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December 2006
• South African boat builders are making sailing catamarans, power catamarans, large mono-hulled yachts, inflatable boats and ocean-going kayaks
• Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), in charge of ensuring local and EU laws are not being broken in Irish waters, comes into force January 1
• Washington state governor Chris Gregoire declares Puget Sound "sick," and proposes a $220 million effort over the next two years to start cleaning it up
• Divers sealed a broken pipe on the High Island Pipeline System Sunday after about 44,500 gallons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, the oil continues to move away from land and is dispersing
• Japan's exploration ship Shirase at the Showa Base in Antarctica is off to help a fishermen who fell ill
• Rough seas swept four American sailors from the deck of nuclear submarine USS Minneapolis-St. Paul while it was sailing off the coast of southwestern England on Friday; two were killed
• South Korea's most expensive orders for ships in 2006
• An updated rule incorporating recent US National Fire Protection Association standards into the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's fire protection standard for shipyards will go into effect Jan. 16, 2007
• The Ayles Ice Shelf broke free from an island south of the North Pole in the Canadian Arctic, climate change is being blamed for the dramatic event
• Goldfish released into the wild are threatening Britain's native carp, the Carassius carassius
• The owner of the Maltese ship Tzini that ran aground in waters off Suao Port four days ago is facing another fine for moving the ship away without extracting the remaining fuel oil first
• China's president Hu Jintao has called on top military commanders to build a powerful navy; as China continues to spend heavily on a modern, blue-water fleet
• US Coast Guard expands exchanges with Chinese maritime-security agencies in a move that reflects growth in seaborne trade between the two countries
• US has offered the Mozambican navy three vessels for maritime patrols, seeking to protect the country's maritime and lake resources from illegal fishing
• Isis, the UK's first deep-diving ROV, will dive down four miles to explore the Antarctic deep
• Loch Lomond Seaplanes will bring back seaplane service to Britain
• Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation signs agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering to establish a world class shipping company for crude oil transportation
• Scientists prove that cadmium threatens the health and survival of oysters
• President Roh Moo-hyun confirms support to redevelop Busan's North Port
• Bad weather has stalled clean-up and response efforts at the site of an oil pipeline rupture 30 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas
• The South African Navy may soon get funding to purchase a new ship in the Valour Class MEKO A-200 series from Germany
• Two North Korean soldiers, who were rescued last week by the South Korean Navy in the waters off Sokcho in Kangwon Province, were sent back to the North after medical treatment
• Russia has dismantled 148 out of 197 decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear submarines; expects all subs to be scrapped by 2010
• Sri Lanka's fishing industry is recovering from the 2004 tsunami
• US Federal Communication Commission will drop its requirement for Morse Code proficiency as a condition for an amateur license
• Significant new contracts are due to be announced in the New Year by Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard
• Yantai Raffles Shipyard, China Construction Bank sign strategic deal
• The white dolphin baiji, native to the Yangtze River, is now 'functionally extinct'
• An undersea crude oil pipeline ruptured on Sunday after being hit by a ship's anchor, spilling over 20,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and leaving a half-mile long oil slick on the water
• Two managers of a Chinese power generating company have been fired for lax supervision that led to a diesel spill that polluted the Yangtze River and hit water supplies
• Tzini oil spill is suspected of being caused by negligence, the owner is being called on to clean up the pollution along the coastline
• North Korean cargo ship sinks off China's north coast, 17 are missing
• Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal is expected to reach a record $3.8 billion in 2006, up around 10 per cent from last year
• The University of Oslo has decided to move three grand Viking ships to a new museum across town, despite dire warnings that the thousand-year-old oak vessels could fall apart en route
• US Navy is changing menus aboard surface ships and submarines to help keep sailors in better shape
• The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has certified five more British fisheries in 2005/6; certification proves the fisheries are working in a sustainable way
• Maltese cargo ship Tzini lost power and grounded near the Suao coastline and spilled oil when a tank broke open; the crew is safe
• Overview of the problems the US Coast Guard is facing with its Deepwater procurement program
• Taiwanese coastguards have stepped up patrols in the disputed South China Sea after local fishermen complained that they were harassed and robbed by Vietnamese pirates
• Unexplained sewage leaks keep bothering St. Marys River, part of the US-Canadian boundary at the eastern edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula
• US officials are considering putting the white marlin, a popular Florida Keys sport fish, on the Endangered Species list
• Iran set to invest in fish farms
• Pakistan and India have finally agreed to conduct a joint survey of the Sir Creek on January 15, 2007; this will allow the countries to determine maritime boundaries
• The Japanese midget submarine discovered off the beaches of Sydney is to be left on the ocean floor and is expected to become a permanent tomb for the two crewmen killed inside the vessel after their attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942
• Pakistan's maritime security agency rescued an Indian cargo ship Noore Panjtani with 11 crew on it after the dhow sent out a distress call about onboard flooding triggering the possibility of sinking
• A ferry was taken out of service following a collision with a bunker barge in the Thorne Channel in Hampshire, no one was injured
• US repair ship Vulcan is the 54th ship to leave the James River for recycling since January 2001, it will be scrapped at Bay Bridge Enterprises LLC
• State-run Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. is teaming up with an Iranian shipbuilding firm to make offshore platforms
• France's Defense Ministry has awarded a contract for six Barracuda nuclear-powered submarines to state-owned warship builder DCN and nuclear energy group Areva
• Three German U-boats that were sunk in a secret British minefield trap have been found: the U-325, the U-400 and U-1021
• A private company has withdrawn plans to move cargo by barges from the Port of Charleston to Lake Marion, saying the lengthy permitting process is too costly
• Northrop Grumman Ship Systems delivers the Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Kidd and the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Oreans to the US Navy, and General Dynamics' Electric Boat delivers the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Hawaii
• Invasive species of shrimp, the red mysid, has been found in the channel of Muskegon Lake, which empties into Lake Michigan
• The Maltese government's demands for amendments on provisional quotas for tuna fishing have been accepted and have been included in the EC's final document
• Demand for B.C. farmed salmon outstrips supply
• Stolt-Nielsen S.A. announces reacquisition of sturgeon and caviar business
• South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries has signed a 1.6 billion dollar deal to build offshore oil platforms and pipelines in the United Arab Emirates
• New measures fail to adequately control set netting around New Zealand, virtually guaranteeing that Hector's dolphins will continue to die
• Clearing Lebanon's coastline of the pollution caused by Israeli bombings in the July-August war will cost about $150 million
• Trapping of silver minnow (Mukene) on Uganda's Lake Albert has been suspended to avoid extinction of other fish species
• Japanese research team has filmed a giant squid live, possibly for the first time - the creatures may be more plentiful than previously believed
• The Carteret islands in the South Pacific are disappearing due to global warming — but they are not the only low-lying coastal community that is in danger from rising waters
• US agrees to discuss extending life of the Trident missile so they would match the lifetime of the UK's proposed new submarine fleet
