During his presidency, one of Donald Trump's big priorities was to roll back environmental protections for our precious Ocean. He issued multiple executive orders opening up protected areas of the Ocean for commercial fishing and oil drilling.
One of the fragile ecosystems targeted is the Oculina Coral Reef, located off the central-eastern coast of Florida. The deepwater coral and marine habitat was the first marine protected area in the nation and has been protected since 1984. It's home to many species. Just look at NOAA's beautiful photo, above.
Last September, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to open up 22 square miles of the reef, inching a step closer to opening up the protected area to rock shrimp fishing.
If trawlers drag their nets and equipment along the seafloor, they will cover the coral in sediment from the seafloor, blocking the sun above that the coral depends on for survival.
And it's not just the coral that would be threatened – the Oculina Coral Reef is home to over 230 species of mollusks, 50 species of decapod crustaceans, and 70 species of fish. The reef also provides spawning areas for young fish, such as grouper and red snapper. Opening this protected area up will have disastrous effects on its delicate ecosystem and all the species that depend on it.
We already know that coral reefs are in danger across the globe. These reefs are home to countless marine species, and they're all connected and dependent on each other for survival. If we destroy the coral, we threaten all other species that call the reef home.
We are running out of time to save the Oculina Coral Reef, a one of a kind ecosystem not found anywhere else in the world. NOAA must step in and protect the Oculina Coral Reef.
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Recognize Right Whale Day April 24th with a tale and/or illustration.
State Representative, Josh Cutler, has filed a bill to create Massachusetts Right Whale Day April 24 (H.33869). The bill is out of committee and is awaiting to be brought to the floor for a vote.
The Delaney family and ORI invite you to celebrate Massachusetts North Atlantic Right Whale Day by submitting a short account or piece of what right whales mean to you. Perhaps share an encounter with a live whales or whale art or your thoughts on the plight of right whales and how important they are.
Please click on our website to submit your text and an image, perhaps a drawing. Check out what others are saying about right whales. Your thoughts, words and images will be enjoyed by many and should help pass the bill on Beacon Hill.
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The Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians (BABAM) will preform again at 11th Hour Calling for First Parish Church in Cambridge, April 11, 2022.
11th Hour Calling for Climate Justice
at First Parish Church in Cambridge
April 11, 2022 at 6 pm
Climate Justice requires Racial Justice
"Our message of transformation is a message of urgency and hope. A climate-resilient future is still possible. It starts with changing who is in the conversation to better identify the challenges we need to address, the best ways to address them, and the just, equitable outcomes we expect from our actions. From these conversations will flow clear rationales for what we need to transform, what we want to keep, and why. This, in turn, will point us to the linked adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development actions that will work to benefit the widest set of people in communities, states, and countries." Ed Carr, one of the IPCC lead authors, Boston Globe 3/17
"For nearly 200 years, fossil-fuel energy has been central to geopolitics. The relationship between western Europe and China changed decisively in 1839, when Britain deployed coal-fired steam ships in the First Opium War. . . .
Quite simply, there is no way that governments — or the scholars who seek to advise them — can be serious about the energy transition without having a realistic strategy for the problems that history tells us will arise as the geopolitics of old and new energy sources and technologies combine. Unless these predicaments are faced — by citizens as energy consumers, by scientists and social scientists, as well as by governments — they will become ever harder."
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Boston Common Harbor
Happy 22nd Century in Boston Massachusetts
We’ll drop a shipment of green water for the Isle of Bunker Hill
The waters of the world have slowly crept over the city
Leaving only remnants of the monuments that were.
Chorus:
Sailing, Sailing the underwater town
From Boston Common Harbor through Charles River Sound
Scuba through the coral of colorful Back Bay
Sailing over Boston where the Red Sox used to play.
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Here at the Ocean River Institute, we don’t just talk about the need to fight climate change. We’re using all of our knowledge about the threats we face to press others to take bold action.
And bold action is exactly what the world needs in the fight against climate change. Who's in your corner?
Publications in 2021:
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The Ocean River Institute is the only organization that raises a cacophony of voices to decision-makers. When you speak out on any one of our campaigns, you are heard. Thanks to those of you who took the time to write a comment. You are opening the doors of committees and the minds of politicians who serve their constituents or are just looking for a way forward to climate justice.
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For healthy oceans, watersheds, and wildlife diversity. |
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