For over 22 years, Debra DiBenedetto has been teaching kids and infusing her classes with hands-on, outdoor education experiences. Debra, who spoke with SPAWN before the start of her 10 am class, is currently teaching a class of 23 second grade students at Dixie Elementary School in San Rafael, Calif. Debra incorporates SPAWN and Turtle Island’s projects into her curriculum and gives her students the chance to engage with the science happening outside of the classrooms doors, in the real world.
In honor of Carole Allen’s lifelong dedication to protect and save endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, Turtle Island Restoration Network held a Sea Turtle Celebration on Sept. 26th at Moody Gardens.
This September, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) issued a landmark ruling that will put in place stronger regulations for the California drift gillnet fishery for swordfish. These new policies come after years of advocacy by Turtle Island Restoration Network and our partners, and may finally set the course to phase out the use of mile-long drift gillnets in California for good.
The Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) adopted a strict new rule for California’s drift gillnet fishery to protect nine vulnerable marine species. The rule will institute new “hard caps” that can automatically shut the fishery down if hard limits are reached in any two-year period, reflecting a new no-nonsense approach to dealing with ongoing damage to rare and threatened species, including sperm whales, humpback whales, fin whales, green sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles, pilot whales and bottle nosed dolphins. In addition, the PFMC also instituted new performance standards for discards.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a proposal intended to streamline the petition process for listing new species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These “improvements” are in fact a subtle step toward rendering this important law a muddle of bureaucratic obstructions.
After much consideration I ended up picking ‘Celeste Wave Break’ by Dana Bove, the show’s founder. I love how he captured this moment when the wave is about to crash down. It’s such a unique perspective that makes the ocean almost morph into a mountain for a split second.