• India develops capabilities to undertake deepwater exploration
• US company J Ray McDermott has begun construction on a yard in Mexico's Tamaulipas state to build deepwater oil platforms
• India and Pakistan will hold talks about conducting a joint survey of the Sir Creek area to enable the countries to demarcate the maritime zone
• Iran will ban the use of monofilament nets in the waters of the Hormozgan Province to help preserve marine life
• Keppel to build the world's first concrete heave lifter, designed for the decommissioning of offshore structures
• Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney approved two liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivery terminals for eventual construction off the coast of Gloucester, northeast of Boston
• The governments of at least 21 anti-whaling nations have undertaken the largest single diplomatic protest ever against Japan's lethal scientific whaling program
• The struggle to protect a Hawaiian archipelago
• Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. will pay a record fine of $37 million after pleading guilty to illegally dumping waste oil and falsifying pollution logs in six US ports
• Protecting marine areas for relatively brief periods can significantly restore depleted fish stocks
• A wind farm in the Thames Estuary was approved despite a warning from the shipping industry that it would significantly increase the risk of massive pollution in the event of a collision
• Dense fog has forced the temporary closure of the Houston Ship Channel for six consecutive days
• India and Pakistan will release nearly 500 fishermen in each other's custody at the Wagah border on December 22
• Excessive use of pesticides in tea plantations across north Bengal have resulted in disappearance of various indigenous fish species from the region
• Illegal fishermen in the Philippines are blasting dynamite inside the pens of farmed mussels to get fish using the cages as sanctuary
• Key US transportation security problems remain unresolved five years after 9/11, according to articles in 'Issues in Science and Technology'
• The Pentagon is considering a buildup of Navy forces in the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran
• Russia to adopt a strategy for shipbuilding development, which will include creating 3 holdings in 2007; commercial construction will also be supported
• Scotland's fisheries protection authorities and environment minister Ross Finnie are cleared of wrongdoing over the cancellation of a tender for a vessel in what appeared to be a move to help a Scottish shipyard
• The mass mortalities and abortions of the Cape Fur seals along the Namibian coastline are a result of starvation due to scarcity of food
• BAE Systems Naval Ships reports record levels of investment, and a growing workforce of nearly 4,000
• Korean shipbuilders hold the world's top five spots in order backlog
• British chefs criticize fish policies that allow for overfishing of critical stocks
• South Australian government is accused of mismanaging fish stocks
• Western Australia's rock lobster industry is recognized for sustainable fishing
• Cargo ship MV Basra II was reduced to a shell by a fire at Mombasa's Old Port, the crew was not injured
• Proposed submerged deepwater port to unload liquefied natural gas near Fort Lauderdale might have multiple impacts on recreational fishing
• 'Floating out' ceremony for Cunard's new Queen Victoria will take place in January at Italy's Fincantieri shipyard
• Four Swedes rescued from the sinking yacht Felicia off the Namibian coast are on their way to South Africa
• Scientists have found a primitive microbe in the ocean off the Pacific Northwest coast that adds further support to the notion that life on Earth began within the ocean
• The lure of the Northwest Passage will inevitably bring oil spills to the Arctic
• The Mediterranean, which sees about 30% of the word's maritime traffic, is safer than it was pre 9/11 due to NATO air patrols
• US Army Corps of Engineers report doesn't quite answer what should be done with the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet blamed for widespread flooding during Hurricane Katrina
• Nevada is being asked to investigate whether mercury emissions from its gold mines are contaminating area fisheries
• Several companies in a bid to take over classification society Germanischer Lloyd
• SITC Maritime (Group) Co, and New Times International Transport Service Co, will merge to create China's biggest logistics service provider
• EU-funded NEW H SHIP project finds no major barriers standing in the way of using hydrogen aboard ships, researchers hope more studies will be done
• US Navy sinks Spruance, first of the 31 DD 963 Spruance-class destroyers, for target practice
• Carrera, the second Scorpene submarine built by DCN in cooperation with Navantia for the Chilean Navy, arrived in its homeport of Talcahuano, Chile
• Vietnam's shipbuilder Vinashin will build a shipyard, container terminal, and tourism complex in the central part of the country
• The refit of the Indian Navy's Russian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya has dropped behind schedule due to structural problems
• XSMG Marine Ltd unveils the XSR48, a diesel production boat capable of speeds of up to 110 mph
• Russian navy official who was not part of the investigating committee blames the crew of the AS-28 mini-submarine for getting stuck under water
• Call for better maritime cooperation among Indian Ocean Region nations
• Soon the Marine Integrated Decision Analysis System (MIDAS) will allow anyone with a decent computer to simulate human activity's impact on the reef environment
• Juan Enrique Benitez is searching for the first submarine ever designed and built in Chile, the vessel sank in 1866
• US to add to Royal Bahamas Defence Force's fleet of vessels, to support drug interdiction
• Overview of Russian navy fleet activities in 2006
• Britain's first of six Type 45 destroyers, HMS Daring, looks set to start sea trials as early as next summer
• European Commission has proposed to reopen the Northeast Atlantic (NEAT) deep-sea gillnet fishery, environmental experts are critical
• Shell Philippines will use double-hull tankers by 2008, before the international deadline of 2015
• People in Guimaras are still waiting for aid from the Solar I oil spill
• Research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows that spilled oil can persist in marine environments for thirty years, and maybe longer
• The planned tie-up between Thales and state-run shipbuilder DCN, which has already been delayed several times, has been delayed again until next year
• Foreign mercenaries are now infiltrating India through the coastline
• The Indonesian Navy says that piracy on the Malacca Strait is down
• The hospital ship Africa Mercy hits more delays at the A&P Tyne shipyard, but is still on course to bring aid to Liberia by March
• Clearwater's subsidiary Glaciar Pesquera receives certification of fishery sustainability from the Marine Stewardship Council for its Argentinean Scallops
• Lax oversight seen at the Port of Seattle; the port shoulders the financial risk, but forgoes profit
• US Navy seeks to enhance undersea surveillance to optimize anti-submarine warfare operations
• Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Hyman G. Rickover to be deactivated
• UK's Northwestern shipyard gets contract to overhaul the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Diligence
• Vancouver Shipyards lays the keel of a new ferry for BC Ferries
• Indonesia wants to start building its own warships
• A shoal of 10,000 jellyfish became stranded on South Cumbrian salt marshes after being dragged off course by strong winds and high tides
• Malaysian fishermen must equip their vessels with tracking units when they renew their licenses; the units will be linked to the Vessel Monitoring System
• Cruise lines plan bigger and faster ships
• Two fishing boats capsized in the sea off east China's Zhejiang Province after being rammed by unidentified ships in two separate incidents, 14 missing
• Crew of the tall ship Tenacious rescued seven French sailors from the yacht Zouk 900 miles from the Caribbean
• Philippine Coast Guard probes sinking of tourist boat MB Brian that may have been overloaded; all passengers were rescued
• India to launch Scorpene submarine production with Thales unit Armaris this week
• Japanese and Australian authorities are discussing how the Japanese midget submarine M24 sunk off Sydney can be examined for any remains of its two submariners
• With Australia's emergency vessel Remora lost at sea, the country's six Collins class submarines have no local deep water rescue capability; but the Navy says there's no danger
• Carnival Plc exercises option for a new ship for Italian Costa Cruises, it will be delivered by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri from its Marghera shipyard in 2010
