NOAA Reopens Nearly 7,000 Square Miles in the Gulf of Mexico to Fishing

On Oct. 15, NOAA reopened to commercial and recreational fishing 6,879 square miles of Gulf waters about 180-200 nautical miles south of the Florida panhandle, between the Florida-Alabama state line and Cape San Blas, Fla. This is the ninth reopening in federal waters since July 22....

NOAA: Year-to-Date Global Temperature Ties for Warmest on Record

Arctic sea ice reaches its third lowest minimum extent on record....

NOAA Sends Catch Shares Applications to West Coast Fishermen

NOAA's Fisheries Service has mailed applications to almost 240 trawl fishermen and processors on the West Coast to invite them into what will be arguably the most important change in West Coast trawl fisheries management in a generation. The forms, due Nov. 1, are a crucial step for fishermen to participate in a catch-shares program, in which...

NOAA Establishes Supercomputing Center in West Virginia

NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco today announced a $27.6 million American Reinvestment and Recovery Act investment to build a new state-of-the-art supercomputer center in Fairmont, W. Va. Lubchenco was joined by U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the NOAA Environmental Security Computing Center (NESCC), which is geared...

New Federal Rule Allows NOAA to Deny Port Entry to Illegal Fishing Vessels

A new federal rule will allow NOAA's assistant administrator for fisheries to deny a vessel entry into a U.S. port or access to port services if that vessel has been listed for engaging in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by one of the world’s international fishery management organizations. The rule takes effect on Oct. 27, 2010....