June 9, 2011

The Department of Commerce and NOAA today released national sustainable marine aquaculture policies to meet the growing demand for healthy seafood, to create jobs in coastal communities, and restore vital ecosystems. Foreign aquaculture accounts for about half of the 84 percent of seafood imported by the U.S., contributing to the $9 billion trade deficit in seafood.

According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, La Nina is gone. This period of colder-than-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean has passed. The Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature will likely remain near normal through the summer.

Remarks by NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco during Capitol Hill Oceans Week

NOAA’s Fisheries Service has proposed 16 areas as critical habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and is inviting public comment. The proposed revision includes expanding the 1988 critical habitat designation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and adding new areas throughout the main Hawaiian Islands.