• General Dynamics NASSCO holds a keel- laying ceremony for the fifth ship in the US Navy's T-AKE program, USNS Robert E. Peary
• Bulgaria's Varna shipyard goes bankrupt
• An oil slick that last week polluted the Danube banks in Bulgaria was found to have originated upriver in Serbian waters; the Danube is seeing more spills
• Kenya needs higher fines for marine pollution
• The latest 'Census of Marine Life' has discovered 500 new marine species
• North Carolina to ban oyster shells from landfills, and instead dump them in coastal waters to help rebuild oyster populations
• Ethical columnist Lucy Seigle talks about the conflicting stories of the future of fish in the article 'End of the line,' published in The Observer
• European Commission denies requests from Belgium, UK and Malta to prolong the favorable tax-free program for gas oil used to power sea craft; Malta may appeal
• South Korean navy rescues 2 North Korean soldiers from a small boat off the eastern Korean coast; unclear if they were defecting
• Water levels in Africa's Lake Victoria has dropped almost 6 feet (1.8 meters) in the past three years; drought and rising temperatures seem to be the culprits
• Sarbe division of DAC's London-based subsidiary, Signature Industries, will develop a submarine crew escape system for the Royal Netherlands Navy
• The numbers of young eels across northern Europe may have fallen by as much as 95%
• UK Environment Agency's fishery enforcement officers are out watching for salmon poachers
• US Coast Guard reminds boaters that beginning January 1, 2007, both 121.5 and 243 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) are prohibited from use
• US Congressional Research Service publishes the report Sea-Based Missile Defense — Background and Issues for Congress (PDF file dated 12/4/06)
• Scottish security expert warns that al-Qaeda terrorists could use lax security at foreign ports and on foreign ships to import terrorism into Britain
• United Nations General Assembly calls on States to take "immediate action" to sustainably manage fish stocks and protect vulnerable deep sea ecosystems from harmful fishing practices
• California's ports lack security funds, Port of Oakland wants to use voter- approved transportation bond money to match federal funds
• USS Forrestal, America's first supercarrier, will likely be sunk to become an artificial reef
• South Korea installs seismometer at the sea bottom off Ullung Island, designed to be part of a real-time observation of tidal waves, tsunamis, and other earthquake- related events
• Accident on submarine tender USS Frank Cable kills one sailor, injures seven others
• US Navy awards contract option to a Bath Iron Works-led team for construction of a second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) featuring a high-speed trimaran hull
• US House votes to open oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, off Alabama and Florida; the bill now goes to the Senate
• Dubai Ports World is participating in the US security plan Safe Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006
• US Navy to install a radar system on the archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe to guarantee maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, a key regional supplier to the US oil market
• Several people are feared dead after a boat believed to be overcrowded capsized near Remba Island in Lake Victoria
• No fewer than 40 top executives of maritime companies in the United Kingdom have signified their intention to invest in the Nigerian maritime industry
• New Zealand government plans to change fisheries legislation to favor caution and sustainability when there is little information available
• Washington state is upgrading water-quality standards concerning pollution, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in a bid to make dozens of watersheds healthier for fish, wildlife and people
• US fisheries expert slams key findings contained in a recent report that captured international attention by predicting the collapse of all fish stocks by 2048
• Independent study says that Amsterdam's Port State Control authority had the legal means to detain the Probo Koala, possibly avoiding the deaths and illness caused in Abidjan by its toxic waste
• Remembering Pearl Harbor
• Ariel J. Weinmann is sentenced to 12 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for desertion and turning over classified information to a foreign agent
• XL Insurance introduces new commercial marine liability policy
• Scottish merchant marines who sailed the 'suicide run' to get supplies to the Russian people in World War II are honored with the Arctic Emblem
• Plans underway to recover the Australian Submarine Rescue Vehicle Remora, sunk off western Australia
• Cheap Chinese steel floods Korea
• US Navy commissions supply ship USNS Alan Shepard, named for the first American in space
• General Dynamics Electric Boat will reduce its workforce by another 1,000 jobs beginning January 1; many jobs will be eliminated through attrition
• South Korea postpones 3,000-ton submarine program 'KSS-III,' will build six more 1,800-ton Type 214 subs instead
• New Zealand to address the threat that seabirds face from long line fishing practices
• Iceland defends its return to whaling; is exporting meat to the Faroe Islands and may export to Japan
• South Korea to start an aquatic hospital at Pukyong National University in the southern port city of Pusan, mainly to treat marine life at fish farms
• USS Intrepid is finally freed from the Hudson River and towed to a New Jersey shipyard for repairs
• South Africa is concerned that pirates may head south
• A hacking attack on the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, has disabled the institution's unclassified site for more than two weeks
• West Australia's prison system is crowded with Indonesian men convicted of illegal fishing in Australian waters
• Russia's atomic energy agency, Rosatom, and Norway's Foreign Ministry, will further cooperate in dismantling Russian nuclear-powered submarines
• A project involving the University of Queensland is set to explore Australia's deep water for the first time
• Bermuda Police Service dedicated the brand new vessel MV Guardian on Monday
• After ports, ship-building and SEZ, the Adani group is now planning to own a fleet of ships and set up its own shipping company
• More cuts in fish catches have been demanded by the European Commission in the name of conservation
• Scottish fisheries are worried about the invasive Gyrodactylus salaris (GS) parasite
• Suez Energy North America Inc. has submitted an application to build undersea natural-gas terminals off Florida's coast
• BP Plc has submitted a revised plan for preventing and responding to spills at the Prudhoe Bay oil field following pipeline corrosion problems and oil spills earlier this year
• Teekay Shipping and AP Moller - Maersk create Swift Tankers, to provide a large, homogenous fleet of double hull, ice class product tankers
• US sailor accused of stealing a Navy laptop computer and selling its contents pleaded guilty Monday to espionage, desertion and other charges; he faces life in prison
• New England Fishery Management Council is preparing to overhaul the region's fishery
• Global warming and unpredictable behavior could prompt Canada to further restrict the number of boats on its fishing grounds
• Lake Superior's late-autumn water levels are at their lowest in 80 years, sparking concerns that the fall of the world's largest freshwater lake could hurt shipping, shorelines and fish populations
• California's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary may grow in a proposed rewrite of the ocean policy
• The National Research Council reviews the draft Ocean Research Priorities Plan (ORPP), Charting the Course for Ocean Science in the United States: Research Priorities for the Next Decade
• Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipyard, could be vulnerable to North Korea's military
• African migrants say they're going to Europe because foreign trawlers are taking all their fish
• Canadian warship HMCS Ottawa rescues all 18 crew from an Indian dhow, but couldn't save the ship
• Bush may end drilling ban in Alaska's Bristol Bay
• Australia confirms that a World War II-era M24 Japanese midget submarine has been found off Sydney
• China has started construction of its second Yuan-class attack submarine and it likely will be deployed in 2010
• EU and Norway have agreed on fishing quotas for seven species
• Norway will harpoon 1,052 whales in the 2007 season, the same number as the previous year, despite whalers fulfilling only half the 2006 limit
• New surveillance aircraft will help protect Canada's marine environment
• Horizon Lines, Inc. takes delivery of the first of five US-flagged containerships built by the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in South Korea
