February is Black History Month. First proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in 1969, Black History Month is now a federally recognized observance honoring “the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every endeavor throughout our history.”
In August, NOAA Fisheries issued a permit to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut to import five captive-born beluga whales from an amusement park in Ontario, Canada. Beluga whales, known for their white color and wide-ranging vocal sounds, are found in Alaskan waters and throughout the Arctic Ocean.
On January 13, 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published a Final Rule for modified and new Nationwide Permits (NWPs). Among the new NWPs were three relevant to mariculture operations: NWP 48 for shellfish, NWP 55 for seaweed, and NWP 56 for finfish. The new NWPs will become effective on March 15, 2021.
On his first day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order broadly resetting environmental policy at the federal level in the United States. Executive Order 13,990 creates a policy to restore and expand national monuments, and also directs the Secretary of Interior to review monument boundaries and Presidential Proclamations affecting national monuments.
On January 19, the National Sea Grant Law Center welcomed its first ever AmeriCorps VISTA Member! Taylor Harris is serving through the North Mississippi VISTA Project (NMVP) and will dedicate her one year of full-time national service to supporting the University of Mississippi’s Lead in Drinking Water Team improve programming and outreach to communities in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the state. We asked Taylor some questions to get to know her better.
