County I spoke at Book Passage where some sand volleyball buddies from my lost decade in San Diego showed up to spike some questions my way.

At Bookshop Santa Cruz, J. Wallace Nichols introduced me, noting that my last two books have ended with references to our blue marble planet before presenting me with one of his trademark blue marbles (to be passed on). Driving along the crescent of Monterey Bay, below who’s surface is a marine canyon larger than the grand canyon, I was reminded of the value of California coastal protection by its miles of wild sand dunes and public beaches where once there was an Army base. Over the next two days I spoke at a Monterey college, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) where they do cutting edge science in the canyon and at the new Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center in Santa Cruz where I was introduced by Bill Douros, West Coast regional director for the national marine sanctuaries, America’s wilderness parks in the sea (California has four). At Stanford Meg Caldwell of the Center for Ocean Solutions introduced me to a bunch of smart students interested in “the social ocean,” (that can turn anti-social with a single sleeper wave or winter storm).  I next spoke to attendees at the SF International Ocean Film Fest and at Books, Inc. in Berkeley, close to my East Bay marina home in Richmond where they built more than 700 Liberty Ships during World War II.  From there it’s on to Oregon, Colorado – where I’ll make waves with the Colorado Ocean Coalition (COCO) – and Washington, D.C., before returning to the Golden Shore for more talks including one at the Marine Mammal Center, the world’s largest hospital for Californians of the finned and flippered persuasion.

If you’d like to meet me or her deepness Sylvia Earle, or Geraldine Knatz, J. Nichols, Wyland, Richard Theiss, Claudio Garzon or folks from Surfrider, NAMEPA, COCO, the Marine Sanctuaries, the SF Ocean Film Fest and dozens of other blue groups and hundreds of  individuals we’ll be schooling for three days at the Blue Vision Summit and Peter Benchley Ocean Awards May 13-16 in Washington, D.C. I hope you’ll join us, read my book about how California is finding solutions to the challenges facing our ocean and coasts and, more importantly, live the story wherever you call home.

Green Money for Blue Seas

When Blue Frontier, encouraged by Ralph Nader among others, first began looking to work with change makers to address environmental challenges facing our seas ten years ago, the first names to come to mind did not include the World Bank or the Rockefellers.

While the Bank has had a troubled history including the funding of fossil fuel projects and big dams, it’s recently increased its transparency, raised the alarm on climate change and even come to recognize the vital role a healthy ocean plays in maintaining life on our planet. The bank is also the initiator of the Global Partnership for Oceans that is focused on sustainable seafood, critical ocean habitat protection and reducing pollution. At the same time it has identified over a billion dollars of internal bank projects that relate to the coasts and ocean and is working to better coordinate them in support of the Partnership’s goals.

It’s also been generations since the name Rockefeller was automatically associated with Standard oil, Ludlow and Attica. In the last century Lawrence Rockefeller became known for his environmental gifts to the nation and today David Rockefeller, Jr. is founder of the seaweed group Sailors for the Sea while his wife has documented a Mission of Mermaids. As chair of Rockefeller financial services he’s also helped inspire a truly revolutionary new investment fund.

Rockefeller Financial, a global investment and wealth management fund, working in collaboration with The Ocean Foundation has developed a new strategy to guide investors to public companies that are both profitable and have a tangible and positive impact on the health of the ocean. These companies are involved in onshore fresh water treatment and transportation, also the development of cleaner, more efficient marine ships’ engines, new ultraviolet and filtration systems that eliminate invasive species in ballast water, environmental monitoring instruments that detect marine pollutants, improved sewage treatment plants, medical waste collection systems that take hazardous debris out of the waste stream (and ocean) and similar products and services that reduce ocean pollution and increase maritime industry safety and stewardship.

And while I don’t have the half million minimum to get a stake in RF’s ocean strategy fund I’m guessing there are foundations, environmental non-profits, marine and maritime portfolios that could do well for themselves by doing good for the ocean.

Seaweed Spotlight
A regular feature of Blue Notes where we shine the light on a group from the Blue Movement Directory in order to create a more self-aware and collaborative movement. This month we feature the National Marine Educators Association.