November 2006
• UK maritime trade union Nautilus finds that many seafarers work too many hours, and in unsafe conditions
• Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is set to issue a loan to the Philippines for the rehabilitation of its shipping industry
• New Zealand will protect the great white shark in its waters starting in April 2007
• New international standards for passenger ship safety are considered for adoption during IMO's Maritime Safety Committee meeting, 29 November to 8 December 2006
• The first of a planned network of tsunami early warning buoys is being placed between Thailand and Sri Lanka
• South Korea's shipbuilding exports are predicted to exceed $30 billion in 2015
• A Russian fishing trawler captain has been arrested in Japan for allegedly violating regulations restricting fishing by foreign trawlers in Japanese waters
• Illegal fish catches, the scourge of the Scottish fishing industry for decades, have fallen to their lowest level on record
• Sonsub International Pty. Ltd. will recover the remaining oil in the sunken tanker Solar I lying off Guimaras waters starting in February
• US Navy submariner will plead guilty in espionage case
• The US Navy has rescinded a two-year moratorium on the use of commercial WLANs, Bluetooth devices and long-range commercial WiMax equipment
• Russia scraps 145 out of 197 decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear submarines; all subs should be scrapped by 2010
• Amsterdam turns shipping containers into housing units
• Experts worry about the endangered right whale
• High-speed ferries in Korea will have sonar systems installed, so they don't collide with undersea objects such as whales
• US National Marine Fisheries Service proposes a recovery plan for Puget Sound's endangered population of killer whales
• UN Environment Program (UNEP) meets to discuss hazardous waste, including toxic chemicals, old electronics and obsolete ships and aircraft
• Japan's three major shipping companies will increase the number of ships they operate to meet demand for energy transportation from India and China
• Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has been hiring new employees to keep up with the demand for its services as shipyards deliver record numbers of vessels
• Australia puts an interim protection order on a wreck believed to be a missing Japanese midget submarine from World War II
• Annual catch of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean is to be cut by one fifth in an attempt to conserve dwindling stocks, environmentalists say this is too little
• MP increases pressure to stop ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth
• Fishermen, marine experts say the pessimistic report in 'Science' that predicts a collapse of all fisheries is unduly alarmist
• Top Taiwanese defense official says that Taiwan must upgrade its submarine warfare capabilities
• Sri Lanka seeks India's help to step up patrols of their common maritime border to prevent drug and arms smuggling
• American-bred catfish are starting to face competition from cheaper breeds of foreign basa and tra, or 'Asian' catfish
• EU, Russia set aside funds for environmental projects in the area surrounding the Baltic Sea
• Australia finds third Japanese midget submarine that went missing after attacking a ship in Sydney Harbour during World War II
• Teams led by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada Inc. and SNC-Lavalin ProFac Inc. receive contracts for the project definition phase of Canada's Joint Support Ships project
• Pakistan's shipbuilding industry keen on orders to build more naval platforms
• Shrimp trawlers look to cut waste in what is described as the most wasteful form of fishing
• Officials of the China National Petroleum Corp. will be punished for a toxic river spill that cut off water supplies to people in northeastern China and Russia
• United Nations Development Program releases funds for the rehabilitation process on Guimaras Island, hit by the Solar 1 oil spill
• President Arroyo orders a full investigation into the sinking of a barge carrying debris from the oil spill off Guimaras island
• One of 7 foreign oil workers taken hostage off Nigeria from an oil supply vessel was killed, and another wounded during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead
• North Sea SECA comes into force, ships have just one year to demonstrate compliance with the new exhaust emission standards
• German submarine U102, one other, found during a sonar survey off Orkney
• Cranes from the historic Swan Hunter shipyard have been sold off
• Virginia's Colonna's Shipyards to pay fines, make improvements at its yards
• Morocco has ratified a fishing quota deal with the EU, that reduces the number of European fishing boats in Moroccan waters
• Prime Minister Tony Blair confirms that controversial plans to replace Trident, Britain's independent nuclear deterrent, will be published before Christmas
• US official says China's military buildup includes weapons designed to sink US aircraft carriers and deny US forces access to the Asia-Pacific region
• European Union fisheries ministers set quotas for fish stocks, WWF warns that the limits are too lax for more vulnerable species
• WWF study shows how protected areas can be part of the solution to the fisheries crisis
• China National Offshore Oil Corp., PetroChina Co. Ltd. sign deals to ramp up investment in Vietnam as the countries set aside a maritime border dispute to forge closer energy ties
• Fishermen in the Philippines, Pakistan, protest over loss of stocks on World Fisheries Day
• Dwindling stocks prompt call for 25% cut in Pacific bigeye tuna haul
• Two boats with 25 illegal African immigrants arrived in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday; an additional 64 people reached Tenerife
• Survivors and relatives of the Lancastria sinking, Britain's worst maritime disaster, may take legal action to have the site designated a maritime war grave
• Halliburton unit KBR Inc. met with a British defense official to discuss concerns about safety at a large shipyard owned largely by KBR
• Coalition of marine scientists has launched a campaign to halt Japan's annual dolphin kill
• Toxic spill of sodium hydroxide from a CN Rail car last year ensured a 'near complete sterilization' of a large section of B.C.'s Cheakamus River
• Four pollution charges have been laid against the Hong Kong ship Andre for spilling oil into Burrard Inlet, under new legislation that makes even an accidental spill an offence
• California to impose sweeping limits on ocean fishing
• Four Chinese fishing boats were seized in South Korean waters
• It is believed Britain will signal within the next two to three weeks that it wants to continue with the submarine-based Trident missile system as the UK's nuclear deterrent
• New Zealand's first offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago is launched
• The deadline is approaching for Australian fishermen who want to be compensated for leaving the industry
• Native Inuit hunters have begun an operation to spear to death up to 80 beluga whales trapped in a frozen waterway on the Arctic coast of Canada
• Britain's Devonport and Portsmouth submarine bases are fighting each other for survival; Faslane is thought to be safe
• UN begins debate on bottom-trawling fishing; Canada opposes a moratorium
• New report says Malaysian shipbuilders must clear backlog orders or risk losing international competitiveness; technology seen as a hurdle
• US eases ban on shipments of some live Great Lakes fish aimed at preventing the spread of the aquatic virus viral hemorrhagic septicemia
• The bleaching of corals due to climate change may result in severe global economic losses, that will primarily hit the poor
• Scientists hope to piece together the recipe for an ancient Roman fish sauce from storage jars found in a shipwreck off the eastern coast of Spain
• So many Polish workers are going to the European Union that Germany may allow their welders and shipbuilders to work in Poland
• Canadian warship HMCS Huron, commissioned in 1972, will be towed out to sea and used for target practice
• German shipbuilders defend their fuel-cell- powered submarine, the Papanikolis, that has been bought by the Greek Navy
• Commercial fisheries in the port city of Aqaba are being driven to the brink of collapse from pollution and destruction of marine habitat
• There is still a shortage of tugs on the US West Coast from Hurricane Katrina; Washington state finally locates a tug to rescue stranded ships this winter
• More than 700 passengers and crew are sick aboard the Carnival cruise ship Liberty
• Australia asks Indonesia to help establish patrols to keep Indonesian fishermen out of Australian waters
• Environmental group WWF urges the global body in charge of tuna conservation to take drastic measures to prevent the extinction of the Mediterranean's bluefin tuna
