 | | | "Day by day and season by season,
the ocean dominates the world's climate."
— Rachel Carson | | | | Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal. This March, our oceans have delivered news of hope and change. As the days get longer and temperatures rise, we see new reasons to look forward to a sustainable future for our oceans. There have been some setbacks here and there, but overall, states are rebuilding shorelines, restarting wind projects, and researching key aspects of our seas. March has also brought a new foreign war with dramatic environmental consequences. In Iran, strikes on oil facilities have brought “Black Rain” to a country where freshwater is already at a premium. Sunk ships and destroyed oil refineries have raised the price of oil worldwide, spurring new energy projects. However, the Trump Administration is spending a billion dollars to keep offshore wind on the East Coast from becoming a reality. The company who owns the leases will instead forgo their plans and invest in gas projects in Texas, a horrid turnaround.  In the oceans, though, we continue to see renewal this spring. Florida, Louisiana, and Maine are all seeing positive changes to their environments. In Louisiana, fishermen are working to protect their lifestyle in the modern economy. Florida advocates are working to reunite rivers separated decades ago in an abandoned canal project. The canal plan ended with parts of the Ocala National Forest submerged, and now the vital wildlife crossings may undergo a revival. In Maine, crews are rebuilding damaged dunes to protect coastal communities.
As spring approaches and marine life migrates back north, we have a wealth of sightings and new changes to ocean traffic. Ocean speed limits are on the chopping block as the federal government leans into new, unproven technology. At the same time, a ship strike was identified as the cause of death for a sperm whale on Nantucket. Again, as news seems to turn sour, there are glimmers of hope. A humpback whale recording has been found on audio equipment from 1949! The nearly 80-year-old recording is the first known audio of a whale song. The rediscovery is a testament to scientific research.
 Off the coast this spring, pollution continues to be an issue, with human-made chemicals spread across the world’s oceans. Vineyard Wind has also completed construction of their offshore wind farm, and the project is delivering power to the electrical grid in New England. The project faced substantial headwinds from stop-work orders, but once restarted the construction was quick. As the turbines turn and power homes along the coast, we hope they continue to invest in more projects.
Upcoming and recent events are full of interesting tidbits and screenings. Duke University hosted an Ocean Week conference, including undergraduate research presentations. In April, the Bay Area will host the 23rd Annual International Ocean Film Festival over three days in San Rafael. Tickets are available now for ocean-related films from around the globe. Capitol Hill Ocean Week (affectionately called CHOW) is coming up in the first week of June, with excellent panels and amazing attendees. To prepare, check out The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina, an adventurous tour of people who grace our seas, whether smugglers, police, or pirates. In March, there are stories of setbacks and renewal, falls and climbs. The ocean is resilient, and changes to policy are not always the death knell we expect. Researchers and community advocates continue to work hard around the coast, and the Rachel Carson Council is thrilled to be able to support their efforts. As flowers bloom and species return to waters just off our beaches, we hope you engage in your environment more and more. Take note of the new colors around you, and what you can do to help protect your community. In the month ahead, we hope this cycle of rebirth and growth continues, and we will do everything in our power to help move it along. | | | | | | | | RCC Presidential Fellows - MacEva Wright and Ewan Dignon  MacEva Wright is the co-lead of the RCC Coasts and Ocean program with Bob Musil. She is a second-year graduate student at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment working on a Master’s of Environmental Management with an emphasis on Coastal and Marine Systems and Environmental Justice.  Ewan Dignon is the co-lead of the RCC Coasts and Ocean program with Bob Musil. He is an undergraduate at Duke University pursuing two degrees, Public Policy (B.A.) and Economics (B.A.), with a minor in Environmental Sciences and Policy. | | | | | | War Brings Black Rain to a Parched Iran As U.S. and Israeli forces pummel Iran, oil installations and a desalination plant have come under fire. Experts warn that attacks on key infrastructure threaten the supply of fresh water in a country already coping with a brutal drought. For the first time since the bombing campaign began, Israel has begun targeting oil infrastructure, hitting several storage sites and a refinery near Tehran this weekend, TIME reported. | | | | | | | | As Louisiana’s Wetlands Erode, A Fishing Culture Fights to Survive Shell Beach, where generations have made a living from the marshes, is battling rising waters and environmental degradation. That doesn’t stop efforts to save it. “I grew up fishing these waters down here just like everyone down in Shell Beach,” says Brad Robin, whose family has lived here for generations. “We never had a bike ride in the streets. We had a pirogue battle in the canals,” he says, referring to the lightweight canoes used to navigate the marshlands here. | | | | | | | | Evaluating Living Shoreline Performances Living shorelines are a more natural way to help reduce shoreline erosion, while also providing habitat for fish and wildlife, and protecting coastal communities from wave action and storm surge. The structures vary in the amount of natural material that is incorporated into the design, which has been termed green to gray scale, with green living shorelines being composed mostly of natural materials, such as oysters and marsh