Articles by Andrew Sharpless

Oceans’ alarm: what the sea is trying to tell us

Recently, I read about a professor at Columbia who teaches a course about the signs of the apocalypse. With the financial collapse and threats of a swine flu pandemic in […]

The ocean does represent a major source of energy, just not the one you’re thinking of

In the minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez poured 10.8 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The spill turned pristine spruce-lined waters into […]

Former Washington Gov. Locke would bring a strong voice for oceans to Commerce

If President Barack Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary sticks, we will have a knowledgeable voice as the secretary who oversees much of the nation's oceans management, including fisheries.

Coming from a coastal state, former Washington Governor Gary Locke should appreciate the importance of our oceans to the people of the United States and the health of our nation's economy.

The pristine U.S. Arctic has been protected from industrial fishing

It's a watershed day for Arctic conservation.

Facing dramatic evidence of climate change in the Arctic, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously on Thursday to prevent the expansion of industrial fishing into all U.S. waters north of the Bering Strait. There are no large-scale commercial fisheries currently operating in the U.S. Arctic, and now there won't be.

Nearly 200,000 square miles of pristine Arctic waters -- an area bigger than California -- will remain untouched by the extensive fishing nets, miles of hooked longlines, and destructive bottom trawls of industrial fishing. This means that the unknown but crucial fish species such as Arctic cod will stay put as the heart of the ecosystem.