• Viet Nguyen Hong of Viet Nam was awarded the twenty-first Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea
• Navy divers probed the Hudson River to figure out how to free the USS Intrepid from the mud that has stranded the World War II ship at its Manhattan pier
• Indonesia is putting treasures up for auction that were salvaged from a 10th-century shipwreck off the island of Java
• World Fisheries Day will be held November 21, 2006
• A humpback whale drowned in Alaska's Prince William Sound after becoming entangled in the net of a research vessel
• Scottish langoustines will take a 17,000-mile round trip to Thailand for processing before being sold in the UK, in a move dismissed as 'environmental madness' by critics
• Experts say that many river Ganga species are in danger
• Nigerian navy repelled a militant attack on an oil facility in the Niger Delta on Wednesday
• Britain's Ministry of Defense asks Halliburton's KBR unit to delay its planned initial public offering, or face losing its contract to operate Western Europe's largest naval port
• India will have indigenously designed stealth warships by 2008
• Boustead Naval Shipyard is confident of delivering the remaining four new generation patrol vessels to the Royal Malaysian Navy within 36 months
• Japan's research whaling fleet plans to kill 850 minke and 10 fin whales on its annual hunt in the Antarctic
• Norwegian hunters killed 546 minke whales this year, short of their commercial whaling quota due to bad weather
• Kenya to host the 8-country Indian Ocean Fisheries Project, created to promote a regional model of environmentally sustainable management of fisheries
• US Coast Guard begins biometric collection program to deter illegal entry into US territory by sea
• Aker Philadelphia Shipyard holds a keel- laying ceremony for the third vessel in a 10 ship series
• Japan's last manned lighthouse, the Meshima on one of Nagasaki Prefecture's Danjyo Islands, has become automated
• When marauders attack in the Strait of Malacca, besieged ships get quick advice from Noel Choong, a Malaysian veteran of the seas
• Detroit church changes scope of memorial service for the Edmund Fitzgerald
• Search has been called off for two passengers who disappeared from the P&O cross-Channel ferry Pride of Kent
• C. V. Starr & Co., Inc. announced that its marine insurance subsidiaries have changed their name to Starr Marine
• Commander of US Pacific Fleet seeks to understand the intent of China's naval build-up
• New Zealand announces plan to protect the marine environment around its subantarctic islands
• Hong Kong's landmark Central Piers, which served the Star Ferry for 48 years, closed for good at midnight on Saturday
• Cancer researcher is exploring why some workers that are exposed to asbestos develop cancer, mesothelioma, while most do not
• Bay Bridge Enterprises gets contract to scrap former US Navy repair ship Vulcan out of the 'ghost fleet'
• Coalition naval forces rescued three Iraqi civilian mariners on Thursday after their skiff sank north of the Gulf near the Iraqi Khawr Al-Amaya Oil Terminal
• Pakistan plans to acquire three new advanced non-nuclear submarines as part of its naval expansion plans
• US Navy, Army Corps of Engineers, join efforts to free the USS Intrepid from the mud in the Hudson River
• The Bertholf, the first large US Coast Guard cutter to be built in 35 years is christened, more than a year after Hurricane Katrina damaged it in the shipyard during construction
• Japan to host a meeting of five international organizations that manage global tuna stocks next year, amid concerns about declining fish populations
• The Interisland ferry Aratere came close to sinking during a stormy Cook Strait crossing in March
• St. Petersburg's Admiralty Shipyards holds keel- laying ceremony for the Sevastopol, a Lada- class diesel submarine, and St. Petersburg's Severnaya Verf Shipyard holds a keel- laying ceremony for the Stoiky, the fourth corvette of the Project 20380 series
• Jordanian cargo ship Petra Express caught fire in the Red Sea, one sailor is dead
• Montenegro has become a member of the International Maritime Organization
• BC Ferries' newest vessel, the MV Kuper, was launched at Allied Shipbuilders in North Vancouver on Friday
• Scientists say that Canada is paying the penalty for giving short shrift to fisheries science
• Eritrea and Yemen have concluded an agreement to establish a joint fisheries company
• France successfully test-fired a new submarine launched intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday
• Wrecks of two mysterious submarines have been discovered off the coast of Orkney in an area where there were no reports of wartime sinkings
• Some rare North Atlantic right whales are overstaying their welcome in the Bay of Fundy, and could force a delay in the opening of lobster season
• Environmentalists sue the US government to close the bluefin fishery in the Gulf of Mexico to keep the stock from dying out
• Residents of Guimaras are allowed to return home after authorities complete the first phase of oil spill clean up from the tanker Solar I
• Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority holds exercise to test oil spill readiness and response
• Russian Akula-class submarine K-317 "Panther" had no nuclear fuel onboard when it caught fire last week during repairs, no one was injured
• Holland America Line's 80th ship ms Eurodam will be built at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard, and delivered in summer 2008
• The first of the Royal New Zealand Navy's new offshore patrol vessels, HMNZS Otago, will be launched at the Tenix shipyard in Australia on November 18
• Spanish vessel Puente Pereiras Cuatro, cited by Canadian inspectors for misreporting its catch, has had its fishing license revoked
• Fishermen facing declining stocks are turning to unprotected sharks
• Toxic waste that was dumped in the Ivory Coast in August has arrived in France, where it will be neutralized
• Maritime training vessel crashed into a pier in Oslo's inner harbor, no one was injured but the pier was damaged
• Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard delivers the service vessel Nakilat-VI, built for the Kuwait Oil Tankers Company
• Northrop Grumman awarded contract to build a new San Antonio-class ship, the Arlington (LPD 24), and for long lead material procurement of another
• Aker Yards ASA says an order backlog and a new business model will create hundreds of new jobs at its shipyards in Finland and France
• Study shows pregnant blue crabs are at risk
• Namibia's marine fisheries may already be feeling the effects of climate change
• New international rules to allow storage of CO2 in the seabed are adopted as amendments to a convention governing the dumping of waste at sea
• Blackout in Western Europe may have been caused when a power line over the river Ems was turned off to let the cruise ship Norwegian Pearl pass underneath
• Divers to explore wreck site of the Australian submarine HMAS AE2, known as the Silent Anzac, lost in 1915
• South Africa's Dormac Shipyard holds a keel-laying ceremony for a barge commissioned by Smit Amandla Marine
• International Transport Workers Federation finds gaps in security on the ship Corovoz Horizon at the port of Newcastle
• Dubai-based energy vessel operator Gulf Energy Maritime has received the first of 13 double-hulled tankers from South Korea's Hyundai Mipo Dockyard
• India and Pakistan will soon resume ferry service between Karachi and the western Indian metropolis of Mumbai
• Russia checks four Japanese fishing boats for poaching
• Changes to Ontario's fishing rules that were to take effect in the new year have been delayed
• International Maritime Prize for 2005 is presented to Dr. Tom Allan, former Chairman of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to IMO
• US ports are starting to embrace environmentally friendly practices
• Rate differential creates two-tier tanker market, single hulls are now significantly lower
• Memorial held for 1916 sea disaster, the SS Connemara sunk when struck by the coal ship Retriever off Ireland
• India's Navy is concerned about its shrinking submarine fleet
• Melting Arctic ice will bring ships, and the risk of accidents and oil spills, to the pristine region
• Edinburgh chaplain joins the crew of the cargo ship MV Adventure II to highlight the tough working conditions of sailors
• Meeting set up with shipping company Hapag Lloyd to discuss ongoing employment for New Zealanders in the trans-Tasman trade
• British Army plans longer training periods for new recruits to give overweight young people time to shape up into soldiers
• President Pervez Musharraf said that an extraordinary level of operational preparedness is the key to safeguarding sea frontiers and thwarting aggressive designs
• More companies venture into getting power from water turbines
