All species of sea turtles are now classified as endangered. Rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing back into the wild is a crucial conservation effort.

It is a good idea at this time of year to put on a pair of mechanic’s gloves, uncoil each dock line in turn, and carefully run them through your fingers to find and remove any foreign matter that inevitably works into the braided or three-strand nylon. Our thanks to experienced yachtsman and frequent contributor to Cruisers Net, Bill Parlatore, for this article.

Maintaining Your Dock Lines by Bill Parlatore
Seattle Yachts
 

Watch NOAA climatologist Tom Di Liberto try his best as he recaps 2020’s record-breaking weather in Ocean Today’s latest Climate Alive!

How Fast Can You Say All 30 of 2020’s Named Atlantic Storms? Climate Alive! 2020 Recap Watch NOAA climatologist Tom Di Liberto try his best as he recaps 2020’s record-breaking weather in Ocean Today’s latest Climate Alive! Field Report for students and anyone curious about how our climate is changing and what we can do about it.  Let’s get started!  Video Link (3:19)  ICYMI: Take a DEEPER DIVE learning about bioluminescence with our Full Moon Watch Party Webinar, hosted by Ocean Today’s Symone Barkley. Video link: (33:04) Help us create content that works for you by taking a few minute to take a survey – NOAA Multimedia Needs Assessment. ABOUT OCEAN TODAY – Want to learn more about the Smithsonian/NOAA Ocean Today Program? Click Here if you are a teacher or museum, aquarium or zoo educator.     February 17, 2021 Teachers: The Climate Alive! 2020 Recap supports the Ocean and Climate Literacy Essential Principals and the following Next Generation Science Standards. Middle School: MSESS2.C 2 The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns. Middle School: MSESS2.D 3 The ocean exerts a major influence on weather and climate by absorbing energy from the sun, releasing it over time, and globally redistributing it through ocean currents. Video link (3:19):  Climate Alive! Webinar: To better understand the ocean, weather, and climate connection, join NOAA Climatologist Tom Di Liberto as he examines “wild weather.” Video link (27:32)

The recently released U.S. Sea-Level Report Cards from William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences show that not only are seas rising faster, the acceleration rate is increasing.

Sea Level Rising More Rapidly: ‘Report Cards’
Coastal Review Online

Your disposable coffee cup might seem like it can be recycled, but most single-use paper cups are lined with a fine film of polyethylene which makes the cup liquid-proof but also difficult and expensive to reprocess, because the materials have to been separated. Most waste processing plants will treat the cups as trash.

Plastics have become essential components of products and packaging because they’re durable, lightweight, and cheap. But though they offer numerous benefits, plastics originate as fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases from cradle to grave, according to a May 2019 report called “Plastic & Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet,” released by the Center for International Environmental Law, a nonprofit environmental law organization.