September 2021

In this episode of Changing Waters, Global Ocean Health Deputy Director Julia Sanders has the opportunity to interview Dr. Wil Burns, Co-Founder of the Institute for Carbon Removal Policy and Law. An expert in environmental policy, Dr. Burns discusses the wide range of approaches in the rapidly advancing field of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), both on land and in the ocean — and why the need is so pressing. He covers some of the serious controversies surrounding these technologies, major concerns about engaging stakeholders in implementation and regulation, as well as potential social justice issues.

The Institute is holding the 1st Annual Conference on Carbon Removal Policy and Law on Sept 21st and 22nd, and Dr. Burns shares what virtual attendees can expect. This conference will specifically focus on marine CDR, and will include a variety of fascinating and unique panels and discussions. He also explains why now is exactly the time that ocean stakeholders of all stripes need to be aware and involved in marine CDR, to ensure that potential harmful consequences are kept in check, while still allowing the world to achieve the massive reductions in carbon pollution necessary to avoid disaster and meet the Paris Agreement goals.

August 2021

This week, hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham explore the fascinating world of Sargassum, a booming macroalgae that is creating new challenges and opportunities for existing coastal interests and future blue economy ventures. Joining the show is Brad Warren, the host of ASPN's Changing Waters podcast and president of the National Fisheries Conservation Center; and, Alyson Myers, the president of Fearless Fund, an organization dedicated to sustainable ocean-based energy and food system solutions. With Sargassum and other macroalgae (seaweed) biomass exploding, the Fearless team is working to pioneer the research and product development needed to create a market for harvesting this renewable resource. The possibilities are exciting, with products ranging from plant-based plastics, to green energy, and sequestered carbon.

May 2021

Are the oceans being emptied out by overfishing or are fish stocks recovering thanks to recent efforts to strengthen the sustainability of harvests? And who gets to decide? On this episode, Suzanne ludicello, a founding board member of the National Fisheries Conservation Center, talks with Brad Warren about a tool she co-developed with a team at the leading marine resource consultancy MAG Americas. It is designed to enable nations and fisheries (and others) to rigorously gauge their own performance in governing fisheries. Commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation, the Fisheries Governance Tool (FGT) "puts power in the hands of managing agencies, environmental organizations, funders/investors, and other key stakeholders." according to the MRAG team. ludicello offers an inside story about why this tool seeks to enable people close to the resource to set their own goals and judge their own progress. Learn about this innovativeness approach to fisheries assessment. Only on ASPN!

April 2021

Thane Tienson, co-host of the Changing Waters Podcast, was known as a champion for the environment, for underdogs and long-shot good causes, and for the working waterfront along West Coast. As many of our listeners know, Thane died in January. For this tribute show we focus on his remarkable contributions as a professional and colleague. Here we present Brad's interviews with two of Thane's old friends and colleagues: Steve Fick, owner of Fishhawk Fisheries, and Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of the Columbia Riverkeeper.

March 2021

Our friend, colleague, and ASPN host Thane Tienson died suddenly and tragically of a heart attack Jan. 28, 2021. On this episode, Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham are joined by Brad Warren and Greg Tozian to celebrate Thane’s life and his legacy as a person and devoted advocate for the fisheries, environment, and the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Thane lived a remarkable life. He cared deeply about people, especially the little guys, and quietly and steadily devoted his professional skills to help others. He was a renowned environmental lawyer, admired throughout the Pacific Northwest, and is remembered for his unfailing generosity, superb storytelling and indelible courage.

Along with Brad, Thane co-founded the National Fisheries Conservation Center to protect PNW fisheries and together they created and co-hosted ASPN’s Changing Waters podcast on ASPN. Tozian, an author and playwright now in Tampa, was one of Thane’s dearest friends in Portland, Oregon. Thane leaves a coastal legacy of advocacy for the voiceless, especially for the environment, fishermen, and Native Americans.

The National Fisheries Conservation Center has set up a fund in Thane’s honor, which can be contributed to here. We’re going to miss Thane tremendously. He was a lovely man. You can read his obit here.

February 2021

On this episode of the Changing Waters podcast, host Brad Warren speaks with Dr. Greg Rau of Planetary Hydrogen about using ocean chemistry to capture and store CO2, the toolkit for ocean carbon removal options, and why Greg thinks that the abiotic, natural chemistry of the ocean shows particular promise. Planetary Hydrogen is upending the global hydrogen market with the first scalable, truly carbon-negative form of hydrogen production. Their process converts greenhouse gases directly out of the air into an antacid for oceans damaged by climate change. This Ocean Air Capture (OAC) system is the first to be able to both remove the carbon dioxide that is causing climate change and to restore ocean chemistry.