Founded in 1976 and based out of Mississippi the National Marine Educators Association is the nation’s oldest organization dedicated to “the study and enjoyment of both fresh and saltwater,” with a focus on marine and aquatic studies and education. Its nearly 5,000 national and chapter members include kindergarten through college teachers and professors along with informal educators of all kingdoms, phylums and classes. NMEA’s 17 chapters range from Oceana (Hawaii and the Pacific Islands) to Texas to Massachusetts.  Its focus areas include education, conservation, ocean literacy and educational outreach to bring new teaching tools, resources, texts and marine curriculums to the nation’s classrooms and beyond.

“The biggest single initiative we’re working on is ocean literacy,” says NMEA President Craig Strang who is also Associate Director of the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley.

“In 1996 when the National Academy of Sciences put out science education standards (for the United States) the word ‘ocean’ did not even appear in them.  So we brought together hundreds of scientists and educators to develop a consensus on what are the essential ideas about the ocean that every kid should understand by the time they leave high school.”

Among the seven essential ideas that NMEA has gone on to promulgate – The earth has one big ocean with many features, the ocean has a major influence on weather and climate, the ocean is largely unexplored and the ocean makes earth habitable.

Next month a new set of common core standards for state science teaching will be released with the support of the nation’s Governors.  While not incorporating all of NMEA’s work Craig Strang is “confident these will be better than any previous standards.”

NMEA is also working with other countries and regions to expand in-school and public ocean education to the EU, Portugal, Japan, Fiji and elsewhere.

Along with a quarterly “Journal of Marine Education” and a regular newsletter NMEA members also hold regional conferences and an annual national conference that includes three awards – The Outstanding Teacher Award for effective and innovative classroom teaching, the James Centorino Award for outstanding marine education work by NMEA members who are not classroom teachers and the Marine Education Award for outstanding work and leadership in any aspect of marine education. I’m personally honored to have once received the New York State Marine Education Association’s Herman Melville Award, one of the coolest named literary prizes I know of.

This year, in cooperation with the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and Ocean Today Kiosk NMEA is also sponsoring a 1-3 minute high school video contest (this year’s theme involves fresh water). Their next national conference is scheduled for July 22-26 in Mobile, Alabama, hosted by the Southern Association of Marine Educators. For more on NMEA go to www.marine-ed.org. For more on their seven ocean education principles go to oceanliteracy.net.

Tired of reading?

If you have half a minute please check out our Blue Vision Summit video and pass it on.

If you have 2.5 minutes check out Digital Ocean’s pitch for Blue Frontier’s ’50 Ways to Save the Ocean’ educational work.

And if you have a leisurely 4.5 minutes check out my book video for The Golden Shore.

Blue Vision Summit | Peter Benchley Ocean Awards | Make a Donation | Blue Movement Directory

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What does the ocean mean to you?

Give the ocean a voice and help us create a promotional video for the upcoming Blue Vision Summit 4 in May. Video tape a brief statement (2-20 words) answer one or more of the following questions.

1) What does the ocean mean to you?

or

2) What do you think the ocean means to the world?

or

3) What do you think about the current state of the ocean?

Please make your video no more than 30 sec long and e-mail it to us via We Transfer. Please follow the instructions below for submitting your video. Video or audio selected will be used to make our promo video for the Blue Vision Summit.*

Submissions accepted 2/21/13 through 3/3/13. Make yours today!

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How to submit:
1. Make a 30 sec video with a brief statement that addresses at least one of the questions above
2. Export your video in the highest quality possible that is under 2GB (.mov if possible)
3. Go to https://www.wetransfer.com/
4. Click ‘add files’ and add the video you made (it will then begin uploading)
5. Click ‘Friends e-mail’ and type in seaweedrebel@gmail.com
6. Click ‘Your e-mail’ and type in your own e-mail address
7. Type us a short message and let us know who you are
8. Click ‘Transfer’ and your all set!
Note: If you did not receive a confirmation e-mail from we transfer then your files didn’t send.

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Be part of the Blue Movement and be heard! 

