National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

By PATRICK WHITTLE The profitable U.S. lobster fishery will soon have to contend with new rules designed to protect an endangered species of whale, and that could necessitate major changes for people in the industry. The federal government is working on new rules designed to reduce risk to North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360. One of the…

The coronavirus pandemic has taken away about a third of the commercial fishing industry’s revenue, according to a federal report released on Friday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said revenues from catch brought to the docks by commercial fishermen fell 29% over the course of the first seven months of the year. Revenues declined every month from March to…

An unforgiving hurricane season shattered records this year and battered parts of Central America and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The federal government wants people seeking social distance to know they still have to stay away from seals they encounter at the beach. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday more people are spending time outdoors as the East Coast approaches the harbor seal pupping season. That increases the likelihood beachgoers will encounter the seals and their young. NOAA…

New legislation aims to phase out mile-long fishing nets off the California coast that have entangled and killed sea life, including endangered species, by the thousands over the past few decades. The gear, known as drift gill nets, are mainly used to catch swordfish but often net far more than what fisherman are actually targeting, according to an analysis by...

A photo of a washed-up shark on Cape Cod offers a rare close-up look at the elusive animal. The 6-foot porbeagle shark was found dead just north of on Marconi Beach Sunday, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which shared the photo on Facebook.

Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life. But on the ground, there’s a different scene: plastic, pollution and death. With virtually no predators, Midway is a haven for many species of seabirds and is...

Few things are as embedded in Maine’s culture — or its mud — as clams, and an environmental group thinks the key to saving the shellfish might be growing a different kind of bivalve along the state’s coast. Manomet, based in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is proposing the shellfish shift as a way to beat predators that plague Maine’s clam diggers.

There’s growing concern that stronger cell signals, associated with expanding 5G networks, will impact the quality of weather forecasts. Next week, scientists from around the world will gather in Egypt to discuss the issue.

A group representing Maine’s lobstermen says it’s now willing to work with the federal government on a plan to protect right whales after withdrawing its support for the plan this summer.

A top weather forecasting official, who oversaw the government’s prediction centers that track ocean, hurricane and even space conditions, has died in rough seas on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. William Lapenta, 58, died Monday after lifeguards pulled him from the surf off the coastal town of Duck, local officials said. The National Weather Service had issued a warning earlier Monday...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has declared fishing disasters for seven states on three coasts.

At the edge of an ancient lava flow where jagged black rocks meet the Pacific, small off-the-grid homes overlook the calm blue waters of Papa Bay on Hawaii’s Big Island — no tourists or hotels in sight. Here, one of the islands’ most abundant and vibrant coral reefs thrives just below the surface. Yet even this remote shoreline far from...

Scientists have their eyes on a heat wave in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that bears a striking resemblance to “The Blob” of 2014, 2015 and 2016. A large area of water that’s much warmer than normal is already beginning to affect marine life. If it persists, it could cause problems up and down the California coast.

Struggling to keep his emotions in check, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both defended President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday and thanked forecasters who contradicted the president’s claims about Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama. Speaking to a meteorology group, acting administrator Neil Jacobs said a NOAA statement issued Friday that criticized the Birmingham-area National Weather Service office...

For the second time in 10 days, a young minke whale has turned up dead along the Massachusetts coastline. The body of the male whale was found in the surf of the Humarock section of Scituate Monday afternoon.

The acting chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said his agency likely violated its scientific integrity rules last week when it publicly chastised a weather office that contradicted President Donald Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama. Two top NOAA civil servants not so quietly revolted against an unsigned agency press release issued late Friday rebuking the...

President Donald Trump appeared to show a Hurricane Dorian map which was doctored to show the hurricane possibly passing into Alabama. Trump had tweeted that Alabama was in the storm’s path.

After days of claiming without evidence that Alabama was projected to be hit by Hurricane Dorian, President Donald Trump displayed an apparently doctored map in the Oval Office on Wednesday that showed Alabama to be within the storm’s path, NBC News reported. The map Trump displayed was the same as a model produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

The names of hurricanes may change, but one thing seems to stay the same: Misinformation spreads quickly during these dangerous storms.