• Britain's armed forces are being forced to operate under strength because military planners had not foreseen the levels of commitment needed in Iraq and Afghanistan
• British military scientists routinely subject goats to severe pain and fatal injury as part of their research on navy submarines
• Russian man builds himself a personal submarine
• Sime Engineering Services Bhd (SES) will be expanding its shipyard capacity by 10% to 15%
• Japan has caught 35 whales off the coast of the northern island of Hokkaido under a research program that critics say is disguised commercial whaling
• Iceland may reconsider its decision to resume commercial whaling if the whale meat cannot be exported
• Angola determined to reequip its Navy Force (MGA) to defend its maritime borders
• An iceberg warning has been issued for ships in the Southern Ocean after more than 100 were sighted on Friday just south of New Zealand
• Scottish passenger is missing from Celebrity Cruises ship Celebrity Century off Portugal
• One sailor died of injuries and another is presumed dead according to rescue workers who ended a search on Thursday for a missing crewman of the Finnbirch, which sank off Sweden carrying 260 tons of oil
• US praises Malaysia and other countries for anti-piracy steps in the Malacca Strait
• India is in talks with Norway to boost trade and investment, as well as maritime agreements
• Taiwan commissioned two US-made Kidd-class destroyers on Thursday, additional arms sales still on hold
• Labour politicians add to mounting pressure on the UK Government to abandon plans to spend up to £25 billion replacing Britain's nuclear submarines
• More than 900 North Sea divers and support staff were set to strike at midnight last night after rejecting the latest pay offer from employers
• Proposed merger between Ports of Auckland and Port of Tauranga should be part of a national ports strategy driven by regional cooperation
• Russian President Vladimir Putin prioritized the construction of oil platforms and tankers in the shipbuilding sector
• Filipino company Herma Shipyard, Inc. gets tax perks for an expansion project
• Victoria Shipyards will refit the MV Sonia, to replace the sunken B.C. Ferry Queen of the North
• Water supplies to 28,000 people in northern China have been cut after an overturned truck spilled 33 tons of toxic oil into a river
• Tour operator claims that Iceland's return to commercial whaling is turning tourists away from the country
• The warming climate is causing rising mercury levels in Arctic marine mammals
• More research needs to be done on the impact grey seals have on fish stocks, some studies show they're eating more haddock and herring
• Growing more food on land may be depleting the oceans of fish
October 2006
• Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. must pay former workers for failing to safeguard them from getting pneumoconiosis at company shipyards
• South Africa lacks oil spill safeguards because it hasn't ratified the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund
• India's Navy to work on better surveillance capabilities, safer ships, and improved communications
• China warns the US against selling weapons to Taiwan, saying such sales would raise tensions and block a peaceful solution to the rift between China and Taiwan
• MS Emma Maersk, built at Denmark's Lindo shipyard, is the biggest container ship in the world
• The barge Floating Pool Lady is being turned into a swimming pool, it will be berthed in New York
• Lack of ice in Northwest Passage stuns researchers
• Yorkshire lobster fishermen claim French boats have been trawling their fishing grounds and destroying their lines of pots
• Several important amendments to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) enter into force on 1 November 2006
• Marine safety officials from Bahrain, Yemen and Djibouti hope to create rules to reduce the risk of sea related incidents such as the Al Dana tragedy
• Nigeria continues reforms in cargo handling and customs to ease port congestion
• 47 bottle-nosed dolphins have died after beaching themselves on a remote Mozambique coastline
• Three ships collide off Vancouver in stormy weather, no injuries or oil spills reported
• Gulf sturgeon may jump to communicate
• British Titanic survivor condemns black market relics trade
• The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal has returned to its home base in Hampshire following a £20m refit
• China Shipbuilding Industry will build four VLCCs for China Shipping Group, part of the country's plans to ship a bigger ratio of oil imports in its own vessels
• Child labor props up fisheries, farms, quarries and street markets in Central and West Africa, but its influence is felt all over the developing world
• An international coalition has called on New Zealand to pull its bottom trawl fishing fleet out of the international waters of the South Pacific to protect deep-sea life
• Hyundai Steel Company breaks ground on a new steel mill in Dangjin
• Efforts to re-float the capsized oil barge Orion-I began on Saturday morning
• India approves a revised protocol, allowing more shipping services between India and Pakistan
• Search is under way in the North Sea for a missing trawler with four Scots on board, the boat disappeared in violent storms
• Taiwan opposition lawmakers on Friday denounced US pressure to pass a budget to buy American arms
• Casino ship Casino Royale is arrested in Florida because the ship's crew claims wages have not been paid
• 24 Chinese fishermen are charged with violating the Philippines' fishery laws in three different cases
• Liberia Marine Training Institute to get assistance from the International Maritime Organization
• US pushes for Taiwan to pass arms package
• Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has signed a $500 million contract with Iranian shipbuilders for 16 cargo vessels and plans to enter the LNG market
• Iceland says the country's return to whaling won't hurt tourism
• Wildfire in Utah's Pilot Mountains threaten the Lahontan cutthroat, already on the Endangered Species List
• New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has launched a campaign to raise public awareness about the impact of paua and rock lobster poaching
• Up to 1.5 million tons of oil has been spilt in the ecologically precious Niger Delta over the past 50 years
• The remaining bunker oil in the sunken M/T Solar I in Guimaras will be siphoned out starting in January 2007
• South Korea's coast guard will search North Korean waters for six missing sailors of Russian cargo ship Sinegurye believed to have sunk off the country's east coast this week
• Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology are taking a broad approach to port security
• Russia and Italy presented a mock-up model of a new-generation diesel submarine at an international arms show in France on Wednesday
• The Dmitry Donskoi strategic nuclear submarine performed a test-launch of a Bulava missile from a submerged position in the White Sea, but the launch failed
• Polar Tankers christens fifth Endeavour class double-hulled tanker, the company will operate an all double-hulled tanker fleet in 2007
• Norwegian shipbuilding group Kleven Maritime AS won a US$477 million contract to build six ships for Siem Offshore
• Up to four times more sharks than previously thought are being slaughtered to fill the increasing demand for shark fin soup
• Canadian biologist has seen proof that more fish are escaping from farms than have been reported
• EU ministers agreed to cut cod quotas in the eastern Baltic Sea by only 10%, scientists had called for a complete ban
• Humans are living far beyond the planet's ability to sustain them - WWF
• Ashes from summer forest fires threaten shellfish banks in Spain
• Residents of Guimaras hardest hit by the M/T Solar I oil spill are expected to return to their homes
• Tokyo plans to call on the Japan Coast Guard, not the Maritime Self-Defense Force, to strengthen inspections of vessels entering or leaving North Korea under a United Nations Security Council resolution
• Safety expert finds shortcomings in safety practices in New Zealand's Cook Strait ferries system
• The 'wee' Clyde ferry Kenilworth was threatened by a US naval ship during the international training exercise Operation Neptune Warrior, no harm done
• US Navy holds the first of six 'public scoping meetings' to solicit citizen's comments on sonar use along the Atlantic seaboard
• Plans to deepen the entrance channel at the port of Mombasa are still on course
• Boats are Moscow's new status symbol
• EU ministers hope to streamline the way fishing is managed in European waters
• Federal judge has approved an historic agreement to restore water, fish and wildlife to California's San Joaquin River
• US fisheries regulators may cut red snapper quotas by almost 30% next year
• Amazon river has reversed its flow over millions of years