Submit your video, then register to join us at Blue Vision Summit 4

*By submitting your material, for good and valuable consideration, the sufficiency and receipt of which you hereby acknowledge, you hereby grant to Blue Frontier Campaign a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to edit, telecast, rerun, reproduce, use, create derivative works from, syndicate, license, sublicense, distribute and otherwise exhibit the materials you submit, or any portion thereof in any manner and in any medium or forum, whether now known or hereafter devised, without payment to you or any third party.

BLUE NOTES #108: Hot News for the Ocean, BVS4 to Hit the Hill, Salmon say Dam!

February 19, 2012
By David Helvarg

In this issue
Making Climate a Blue Issue
March on Washington – And into your Senator’s office
Seaweed Spotlight: Save Our Wild Salmon
We’re not shellfish about it

Making Climate a Blue Issue

Thunder snow, super-storms, dust storms, arctic melting and coral bleaching have existed but not as a regular part of our language ‘til fossil fuel fired climate change kicked in. You know you’re in the greenhouse century when the 13 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998 and last year, 2012, was the hottest in U.S. history, with a major drought, record fire season, sweltering summer and Hurricane Sandy. Of course no single event can be linked to human-enhanced climate disruption just like no single Tour de France victory by Lance Armstrong can be attributed to his doping, but the trend line is there.

I’ve reported on oil and climate impacts from Antarctica to the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, Fiji, Australia, Florida, lower Manhattan and offshore California. And in speaking with scientists in all those places I’ve found two common themes: One, the role of the ocean in climate change is not well enough understood but the impacts, like altered ecosystems and the shifting pH called ocean acidification, are already occurring. Two, this is the first environmental story where the scientists are more alarmed than the public.

I first learned about global warming interviewing Roger Revelle, the father of modern U.S. oceanography, back in the 1980s. In the 1950s he and Dr. Charles Keeling, measuring atmospheric CO2 from an observatory in Hawaii, discovered industrial carbon dioxide was increasing in the atmosphere and warned of a warming “greenhouse effect.” That became established science at the time and still is.

Yet it was only in the 1990s that climate scientists were able to resolve one of their vexing issues, why the atmosphere wasn’t heating even more rapidly given this build up. The answer was the ocean was absorbing a lot of human-generated CO2, converting it to carbonic acid. The carbonic acid has shifted the pH of the ocean causing surface waters to be 30 percent more acidic than in the early 19th century and possibly up to 150 percent more acidic by the end of this century. That will change the chemical makeup of the ocean to what it was 20 million years ago when it was a less friendly place for shell forming critters like oysters, corals and certain plankton but a fine soup for bacterial mats and jellyfish (both of which are booming today). Warmer, more acidic waters also hold less dissolved oxygen and that is bad news for the entire foodweb.

Still, there are a couple of ocean conservation groups who talk about ocean acidification (OA) without mentioning climate change because they fear it is too much of a “hot button,” issue. This, to me, is like trying to have a discussion about damaged battleships at Pearl Harbor in 1941 without mentioning the Japanese.

Author and activist Bill McKibben and his climate group 350.org take a different approach. They’re mobilizing armies of people, most recently in Washington, D.C. on February 17, to demand an end to the political stranglehold the fossil fuel industry has over much of our government and a rapid transition to clean energy. Unfortunately the marine conservation community is not bringing a lot of added value to this new populist upsurge.

Yet we are slowly beginning to see some good responses to, for example, climate-linked coastal disasters like Katrina and Sandy, from government, the private sector and the seaweed groups that influence them. One positive sign is New York Governor Cuomo’s call to use $400 million of federal disaster relief to buy back destroyed homes and structures in coastal flood zones from wiling sellers, a strategy known as, ‘planned retreat.’ The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance has developed a waterfront action agenda for adapting New York City’s shores to the rising seas around it. In Louisiana, the state is committing its federal Restore Act funds from the BP blowout to actually restoring the coastal wetlands that protect New Orleans and other population centers, while the Gulf Restoration Network continues working to promote region-wide restoration of the coastal ecosystems that protect us all. In Washington state, long-time Surfrider member and state senator Kevin Ranker has introduced legislation to address the threat of OA that is already impacting the larval oysters at Taylor Shellfish and other aquaculture companies operating in state waters.

