News

July 6, 2011

A San Diego diver remembered: 'NOAA' Jim Kinane

Many in the diving community were saddened by the sudden death of Jim Kinane, on July 2, 2011, while on a friend's boat, preparing to dive. Read more here.

June 11, 2011

DFG releases Recreational Groundfish Regulations

The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) announces changes to recreational groundfish regulations that apply to state waters 0-3 nautical miles from shore. The new regulations were adopted by the Fish and Game Commission last month and take effect June 9, 2011. Read more here.

June 11, 2011

Ship recycler ready to expand, seeks Dry Dock 4 at Vallejo's Mare Island

Vallejo's ship dismantling company is expanding to a third Mare Island dry dock, which could mean more work and jobs, officials said this week. Read more here.

June 7, 2011

Artificial reef planned for Ventura County beach

Officials are hoping to build an artificial reef to bring back the glory days at Oil Pier beach and potentially use it as a showcase of how to restore and save beaches around the county. Read more here.

April 26, 2011

Mare Island dismantler gets no traction on new contract bids

Four Mothball Fleet ship-dismantling contracts posted Monday shut out a Mare Is-land ship industry newcomer. Read more here.

April 7, 2011

Recycling, not reefs, in store for old aircraft carriers

It's a heave-ho, U.S. Navy style. After several years during which turning old warships into artificial reefs was fashionable, four decommissioned aircraft carriers will instead be dismantled, and recycled, at shipyards. Read more here.

March 10, 2011

Feds to loosen restrictions on salmon fishing

Pacific Coast fishermen are gearing up for what's expected to be the best salmon fishing season in years. Read more here.

March 7, 2011

Mare Island welcomes cargo ship for dismantling

Mare Island will welcome Tuesday the second federally owned cargo ship set for dismantling there. Read more here.

March 6, 2011

The MLPA Initiative does not protect the ocean

Ray Hiemstra, the associate director of Orange County Coastkeeper, has written an article,” MLPA's Public-Private Partnership Protects Oceans During Lean Budget Times,” that includes a number of false claims in his attempt to extol the virtues of the private foundation funding behind Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. Read more here.

March 4, 2011

Conservationists Push Back Against Desalination in California

California is in the process of building a series of massive ocean desalination plants on a scale not seen before in the United States. While most are at various stages, slowly slogging through bureaucratic red tape, conservationists are pushing back against powerful interests betting California's looming water crisis occurs sooner rather than later. Read more here.

March 2, 2011

Court overturns California rule protecting coast

A Sacramento-based appellate court on Tuesday invalidated a regulation that is one of the state's main tools in guarding the California coast. Read more here.

March 1, 2011

What’s a big oil lobbyist doing chairing a marine protection panel?

During this widely-contested process, Reheis-Boyd and other task force members went out of their way to take water pollution, oil spills and drilling, military testing, wave energy projects, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering off the table in the so-called marine protected areas created under the privately funded initiative. Read more here.

February 20, 2011

Tribes lead fight against fishing restrictions

Northern California Native American tribes are clashing with state wildlife regulators over plans to restrict fishing off parts of the rugged coastline from the Oregon border south to Point Arena in Mendocino County. Read more here.

February 19, 2011

Man who coined the term 'scuba' dies

The man who developed an underwater breathing device and coined the term "scuba" to describe it has died at his home in Pennsylvania. Read more here.

February 16, 2011

Growth expansion wears out California's coastal ecosystems

On-going economic and population growth had been identified as factors that had put ample stress on the California's coastal ecosystems. Read more here.

February 15, 2011

Ship recycler plans formal opening Friday for Dry Dock 3 at Vallejo's Mare Island

The Mare Island shipyard has been mostly quiet in the weeks since the auspicious arrival of the SS Solon Turman to Dry Dock 3 earlier this month. But buzzing beneath the surface is the ongoing preparation work to dismantle the first "mothball" Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet vessel by November. Read more here.

February 1, 2011

First Suisun Bay Ship To Be Recycled At Vallejo, Calif. Facility

The former steam freighter SS Solon Turman will be towed from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet (SBRF) on Wednesday, February 2, 2011. Read more here.

January 22, 2011

State fisheries committee hears support for MLPA proposal

Tribes and local fishing and environmental groups on Friday repeated their support of a regional proposal for marine reserves along the North Coast before the Legislature's Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture in Eureka. Read more here.

January 5, 2011

Kittiwake is Cayman’s newest dive site

The U.S.S. Kittiwake is finally underwater. The former US navy submarine rescue ship is now an artificial reef sitting on the ocean floor 60 feet below the surface. Read more here.