• Allianz Cup regatta starts this week
• Orient Overseas orders four vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries to expand its fleet
• Wildlife Institute of India is studying the impact of oil exploration and rampant fishing on Olive Ridley Turtles and marine life off the east coast
• Iceland breaks ban on commercial whaling with first fin whale kill in 20 years
• Vietnamese marine scientists warn that one of the country's premier coral reefs has been nearly destroyed by fishing practices using explosives and poison
• German team is exploring ways to help residents of Guimaras affected by the sinking of the M/T Solar 1
• Todd Pacific Shipyards and JM Martinac Shipbuilding claim Washington state wants to dictate the design of new ferries while assigning all risks to the bidder
• Israeli air strikes in July and August created massive oil spills, and directly affected 12,000 fishermen and 336 fishing boats in Lebanon
• Oil from the Orion-I, sunk off Karachi, has been removed safely
• Pakistan is taking steps to protect marine life from all kinds of land and water-based pollution
• Shipbreakers at India's Alang yard say the Gujarat Maritime Board's new policy won't help them
• A United Nations treaty designed to stop the carriage of weapons of mass destruction by sea has not been ratified by a single country, despite its being formally agreed a year ago
• North Korea sometimes uses flags of convenience to camouflage the movement of its cargo vessels as they engage in tasks that sometimes violate international laws
• China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore to discuss replacing lighthouses and other navigation aids in the Straits of Malacca damaged by the tsunami in 2004
• Although Morse code is no longer taught, a fisherman stranded off the UK's Hayling Island was rescued when his SOS distress call was read by the coast guard
• Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, recently inaugurated the Maritime Arbitration Association of Nigeria (MAAN) in Lagos
• Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works Ltd (KS&EW) is in financial trouble
• BC Ferries takes possession of the MV Sonia, which replaces the Queen of the North
• South Korean Navy launches the Choi Yong, its 6th stealth destroyer, from a shipyard in Ulsan
• Two Indian firms to set up multi- million dollar investments in Uganda's fisheries sector
• Nicaragua considers building an alternative to the Panama Canal
• Pakistan arrested 22 Indian fishermen and impounded four boats for illegally entering into the country's territorial waters in the Arabian Sea
• Dubai Ports World will re-brand P&O Ports to create an integrated marine terminal organization
• St. Lawrence Cruise Association, or SLCA, wants to increase cruise ship travel on the St. Lawrence River
• Searches of North Korean ships remain problematic
• Whaling nations are pleased that Iceland has resumed commercial whaling
• US bid to ratchet up port security is expected to leave thousands of undocumented drivers without jobs in ports across the country - and slow the delivery of goods
• UK summons Iceland's ambassador to discuss the country's return to whaling
• Sailors begin the first solar-powered Atlantic Ocean crossing in the motorized catamaran sun21
• Waters off Southern South Africa have been designated as a Special Area under the MARPOL Convention for the prevention of pollution by ships
• Many protest against plan to cut training and experience requirements for licensed boat masters on the Thames River
• Cockle stocks on the Solway Firth have reached sufficient levels to reopen the fishery in November
• Norwegian herring has reached healthy levels and Northern hake is making a comeback, but stocks of flatfish, cod and sand eel are still depleted in the North Sea
• Scottish officials take their concerns over proposed oil transfers in the Forth to the European Commission's environment department
• Det Norske Veritas (DNV) will open a series of new and enhanced office locations throughout the Middle East and India
• Steel cutting begins on the fourth of 10 tankers at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, it should be completed in 2008
• Growing populations and booming economies are threatening fragile coastal areas in East Asia, and the region's coral reefs could face total collapse in 20 years
• Oil should be removed from the capsized barge Orion-I by October 20
• Arctic oil spill experts plan to create artificial spills in northern waters to learn how to clean them up
• First regularly scheduled cruise ship to sail out of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina left on Sunday
• UN resolution bans trade with North Korea in materials linked with unconventional weapons, and requests countries to inspect cargo going into and out of the North
• Australia will ban North Korean ships from entering its ports in response to its claimed nuclear bomb test
• Germany takes charge of the multinational naval force patrolling the Lebanese coastline to prevent arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah guerrillas
• Technical Investigation Committee says the Al Dana wasn't seaworthy after it was converted from a fishing boat into a passenger vessel
• Scottish authorities want tougher legal measures against salmon poachers
• Proposed bill in Australia would block oil and gas exploration near the Great Barrier Reef
• Engineering ship on a mission to clean up China's Dianchi Lake spills fuel oil, is fined about $13,000
• Japan bans North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports and suspends imports; also considers helping other countries inspect North Korean vessels
• USS Cole conducts maritime security operations in the same waters where it was attacked six years ago
• US shipyards are having a hard time finding and keeping repair and construction workers
• Kamchatka is at work on proposals that would designate seven tracts of wilderness as protected areas for salmon
• Recreational fishing gear is killing more dolphins in Florida
• ConocoPhillips will pay $540,000 for a 1,000 gallon oil in a spill linked to its tanker Polar Texas; this is the maximum allowed under Washington state law
• Engineering Business launches a crane to rescue trapped submarines for the Ministry of Defence
• A longshoreman who complained about lax security at the Port of Montreal said Wednesday he has effectively been fired
• Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg will start construction of another Project-677 or Lada-class diesel- electric submarine in November
• Message in a bottle dropped in Scotland made it to New Zealand in 47 days - some believe there must have been human intervention
• Honeywell Inc. will spend $451 million to help clean up Onandaga Lake, one of three US lakes listed as a federal Superfund site
• Zeus drilling rig, parked in Texas' Freeport Harbor Channel for years, has started spilling oil; cleanup started
• US Navy provides an Instruction detailing security requirements for US ships crossing the Panama Canal (PDF file)
• The Bering Sea faces an ecological upheaval, mostly due to climate change
• South Africa is considering signing the UN Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage
• Russia to discuss nuclear waste disposal projects with the International Atomic Energy Agency, including scrapping nuclear submarines
• Massive new container ships carry huge loads
• Seaspan Corporation to purchase four 4800 TEU vessels from AP Moller-Maersk A/S
• The first generation of fish raised from wild parents in hatcheries are as successful at reproducing in their native rivers as their wild cousins
• In response to increasing tourist activity on cruise ships, emergency services will study accident response along the Scottish coast
• India plans to build two new world-class shipyards
• Toxic red and golden algae tides are harming fish in Texas, on the coast and in lakes and rivers
• Russia increased its harvest of fish and other seafood products by 3.4% in January - September
• South Korea's main port, Pusan, is facing tough competition from ports in China, Hong Kong and Singapore
• A team from Britain's Royal Navy will help train South African Navy officers to work in new ships and submarines
• South Korea captured 225 Chinese fishing boats for poaching or violating fishing rules in the nation's waters so far this year
• EU confirms that farmed shrimp and other seafood from Iran is safe for export
• A South Korean ship left for the East Sea on Saturday for a joint survey of radioactivity in the area with Japanese scientists
• US lawmakers consider the most comprehensive revision of fisheries regulation in a decade, fishermen worry for their livelihood
• Bulgaria says that Serbia should pay compensation for damage caused by an oil spill along the Danube river
• Search continues for sailors from two shipwrecks off Japan
• Oil spill from Orion-1 could cause significant environmental damage