And, as I report in my new book The Golden Shore, California is now emerging as the nation’s leader in planning and adapting for coastal climate impacts (see Blue Notes #105). Moreover it’s established its own climate plan including a cap and trade emissions reduction program in response to the federal government’s failure to act. It’s no coincidence that if you go to our Blue Movement Directory you’ll find California has more seaweed groups fighting to protect and restore our public seas than any other state. Ocean action comes in response to citizen engagement. 
It is a huge challenge for the marine conservation community to understand how these local and state initiatives can be scaled up and made part of a common national and global strategy for our emerging blue movement.

We will try and address this question during Blue Vision Summit 4 in Washington, D.C. this coming May 13-16. We’ll have a plenary on May 14th focused specifically on making climate change a blue issue. Among its participants will be a leading climate scientist, the head of America’s largest port of Los Angeles who is also leading a climate action plan for 50 of the world’s major ports and a representative from Taylor Shellfish, a company already having to deal with the ways in which climate change is having a growing impact on our economy.

It’s increasingly clear that if we’re to succeed as an ocean and coastal movement than climate will have to become one of our core issues. Even if we address the other cascading marine disasters of industrial overfishing, oil, plastic, chemical and nutrient pollution and loss of habitat, we could still have dying and disrupted seas just from the impacts of climate change alone. The challenge is to respond in time. I look forward to lively, impassioned discussion and real progress at the Blue Vision Summit.
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March on Washington – And into your Senator’s office
Registration is now open for Blue Vision Summit 4, May 13-16. Reasons to come include helping develop workable plans for dealing with climate impacts, coastal disaster response and to meet the next generation of young ocean leadership. Then there’s the opportunity to network and celebrate our seas and honor this year’s outstanding Peter Benchley Ocean Award recipients who are providing solutions for our blue planet. What will also be hugely rewarding is joining with hundreds of other people on May 15 in the largest ever gathering for oceans on Capitol Hill, a chance to meet in small groups with our elected representatives, members of Congress and their staffs and let them know what specific actions to protect, explore and restore our public seas we expect them to take while valuing the blue in our red, white and blue.
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Seaweed Spotlight
A regular feature of Blue Notes where we shine the light on a group from the Blue Movement Directory in order to create a more self-aware and collaborative movement. This month we feature Save Our Wild Salmon.

“What does a salmon say when it hits its head?”

“Dam!”

Founded just over 20 years ago, Save Our Wild Salmon (SOS) is a national coalition of conservationists, recreational and commercial fishing groups, businesses and others dedicated to restoring depleted stocks of the iconic, heroic and Homeric wild salmon and steelhead trout of the Pacific Northwest. SOS, with a staff of four spread across Washington, Oregon and Idaho, focuses its efforts on the Columbia and Snake River basin where up to 16 million salmon once filled the waters every year and where only 125,000 wild fish are expected to return this year, only 25,000 up the Snake River with its eight dams blocking their migration. As a result many of these salmon stocks are now listed under the Endangered Species Act.

As anadromous fish that are born in rivers but spend most of their lives at sea before returning to spawn and die, salmon are both a living link between land and sea – nitrogen from salmon remains help fertilize Idaho’s mountain forests – and also indicators of natural systems disrupted by a range of human impacts including dams and development, logging (that silts up rivers) and climate change that is warming rivers and seas.

The removal of four marginally productive dams on the lower Snake River is a long time goal of SOS and other salmon advocates who want to reopen hundreds of miles of blocked habitat for the fish. Similar dam removals have proved successful in restoring wild rivers in North Carolina and Maine and are also being carried out in California and on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

SOS Executive Director Pat Ford, who’s based out of Idaho, is proud of his coalition’s work to date. “In the 1990s scientists thought the fish would be gone in 20 years, but we’ve done a lot of good for salmon since then and gotten the federal government to place an emphasis on restoring damaged estuarine and river habitats. That helps resident fish and wildlife but we don’t think that’s enough for the dam affected fish.”

