Gulf of Mexico News

Restore America’s Estuaries seeking proposals for conference

December 2011 – Restore America’s Estuaries is seeking proposals for its 6th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration to be held October 20-24, 2012, in Tampa, Florida. The conference’s theme will be “Restoring Ecosystems, Strengthening Communities.” Submittal deadline for dedicated sessions, presentations and posters will be February 1, 2012.

The Conference will bring attention to the challenges and opportunities for restoration and will bring together a unique blend of people who are involved in policy, science, strategy, business, and on-the-ground restoration.

The Gulf of Mexico Foundation will be taking a lead role in the conference with several staff members participating. Previous conferences have been attended by more than 5,200 people.

Conference website

Andarko CEO to step down

Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s chief executive will step down in May for personal reasons. CEO Jim Hackett said Tuesday that he will resign “to consider other avenues for personal and professional growth.” Hackett, who has served as Anadarko’s CEO for eight years, will depart gradually, moving to a newly created position of executive chairman before retiring in 2013.

House approves funding. Photo Courtesy: Jacquelyn Martin, The Associated Press

House approves giving 80 percent of BP oil spill fines to Gulf fund

The House gave voice vote approval Thursday to an amendment that would dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to a new Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund.

Anadarko drills successful Gulf of Mexico well

Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Thursday it had drilled a successful appraisal well near its Heidelberg discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, supporting its model for a reservoir it believes contains 200 million barrels of oil.

Driftwood log crushes toddler on Texas coast

CRYSTAL BEACH, TX – February 9, 2012 - A 3-year-old boy died Thursday after a heavy driftwood log rolled down a sand dune and crushed him at a beach on the Texas Gulf Coast. A teenage girl was injured by the log, which Galveston County sheriff’s Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said was about 3 feet long and 2 feet in diameter and weighed several hundred pounds. The boy’s family was spending a day at the Crystal Beach seashore Thursday afternoon when the sand supporting the log was disturbed and gave way.The log killed LaShaun Lovejoy Huff.

Gulf of Mexico Alliance celebrates change in leadership

LOUISIANA – January 31, 2012 - Jerome Zeringue has become the new management Chair of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, taking an active lead on behalf of Governor Bobby Jindal. Zerinque made Alliance history, shifting state leadership for only the second time since the Alliance was established in 2004. Louisiana takes over following a long and active tenure by Dr. Bill Walker and Ms. Trudy Fisher with the State of Mississippi.

Oyster on the half shell - Photo: Creative Commons

Texas Gulf Oysters Are Back on the Menu!

TEXAS COAST – January 26, 2012 – Some good news for fans of Texas Gulf oysters, which have been off the menu this season due to the drought. Heavy rains in some parts of Texas have alleviated the red tide and oyster harvesting began once again in late January 2012 in San Antonio Bays northeast of Corpus Christi.

NOAA’s Coastal Ocean Science Blog Goes Live!

WASHINGTON D.C. – January 30, 2012 – Today, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) unveiled the Coastal Ocean Science Blog, a new communications tool that will give you a detailed look into the science taking place across the US. The goal of the blog is to give readers a 360-perspective of research, from design and implementation, to results and how that science is being used by natural resource managers and partners around the US and its Territories such as those of the NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.

Kayaker rescues dog in fatal DUI crash

SARASOTA, FLORIDA – January 10, 2012 (SNN Local News 6) – The video by a fisherman who rescued a dog in the Gulf of Mexico has gone viral. The Viszla fled from Saturday’s accident in which his owner, Sarasota resident Donna Chen, was killed when she was hit by a driver fleeing a DUI crash on Siesta Key. At the time, Rory O’Connor didn’t know where the dog came from or why it was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, a half mile off Siesta Key.

President Obama to announce new Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale today

NEW ORLEANS – Jan 25, 2012 - President Barack Obama will announce today a new oil and gas lease sale in the central Gulf of Mexico to be held in New Orleans on June 20. The lease sale, which will include all available unleased areas in the Central Planning Area off of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, will make about 38 million acres available, and could result in the production of 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to Interior Department estimates.