January 2021

In this episode of Changing Waters, Global Ocean Health’s Julia Sanders interviews Dr. Lisa Levin. From Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Dr. Levin studies deep sea and coastal deoxygenation, including taking deep sea videos of oxygen minimum zones. She discusses her work, as well as a recent op-ed she co-wrote in The Ecologist, which talks about tackling climate change via the United Nations/Paris Agreement. Julia and Dr. Levin also share their experiences at COP21, where the Paris Agreement was signed.

January 2021

After decades of legal and political wrangling, four dams on the Klamath River are now set for removal, reopening the river for restoration of salmon runs that were nearly destroyed— along with the people who depend on them. The innovative public-private financing that made this possible could be a model for future restoration efforts along the West Coast. Glen Spain, a leader in restoration effort on behalf of salmon fishermen, recounts the long struggle in this interview with cohost Brad Warren.

January 2021

Damming the Columbia River may have electrified the Pacific Northwest, but it also turned the world’s greatest salmon producing river into a series of sun-heated slackwater pools—hot enough to kill salmon at both ends of their epic migration. Glen Spain, a veteran leader of West Coast fishermen’s efforts to protect their livelihood from environmental harm, updates us on recent progress in the decades-long struggle to force improvements in dam operations and give the fish a better chance.

Glen Spain is the Northwest Regional Director and Salmon Protection Program Director for Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) and the Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR) at their joint Eugene, OR office. He has been a vocal advocate for better watershed and riparian protections on both private and public lands, and currently serves on advisory committees to the Board of Forestry in both California and Oregon. He works as an advocate for sustainable aquatic resource use and the protection and recovery of salmon throughout northern California and the Pacific Northwest. He lectures widely on forestry/fishery and marine resource protection issues throughout the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. He is also the recipient of the 1993 David Simmons Award for Environmental Vision from the Oregon Natural Resources Council, Oregon’s largest and most effective environmental protection organization. Glen received his law degree from San Francisco State University.

November 2021

On this episode of the American Shoreline Podcast Network’s Friday Happy Hour, Tyler Buckingham talks with Brad Warren about how the fight to mitigate the impacts of the carbon crisis will present the ocean and coastal communities with a new slate of challenges which in turn will require cooperation and buy in from all stakeholders. Brad talks about what we can do about it. Brad is the Executive Director of the National Fisheries Conservation Center and leads its Global Ocean Health program.

July 2020

In the latest episode of Changing Waters, Global Ocean Health’s Deputy Director Julia Sanders interviews kelp guru, Dr. Tom Mumford from the Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington in Seattle. From Northern California to Southern Oregon, kelp is undergoing devastating losses, with 95% of kelp forests turned into urchin barrens. Tom explains what happened and the miraculous benefits kelp provides as an ecosystem engineer and as a source for new scientific discoveries. From kelp-derived plastic you can eat, to wound care, from rediscovering how kelp can help farmers, to a critical contributor to biodiversity and marine food webs, there is much to be gained from kelp. Catch this episode of Changing Waters and open your eyes to a miracle macroalgae and the struggle to keep it thriving in changing ocean conditions. Only on the American Shoreline Podcast Network.

On this episode, host and NFCC Director Brad Warren sits down with Dr. Margaret Leinen, the Director of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Margaret Leinen, a highly distinguished national leader and oceanographer, was appointed the eleventh director of Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego in July 2013. She also serves as UC San Diego’s vice chancellor for marine sciences and dean of the School of Marine Sciences. She joined UC San Diego in October 2013.

Leinen is an award-winning oceanographer and an accomplished executive with extensive national and international experience in ocean science, global climate and environmental issues, federal research administration, and non-profit startups. She is a researcher in paleo-oceanography and paleo-climatology. Her work focuses on ocean sediments and their relationship to global biogeochemical cycles and the history of Earth’s ocean and climate.

In the first of Changing Waters’ series on the plight of southern resident killer whales, National Fisheries Conservation Center’s Deputy Director Julia Sanders interviews NOAA researcher Laurie Weitkamp about the food web effects caused by recent heat waves in the Pacific ocean, including the “warm blob.” These changing conditions have caused major disturbances all the way up the food web: starting with microscopic plankton and ending with our beloved Orca whales. Learn more about what’s happening in our changing waters as temperatures rise and fisheries face abrupt disruptions — including the Chinook salmon that southern resident killer whales rely on.

On this episode of Changing Waters, host Brad Warren sits down with Dr. Ray Hilborn, a marine biologist and fisheries scientist, known for his work on conservation and natural resource management in the context of fisheries. He is currently professor of aquatic and fishery science at the University of Washington. He focuses on conservation, natural resource management, fisheries stock assessment and risk analysis, and advises several international fisheries commissions and agencies. Dr Hilborn is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and widely published.

Welcome to the Changing Waters podcast, a new NFCC show in partnership with the American Shoreline Podcast Network about the ocean, the people who depend on it, and the people who are working to keep it healthy. On this special inaugural episode we are treated to a conversation with the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, a self-proclaimed climate justice activist.

The interview is conducted by Camorah King, a graduate student at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.