Updating and expanding laws blocking offshore oil drilling and seabed mining is the most powerful tool communities have to protect California’s coast in the face of the federal government’s new drilling plans. Katie Thompson and Dan Haifley urge the public to get involved.
Dan Haifley
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Congress: Please defend Monterey Bay and other national marine sanctuaries from a nearly 40% budget cut
Environmental activist Dan Haifley says that Congress should defend national marine sanctuaries, including ours in Monterey Bay, from a proposed budget cut of nearly 40%, which would eliminate jobs in the 18 sanctuaries in U.S. ocean and Great Lakes waters.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s tell Congress not to cut NOAA’s work – including national marine sanctuaries, fisheries and weather
Ocean activist Dan Haifley says planned cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget would harm Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, fisheries management, scientific data collection and analysis and the National Weather Service, which saves lives and supports our economy. He urges readers to contact Congress to protest the cuts.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s celebrate otters! Expanding otters’ range and numbers will help climate change
As Sea Otter Awareness Week approaches, ocean activist Dan Haifley says we should support efforts to expand the southern sea otter’s geographic range and population, allowing them to counteract climate change and support biodiversity along a longer stretch of West Coast waters. He also gives a shoutout to Otter 841, Santa Cruz’s beloved, surfboard-riding dynamo.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s get Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary done
Ocean activist Dan Haifley argues that Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will help complete a zone of ocean protection along the California coast that stretches from Point Arena to the north to the Channel Islands to the south. The decision now rests with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Biden-Harris administration and Congress.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We must save Santa Cruz’s iconic Mile Buoy
Retired O’Neill Sea Odyssey director Dan Haifley argues that the latest U.S. Coast Guard proposal to remove Santa Cruz’s iconic Mile Buoy must be stopped, given the buoy’s role in ocean safety and navigation. He urges citizens to contact the agency by April 3.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s make 2024 a year for the ocean
Environmentalist Dan Haifley says we can make 2024 a big year for ocean protection. Already, a United Nations high seas treaty has been signed by 84 nations and must be ratified by 60 of those, and the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is on track to be designated in 2024 along California’s Central Coast. This is good news for the fight for biodiversity and against climate change, but he says it will happen only with popular citizen support.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The U.S. Senate should approve the U.N. high seas treaty — we need this protection for our ocean
Environmentalist Dan Haifley says the newly minted United Nations high seas treaty will protect the “wild west” of international waters, fight climate change and preserve biodiversity, and that the U.S. Senate, which failed to ratify the previous agreement on seabed mining, should approve it. The U.N. vote is scheduled for June 19.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Make your voice heard as feds consider Chumash Heritage Marine Sanctuary, key piece of coastal protection
Environmental activist Dan Haifley argues that Monterey Bay residents should care about and support the potential designation of tribally nominated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, covering waters off San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties. If approved by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Association, the new sanctuary will provide the missing link in a chain of protection from Mendocino to Santa Barbara.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Mitigating climate change starts with you: It’s time to pay attention to our ocean and its kelp forests
With climate change in the spotlight thanks to the January 2023 storms, local environmental activist Dan Haifley reminds us of the important work happening at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, part of a national network of protected areas that fights climate change and pollution and protects biodiversity. That includes climate change research and preserving iconic kelp forests that reduce coastal erosion and absorb excess carbon from climate change.