plants, and gray living shorelines being predominantly hard larger structures. | | | | | | | | Decades After a Florida Canal Project Was Abandoned, Advocates Are Trying to Reunite 3 Rivers It was supposed to be Florida's version of the Panama Canal — a shortcut for boats to pass through the middle of the state from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf instead of navigating around the peninsula. But work on the Cross Florida Barge Canal was stopped in 1971 over environmental concerns. | | | | | | | | Maine County Is Rebuilding Its Destroyed Dunes. It’s Just the Start to Save the Coastline York County has started restoring sand dunes on Maine’s coast by dredging sand from Wells Harbor and rebuilding beaches. A crew guided a York County barge equipped with a giant sea vacuum across the waters of Wells Harbor last week. One contractor nudged the so-called dredge in a tiny tugboat. Another manned the equipment, which sucked up sand from the seabed. Still more workers maneuvered a more than 2,000-foot tube to Wells Beach. | | | | | | | | Ocean Speed Limits Protect Endangered Right Whales. Trump Wants to Weaken Them. NOAA wants to replace a longstanding rule with technology scientists say is unproven. Since 2008, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has imposed speed restrictions on ships 65 feet and longer when they pass through areas that North Atlantic right whales frequent in order to protect them from vessel strikes. | | | | | | | | Researchers Uncover 1949 Whale Recording, Potentially Unlocking Mysteries of Ocean: "Beautiful to listen to" A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it's the oldest such recording known. The song is that of a humpback whale, a marine giant beloved by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water. | | | | | | | | Ship Strike Suspected In Death Of Sperm Whale That Washed Up On Nantucket Last Year The cause of death of the 46-foot sperm whale that washed up along Nantucket’s north shore last November is being categorized as suspected vessel strike trauma, the Marine Mammal Alliance Nantucket (MMAN) announced on Wednesday. The adult male sperm whale was suffering from chronic impacts from “a significant wound likely caused by a vessel - from the shape and depth, specifically a skeg,” MMAN stated. | | | | | | | | | | Restoring the Indian River Lagoon’s Seagrass Meadows and Wetlands NOAA support is driving large-scale seagrass and wetland restoration in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, delivering benefits for fisheries, water quality, and coastal communities. NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation is supporting a system-wide effort to restore Florida’s Indian River Lagoon in partnership with the Indian River Lagoon Council. These projects are designed to deliver lasting ecological and economic benefits. | | | | | | | | New Ocean Chemical Pollution Study Raises Human Health Concerns A global analysis of seawater has revealed the pervasive reach of human-made chemicals across the world’s oceans, with coastal and estuarine environments bearing the heaviest burden – findings that scientists say are increasingly tied to a broader and more urgent public health concern. The study, published on March 16 in Nature Geoscience, examined more than 2,300 seawater samples collected between 2017 and 2022, making it one of the most comprehensive chemical meta-analyses of the marine environment to date. | | | | | | | | Vineyard Wind Completes Construction Of Offshore Wind Farm Following several tumultuous years of construction, including the infamous blade failure in July 2024 and stop-work orders by President Donald Trump's administration, Vineyard Wind's 62-turbine wind farm off Nantucket has been completed. The final blades of the Vineyard Wind 1 project were installed Friday evening, a Vineyard Wind spokesman said, completing the project's offshore construction program. | | | | | | | | Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2026: June 2 - 4 Today, coastal communities are the anchors of America, serving as engines of opportunity and preserving our shared waters. As we sail into the future, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation honors the earliest stewards of our waters and charts the course for the next generation of wavemakers. Capitol Hill Ocean Week celebrates 25 years as the Nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. Join us in this moment to launch bold breakthroughs, ignite discovery and secure waters for all. Read more | | | | | | | | International Ocean Film Foundation 23rd Annual International Ocean Film Festival Thursday, April 2, 2026
Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA Opening Night and 3-Day Film Festival
April 10-12, 2026
Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture,
San Francisco, CA Tickets are now on sale! | | | | | | | | The Outlaw Ocean Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier  NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A riveting, adrenaline-fueled tour of a vast, lawless, and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas.
There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.
Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways—drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil, and shipping industries, and on which the world’s economies rely. Both a gripping adventure story and a stunning exposé, this unique work of reportage brings fully into view for the first time the disturbing reality of a floating world that connects us all, a place where anyone can do anything because no one is watching. READ MORE | | | | The March 2026 issue of RCC's Coasts and Ocean Observer was produced by Ross Feldner | | | |  The Rachel Carson Council Depends on Tax-deductible Gifts From Concerned Individuals Like You. Please Help If You Can. | | | | | | | |  Sign Up Here to Receive the RCC E-News and Other RCC Newsletters, Information and Alerts. | | | | | | RACHEL CARSON COUNCIL
8600 Irvington Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20817
(571) 262-9148
[email protected] | | | | | | | | | | | |