Sharks eating songbirds in Gulf of Mexico

GULF OF MEXICO – January 13, 2012 – What’s a songbird doing in the belly of a tiger shark? The predators are eating land birds affected by offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico (map), according to new research. Marcus Drymon, of Dauphin Island Sea Lab, has been studying fish off the Alabama coast since 2006. During a routine sampling in 2009, he pulled a tiger shark onto the deck of his boat to tag and release it.

Sanctuary to host Seaside Chats in February

GALVESTON, TX – January 16, 2012 - Beginning in February, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary will be hosting a series of Seaside Chats in celebration of its 20th anniversary. These FREE presentations will introduce visitors to the history and wonders of the sanctuary, which lies just 115 miles off the Texas/Louisiana coast.

Gulf of Mexico Foundation to move to Galveston island

GALVESTON, TX — January 15, 2012 — The Gulf of Mexico Foundation plans to move its headquarters from Corpus Christi to [Galveston] island, where it will build a $7.1 million center for education, training and conservation programs related to the Gulf that will lure hundreds here each year.

Welcome, Gulf of Mexico Foundation

GALVESTON, TX – January 15, 2012 – The Gulf of Mexico Foundation is moving its headquarters to Galveston. It will be a good fit, and it will allow people in Galveston County to play a role in one of the most interesting questions our country faces in the next 100 years: How to responsibly use the resources of the Gulf of Mexico.

Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority

Louisiana’s new Master Coastal Plan to be released this month

BATON ROUGE, LA – January 9, 2012 – Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan is the first in an ongoing series of five-year updates to the state’s 2007 Master Plan. The 2012 Coastal Master Plan is currently being developed, and a draft will be available for public review in early 2012.

Drought Threatens The World’s Last Surviving Flock Of Whooping Cranes

FULTON, Texas – January 9, 2012 - Raising its slim, white neck out of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world’s last surviving whooping cranes hungrily searches a Texas marsh for the blue crabs and berries it devours during its annual migration to the Gulf Coast. The high-protein diet is supposed to sustain North America’s tallest bird through the winter and prepare it for the nesting season in Canada. But this year, the state’s devastating drought has made food and water scarce …

NOAA awards research grant to help prevent seafood poisoning

WASHINGTON DC – December 22, 2011 – NOAA has awarded the first year of an anticipated five-year, $4 million grant to scientists researching the causes of Ciguatera fish poisoning, the most common form of algal toxin-induced seafood poisoning in the world, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

Black Tiger shrimp are surfacing in the Gulf

GULF OF MEXICO – December 19, 2011 – The giant Black Tiger shrimp that Ron Pockrus caught off the Texas coast might be the biggest threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimp industry to come along in years, marine biologists said.

Gulf of Mexico Regional Ecosystem Restoration Strategy

Task Force releases strategy for restoring the Gulf of Mexico

December 5, 2011 – Today the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force released its final strategy for restoring the Gulf of Mexico, which was over a year in the making. “This document will help to guide and support much of the work that we will do over the coming years,” said Ryan Fikes, Deputy Director for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. Fikes oversees the GMF’s Community-based Restoration Partnership.

GMF educator JR Jones receives environmental award

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – December 3, 2011 - JR Jones was honored with the Environmental Stewardship Award for Education during the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation’s Conservation & Stewardship Award banquet held at the Solomon Ortiz International Center in Corpus Christi on December 2.

Flower Garden Banks NMS - Photo: GP Schmahl/NOAA

Underwater Theater

December 2011 – GULF OF MEXICO – A blue and yellow fish the size of my index finger darts across the dimpled surface of a pale green coral sphere. A school of brown chromis, four inches long with fins that seem to have been dipped in yellow, circle us, and a French angelfish the diameter of a dinner plate cruises past.

News & Media

Gulf of Mexico News

Restore America’s Estuaries seeking proposals for conference