• China Navigation Co Ltd will consolidate the majority of its liner shipping services under Swire Shipping Ltd, a new company recently incorporated in the UK
• Efforts to honor the refugees who died on the SIEV-X five years ago have been stalled
• Invasive fish species are proving a shock to the ecosystem
• Christening ceremony held for US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush
• Tokyo scientists are farming coral, they are almost ready to repopulate damaged coral populations in Okinawa
• Australia's new shipping laws establish an international precedent: compulsory pilotage for big ships and tankers through the Torres Strait and the Great North-East Channel
• US to give West African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe an $18 million radar system to help it keep track of activity in its territorial waters and nearby ocean areas, and US gives the Kenyan navy six boats to patrol its coastline and help combat terrorism
• Marine archaeologists confirm that a shipwreck discovered off Hawaii was the 1870s cargo ship Dunnottar Castle
• Flooding killed dozens of people in the days after Typhoon Xangsane raked the Philippines and Vietnam, the death toll has reached at least 169
• Residential Cruise Line continues design work on the now 860-foot condominium ship Magellan, still set to launch in 2009 although construction hasn't begun
• The Dongwon 117, a suspected pirate fishing boat, has fled the Kiribati authorities and run to the high seas
• European Union ministers have endorsed a plan to make permanent joint patrols that pick up migrants on the high seas, and Twenty migrants have drowned while trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to the 11 survivors on the boat
• Team New Zealand reveals its latest America's Cup yacht
• Liberian tanker PC Anna, impounded in Egypt for spilling oil in the Suez Canal, faces $8.7 million in compensation demands
• Oil slick on the Danube River, probably caused by Serbia's NIS oil and gas company, could cause catastrophic environmental damage
• SNTG orders four 43,000 deadweight ton parcel tankers to be built by Aker Yards in Floro, Norway
• India's Navy to increase its fleet strength by acquiring several ships, submarines and aircraft
• The first drop-in center for asbestos victims has opened in east Belfast
• US endorsement of a ban on deep-sea bottom trawling puts pressure on Canada to follow suit
• At least 10 young Irrawaddy dolphins have been discovered in Cambodia, raising hopes the rare animal is being pulled back from the brink of extinction
• Concerns raised about organic salmon farms in Britain
• MSX and Dermo parasites have hit Virginia's oyster fishery once again
• Cleanup is set to begin on the ancient port of Byblos, coated with oil from the Hezbollah- Israel war
• Ship recycling, air pollution and ballast water management on agenda at IMO environment meeting from 9-13 October
• Deep Sea Conservation Coalition calls for new action to confront lawless bottom trawling in deep sea fisheries
• New York developer is building marinas for big yachts, complete with residential, commercial and entertainment components
• Greece is missing out on a cruise boom due to protectionism, tourism bosses warn
• Egyptian freighter and its 29-man crew, stranded in South Carolina for more than 3 months over legal and safety problems, must remain longer
• New Advanced Spectroscopic Portals are being tested at Port Newark, New Jersey; they will more easily detect dangerous radiation in shipping containers
• Investigations into problems with fuel systems on board the Australian Navy's new fleet of Armidale class patrol boats are continuing
• US Navy will christen aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) this weekend
• Indian Coast Guard ship Meeraben, the indigenously built Extra Fast Patrol Vessel (XFPV), is being inducted at Okha for patrolling duties off the Gujarat coastline
• The search is on for the World War II submarine USS Grunion
• Durban harbor will be widened and deepened at its mouth to accommodate 'super ships'
• Three largest Korean shipbuilders saw sales top $10 billion this year, as they shifted from building cheap container ships to more complex vessels
• Power company wants to truck fish around Klamath River dams
• Experts coordinated by the United Nations will study how the recent conflict with Israel has damaged Lebanon's environment
• South Korea has accepted the North's proposal to hold military talks this week, their maritime border will likely be discussed
• Father's Day, the smallest boat ever to cross the Atlantic, will be donated to Britain's National Maritime Museum
September 2006
• Five are still missing after a fishing boat collided with a cargo ship and capsized off the coast of China's Shandong province
• HMS Ark Royal has been refitted to become the service's only combined troop and aircraft carrier by Babcock's shipyard in Rosyth, Fife
• Japanese fishing vessel Ryoei Maro, damaged in a collision with the Thai vessel Tengone BH3102, sank on Thursday off Mozambique
• Britain funds new nuclear storage site in northern Russia
• Canadian air patrols in the North Pacific found boats likely involved in illegal driftnet fishing in September
• Proposed terminus near British Columbia's Kitimat has some welcoming jobs and construction, and others worried about oil spills from supertankers
• Asian container shipping firms are under a double threat from looming oversupply and a potential economic slowdown in the US
• Fishermen off Massachusetts say growing seal populations are eating too much fish
• With help from an underwater robotic explorer, researchers are mapping the submerged wreck of the airship USS Macon
• The US Navy says trace amounts of radiation detected near one of its nuclear submarines at a Japanese port are no cause for alarm
• Russia's Northern Shipyard delivers a Sovremenny class destroyer to China
• Removing four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs there would not be as expensive as feared
• European Commission says that deep- sea fish stocks in European waters are in danger of collapsing
• Most of Israel's beaches are less polluted than they were a decade ago, but most streams flowing to the sea are still considered seriously polluted
• Prosecutors won't pursue criminal charges against ConocoPhillips, whose oil tanker is thought to be behind a 1,000 gallon oil spill near Tacoma
• World Maritime Day 2006 is September 28
• Phelps Dunbar LLP and Terriberry Carroll & Yancey LLP, two US law firms with maritime expertise, will merge
• US scientists say the country needs new icebreakers to maintain a national presence in the Arctic amid Canada's sovereignty claims
• Russian court postpones hearings of a lawsuit filed by widows of submariners who died when the submarine K-159 sank in 2003
• Hyundai Heavy Industries has won an order to build three offshore oil production plants worth $1.6 billion for Abu Dhabi Marine Operating
• The 41-year-old amphibious transport dock Austin, one of the US Navy's oldest ships, will be retired
• Divers are exploring the sister ship to the Titanic, the HMHS Britannic, a former hospital ship sunk off Greece in 1916
• Canada's new SeaChoice program provides information on sustainable seafood choices
• Chemical dispersants may cause harm to the environment, rather than help oil spill clean-up efforts
• The survival of the albatross in the South Atlantic is under threat from encroaching fishing fleets and loss of breeding habitats
• Simon Fraser University unveils two research vessels, the CJ Walters mother ship and an ROV that can dive down to 600 meters
• Australia's next phase of its fishing industry buyout is set to begin
• Trawler Kyuko maru went down off the coast of Sakhalin after a fire broke out, spewing oil into the sea
• Merchant ship MV Kitty received a 'glancing blow' from India's guided- missile frigate INS Dunagiri near Mumbai port, no significant damage or injury
• Europeans urged to eat less fish, and choose sustainable stock when they do eat it
• Responsibility for inshore maritime rescues in New Zealand could change hands
• The difficulties of raising bluefin tuna in captivity
• Officials with the federal Fisheries Department say there are no loopholes in new reforms designed to curb overfishing off Canada's East Coast
• City leaders to join the fight against plans for ship-to- ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth
• Dongkuk Steel, Korea's third-largest steel company, will strengthen strategic ties with JFE Steel, Japan's second- biggest and the world's fourth-biggest steel producer
• Canada's Irving Shipbuilding Inc. has won a contract to build a small cruise ship for Pearl Sea Cruises, and possibly a second ship
• New Zealand's first Multi Role Vessel (MRV), the Canterbury, arrived in Melbourne yesterday from the Netherlands for the final phase of construction
