This summer, the NSGLC will host three law students researching a variety of topics: aquaculture, invasive species, and more! In this webinar, the students will discuss their internship experiences and present findings from their research projects.
A new Advisory Request titled Regulation, Litigation, and Funding for Septic Systems in South Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia has been published.
The April 2026 issue of The SandBar is now available. The lead story is: Navigating Constitutional Waters: The Challenge to Hawaii’s Cruise Ship Tax.
This issue features articles developed through a symposium we supported in partnership with Maryland Sea Grant and the Georgetown Climate Center. Together, these contributions explore pressing environmental challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay region.
Join attorneys from the National Sea Grant Law Center for a webinar exploring the rapidly evolving legal and regulatory landscape surrounding PFAS. This session will break down key federal and state regulatory developments, as well as ongoing litigation involving PFAS.
An extension agent from UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant contacted NSGLC to request information on the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) import provisions and their implementation. Starting on January 1, 2026, all harvesting nations with commercial fisheries exporting fish and fish products to the United States must have received comparability findings from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) confirming that their exporting fisheries meet the conditions in the MMPA import provisions. This advisory memo first provides background on the MMPA import provisions and 2016 rule implementing the provisions, NMFS’s List of Foreign Fisheries (LOFF), and NMFS’s comparability finding determinations. Then, it discusses a challenge to the 2016 rule and comparability finding determinations.
The United Nations (UN) has announced the agreement to protect marine life in international waters, called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNF) treaty, or the High Seas Treaty (the Treaty) has officially entered into force. Its purpose is to protect the ocean zones that lie beyond national waters, called the “high seas.” While the UN has discussed a possible agreement governing the high seas for the last two decades, serious talks only began in 2017. The impetus was both to protect marine life generally, and to reach the UN’s goal to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and water by 2030. The Treaty text was finalized in June of 2023, but required 60 countries' to ratify it before it became legally binding. This requirement was reached on September 19, 2025, and the Treaty officially went into effect 120 days later, on January 17, 2026. As of February 11, 85 countries have ratified the Treaty.