Environmental News May 26 to June 14, 2016

Plan for the Nation’s first Oceanside Dolphin Sanctuary
Date: June 14, 2016
By: John Rancanelli, The Baltimore Sun
After five years of consideration, Baltimore’s National Aquarium is announcing plans to move its colony of dolphins from its amphitheater pool to the nation’s first Oceanside dolphin sanctuary.
Read more here.

How the Phenomenal Pearlfish Survives in a Sea Cucumber’s Bum
Date: June 10, 2016
By: Ed Yong, National Geographic
There are many species of pearlfish. Some live independently, but several make their homes in the bodies of shellfish, starfish, and other marine animals. But sea cucumbers are their most infamous hosts. Having found one by following its smell, a pearlfish will dive into the anus headfirst, “propelling itself by violent stokes of the tail,” according to Eric Parmentier.
Read more here.

Sunscreens Extreme Effect on Coral Reefs
Date: June 10, 2016
By: Natalia Lima, Environmental News Network
You only use a little bit of sunscreen—a squeeze or the bottle or two or three sprays. Sure, it has some chemical ingredients, but it won’t kill anyone, right? Wrong. Sunscreen is actually one of the culprits of putting over 60 percent of the planet’s coral reefs in critical danger – and bringing a whole lot of other wildlife down with them.
Read more here.

Are American Samoans American?
Date: June 8, 2016
By: Cristina Duffy Ponsa, The New York Times
The Supreme Court will soon decide whether to hear an appeal in Tuaua v. United States, which poses the question of whether the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment applies to American Samoa. That this is a question at all is puzzling, and not just because it’s called American Samoa.
Read more here.

Harbour Village Beach Club Announces Partnership With Ocean Conservationist Fabien Cousteau
Date: June 8, 2016
By: Harbour Village Beach Club, PR Newswire
In observation of World Oceans Day, Harbour Village Beach Club, the Caribbean’s “best kept secret” and Bonaire’s only luxury resort, proudly announces a partnership with noted filmmaker, explorer and ocean preservationist Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of famed explorer and ocean preservationist Jacques Cousteau, in an effort to raise awareness for ocean conservation among discerning Caribbean travelers.
Read more here.

Falling Behind in Ocean Protection
Date: June 3, 2016
By: Valerie Craig, National Geographic
It’s National Oceans Month and on June 8 we will celebrate World Oceans Day, so it’s a good time to check in on how close we’re getting to the international goal of fully protecting 10% of the world’s ocean. Unfortunately it looks like we have a long way to go, especially right here in North America.
Read more here.

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Expansion Proposed
Date: June 7, 2016
By: NOAA
Building on more than 30 years of scientific studies, including numerous reports released in the last decade and in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, NOAA today announced a proposal to expand Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary to protect additional critical Gulf of Mexico habitat.
Read more here.

Young Fish Eat Microplastics Like Fast Food
Date: June 6, 2016
By: Steve Williams, Environmental News Network
New research shows that young fish are eating tiny pieces of plastic instead of their regular food – with potentially devastating consequences.
Read more here.

Celine Cousteau Explores the Psychological Power of Water
Date: June 6, 2016
By: Paula Tracy, WMUR 9
Celine Cousteau told hundreds attending the New Hampshire Lakes Congress that the state’s water bodies are “inherently connected to us” and that we should explore them, enjoy them and treat them as our treasures.
Read more here.

There Aren’t Plenty of Fish in the Sea and It’s Our Fault
Date: June 5, 2016
By: Aisling Maria Cronin, One Green Planet
It sees that we humans, as land-dwellers, have little appreciation of our world’s vast oceans. The oceans provide us with 70 percent of the world’s oxygen and absorb 30 percent of the greenhouse gases that we release into the atmosphere. But, despite this amazingness, we feel free to take as many fish as we want from those mysterious depths, and fill them with untold amounts of chemicals, plastic, and other trash.
Read more here.

Alexandra Cousteau Advocates Legacy Building and Environmental Protection in Georgetown Commencement Address
By: Molly Simio, The Hoya
Environmentalist and explorer Alexandra Cousteau encouraged graduates to take control of their own legacies, maintain a sense of wonder and preserve the planet in a commencement address to the Georgetown College of 2016 in McDonough Arena.
Read more here.

Celebrating World Oceans Day
Date: June 8, 2016
By: The Georgia Aquarium, Mother Nature Network
The ocean covers most of the Earth. Without this salty expanse, our planet as we know it couldn’t exist. Oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe. They help feed us. They even regulate our climate. World Oceans Day is the one day that we’ve set aside each year to celebrate everything about the oceans and what we can do to preserve this one globally connected layer of salt water that is the dominant geographic feature of our planet.
Read more here.

5 Issues Driving Ocean Conservation
Date: June 1, 2016
By: The Pew Charitable Trusts
June is National Oceans Month, and Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) runs from June 7-9. In anticipation of CHOW 2016, Pew highlights some of the key issues that will be discussed at the conference and their vision for addressing them.
Read more here.

Aerial Surveys Document Ocean Debris Around Hawaii
Date: May 31, 2016
By: Caleb Jones, AP
A study of the eight main Hawaiian Islands shows that ocean debris regularly accumulates around the archipelago, and that most of it is not linked to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, state officials said Tuesday.
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There are Whales Alive Today Who Were Born Before Moby Dick Was Written
Date: January 9, 2014
By: Rose Eveleth, Smithsonian.com
In Alaska’s North Slope, the population of bowhead whales seems to be recovering. But that’s not the coolest part of this Alaska Dispatch story. Some of the bowhead whales in the icy waters off of Alaska today are over 200 years old.
Read more here.