Environment
LFM Posts

Getting it right: The Mass. draft ocean management plan

10/11/09 15:36
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On December 31, Massachusetts will become the first state with a management plan for its roughly 2,100 square miles of ocean and the often-competing interests of conservationists, the fishing industry, recreation and development.

Since June this plan has been circulating in draft form for the public’s consideration. The nearly two-volume tome is rich in data, but many fear it doesn’t go far enough to protect the Commonwealth’s more delicate marine assets—the so-called “special, sensitive or unique” (SSU) resources the plan identifies.

“The big problem with the plan—it is not really a plan,” said Mason Weinrich, executive director and chief scientist of the Whale Center of New England, based in Gloucester. “What they have done is gather a really valuable series of data sets to understand where these areas may be. But there isn’t really any more protection than what was already there.” Read More...

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Poseidon's Wrath

05/10/09 21:10
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In all of its beauty and wonder, the ocean can also be an awesome, devastating force. This week, the Samoan islands and Tonga experienced the desolation of a tsunami. There was little warning; it came in the middle of the night. At least 149 lives were lost, likely more. And while scientists have warning systems in place this is a reminder that we remain vulnerable to the wrath of the seas. Read More...

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"Green" practices for spring boat work?

24/04/09 21:07
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It's spring in New England! Buds are appearing on trees, and tulips--a multitude of colors--are sprinkled throughout the city of Boston. And if you listen closely, you just might hear the high pitched whir of a sander, the gentle slap of a paintbrush against the side of a hull or the excited splash of a boat as it hits the water. Read More...

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Poor diagnoses for ocean health

30/01/09 21:17
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Snip the plastic rings that hold together a six-pack of soda--you could save the lives of turtles and sea birds, my mom told me. But it wasn’t a panacea, and it failed to address a much larger problem: Our plastic waste, among other garbage, ends up in the ocean and stomachs of marine life. Read More...

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