Oceans

The state is offering up to $400,000 annually for marine engineers to inspect 30 to 40 ships. It’s a fraction of the $3.4 million Ocean Ranger program, which had marine engineers on more than half of all voyages by large cruise ships.

The Bering Sea Elders Group called the plan a “milestone” for including Indigenous people in federal conversations and policy on climate change.

A judge has agreed to another extension for a final rule on designating critical habitat for endangered and threatened humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean.

Locals know the Alaska SeaLife Center as an aquarium. But it’s also the state’s only permanent rescue and rehabilitation facility for marine mammals.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is planning to solicit bids on over 1 million acres in the inlet’s federal waters, which includes anything more than three miles offshore.

The annual fishery didn’t happen at all in 2019 and 2020. Most of the herring were young and too small to meet international market demands, and the pandemic posed other challenges in 2020.