The following tribute to Dr. Roger Payne, who died June 10, was issued today by the Wildlife Conservation Society:

Empire Wind and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today the extension to 2028 of their historic agreement to monitor large whales in the lease area of Empire Wind, an offshore wind project located in the New York Bight off the southern coast of Long Island.   

Equinor and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) will hold a news announcement, Wednesday, September 7, at the New York Aquarium on the expansion of the collaborative effort to monitor several species of large whales in the New York Bight. 

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala (MARN) and the Executive Secretary of the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) have announced the expansion of new MPAs in Guatemala during the United Nation’s Ocean Conference (UNOC) event “Location, location, location: scaling-up the impact of 30x30”. 

“This remarkable commitment is a major step toward sustainably managed seas which is so critical to nature, people and climate.” Simon Cripps, Executive Director of the WCS Marine Program

They click. They whistle. They love seafood. They are New York City’s nearshore bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that return to feed in local waters from spring to fall each year, and a team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is tracking them.

Scientists examining levels of ocean noise in the Bering Sea—an important migratory seascape for whales, walruses, seals, and other acoustically sensitive animals—have confirmed that the presence of sea ice plays a central role in the soundscape of these Arctic waters.

A growing concern is that the disappearance of sea ice due to a changing climate could mean a marine realm increasingly filled with shipping and other human-related ocean noise, according to scientists from Southall Environmental Associates, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and other groups in a new study.

The Government of Bangladesh announced the declaration of the Nijhum Dwip Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the northern Bay of Bengal to safeguard critical spawning grounds for the country’s most valuable fish species and some of the world’s largest populations of endangered dolphins, porpoises, sharks, rays, and marine turtles.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club has announced donations totaling over $60,000 to local nonprofits in the Coney Island community, including a $20,000 donation for the New York Aquarium’s local marine conservation efforts.