Articles by Andrew Sharpless

Jellyfish invasion in the Mediterranean

If you've never felt the stinging sensation of a jellyfish, count yourself lucky. It's like lemon juice in a paper cut, but longer lasting. The only thing worse than a jellyfish sting is ... hundreds of jellyfish stings.

Scientists recently announced a jellyfish bloom on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, and the crew onboard Oceana's Ranger is witnessing the invasion firsthand.

What's causing the massive increase? Glad you asked:

• An increase in "nutrients" (aka ocean pollution),
• an increase in water temperature (aka, global warming), and
• a decrease in predators (aka overfishing).

For all of you right-brained people, get a sense of the situation through this new video.

Unorthodox strategy results in key victory for marine mammals

Yes, folks, it's true. The House demonstrated Monday that they will -- on occasion -- vote "yes" on conservation issues, when Rep. Richard Pombo put forward and the House passed a new version of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that left the Dolphin Deadline intact.

This was truly an amazing victory, and I'm not just saying this because my organization, Oceana, led the work that pulled this off. We took on those who wanted to kill the deadline -- the key timeline for government to ensure that commercial fishing operations minimize the catch of dolphins and other marine mammals in their activities -- and won. The amazing part is how we did it -- by going to Republicans and proving that supporting legislation that "kills Flipper" is not good politics for Republicans or Democrats.

Ranger expedition switches target

After more than two months at sea, Oceana's catamaran -- the Ranger -- has documented dozens of illegal Italian driftnetters ... and we've got the footage to prove it:

New safeguards created to protect whales

Following up on my previous post, the legal battle between the Navy and the environmental community has come to a close (at least for now). Last Friday, a settlement was reached ensuring that measures will be taken to reduce the harm to whales, dolphins, and other marine life caused by high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar. Great work by NRDC and others. Stay tuned for the next episode of this contentious issue ...