Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross allocated $200 million in disaster funding appropriated by Congress to help fishermen and the businesses and communities that rely upon them to recover and rebuild following hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017. Funding has also been appropriated and allocated for the disasters that devastated West Coast and Alaskan fishermen from 2014 to 2017. NOAA
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Waters in the Gulf of Mexico had record-breaking high temperatures in the weeks before Hurricane Harvey in Aug. 2017. A recent analysis published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) shows that the high water temperatures caused increased evaporation that directly correlates with the record-breaking rainfall that flooded the Houston area during the storm. The authors were able to isolate Hurricane
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The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has released a request for proposal (RFP) with matching funding to acquire a new heavy icebreaker vessel intended to be the first of a six-ship installment and the beginning of a robust U.S. icebreaker fleet. Announcing the proposal at the Mar. 1, 2018 State of the Coast Guard address, Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft said it
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Aquabotix is an underwater robotics company that makes underwater drones called autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs), as well as networked underwater cameras. The company has issued a statement that this kind of equipment could be useful for surveying underwater damage to infrastructure at ports, offshore drilling rigs and various submerged coastal structures. They are launching a new
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The U.S. Coast Guard reported ships entering and exiting the Houston Ship Channel on Labor Day and the Port of Houston is open just past the ExxonMobil Baytown facility for vessels up to a 40’ draft. Nearly a dozen other area ports are closed or open with restrictions. According to the latest report from the offshore resources organization Bureau of
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