After years of litigation and wrangling over dam removal and salmon protection SOS has become a major advocate for stakeholder talks by all the parties involved in the region. While NOAA has begun this process Representative Doc Hastings (R WA) chair of the House Resources Committee claims salmon populations are already increasing (they’re not) and existing federal salmon rules are adequate to restore the species (federal judges have ruled four times that they’re not). Representative Hastings is also an outspoken opponent of President Obama’s National Ocean Policy (see Blue Notes #92) and proof of Upton Sinclair’s axiom that, “It’s hard to understand something when your salary depends on your not understanding it.”

Along with fighting the utilities and Bonneville Power Administration to try and remove dams, SOS has also begun to address climate impacts on salmon. “Last year there were (record high river water) readings of seventy degrees and above at the dams and this is a real problem, particularly for summer migrating salmon,” Pat Ford notes. “This is a very daunting issue, how to ameliorate the harmful impacts of hot water on salmon and steelhead. A hot river is a sick river for fish and for people.

There’s no doubt that the better, free flowing natural conditions we’re working for will help them (the fish) adapt but there may be times (in the future) when we may have to look at human interventions that we’d otherwise prefer not to carry out like hauling fish around hot spots or low spots in the rivers.”

In the interim SOS will continue its work building a broad consensus to protect the wild salmon and steelhead that are both powerful symbols and tasty staples of the Pacific Northwest.
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Blue Vision Summit | Peter Benchley Ocean Awards | Make a Donation | Blue Movement Directory

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Tickets are still available for the 6th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards.

Categories

• Excellence in National Stewardship of the Ocean: Awarded to the representative of a nation that has made a unique and exceptional contribution to the protection, restoration and appreciation of the world ocean. This award was presented to President Anote Tong of Kiribati in 2012 and to President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica in 2011.

• Excellence in Science: Awarded to an individual who has provided cutting edge marine science either through individual effort or as leader of a team that has advanced the cause of understanding marine ecology and conservation biology. Past winners are Dr. Nancy Rabalais (2012), Ransom Myer (2004), Dr. Nancy Knowlton & Dr. Jeremy Jackson (2009), Jesse Ausubel (2010), and Dr. Steve Palumbi (2011).
  

• Excellence in Policy: Awarded to an individual who contributes to advancing the cause of sustainable ocean use and protection based on the best available science and through the establishment of effective and enforceable laws and regulations. Past winners are Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (2012), Senator Ernst Hollings (2004), Representative Sam Farr (2009), Dr. Jane Lubchenco (2010), Admiral Thad Allen (USCG ret.) (2011).

• Excellence in Exploration: Awarded for feats of ocean exploration that inspire others and help advance our understanding and appreciation of the Sea. This award was given Ocean in Google Earth in 2012 and Don Walsh in 2010.
  

• Excellence in Solutions: Awarded to an individual who helps find or create practical solution to one of the many environmental problems confronting our seas. This award has been given to Dr. Geraldine Knatz (2012) and Dr. Gregory Stone (2011).

• Excellence in Media: Awarded to an individual or media outlet that shows exceptional ability in communicating ocean issues of concern to the public in ways that inform and/or inspire people to act as informed citizens. Past winners are Brian Skerry (2012), Naples Daily News (2004), Mark Shelley of Sea Studios (2009), Louie Psihoyos (2010) and Juliet Eilperin (2011).
  

• Youth Activism: Established in 2009, this category recognizes a young person who early in life has already made a significant contribution to marine conservation and public education about our seas. Past winners are Ta’Kaiya Blaney (2012), Zander Srodes (2009), Kyle Thiermann (2010), and Rudy Sanchez (2011).
  

• Hero of the Seas: This category recognizes a seaweed (marine grassroots) activist who has made a major and long-term commitment to improving the quality of our oceans and the communities who depend on them but may not have gained the widespread recognition they deserve. Past winners are Peter Douglas of California Coastal Commission (2012) Dery Bennett of American Littoral Society (2004), Richard Charter of OCS Coalition (2009), Cynthia Sarthou of Gulf Restoration Network (2010) and Kathy Fletcher of People for Puget Sound (2011).