© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mystic Aquarium is part of Biden's ocean plan for climate change

Freeholdman12
/
Wikimedia Commons

A new plan from the Biden administration puts ocean conservation at the center of its climate change response. Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium worked with the administration on the plan.

Mystic Aquarium’s scientists have spent decades working on research in Long Island Sound that informed the plan. Katie Cubina, the senior vice president of mission programs at the aquarium, said they’re already seeing the first casualties of climate change in the Sound.

“As the waters warmed, it simply was not a suitable habitat for some of these animals’ survival anymore," Cubina said. "We're seeing a shift in stocks of fish and fisheries. And certainly, you talk to any commercial or recreational fisherman and they'll tell you the same.”

The Biden administration’s plan includes long-established goals — like more responsible offshore wind and less drilling. The administration also wants to create more marine protected areas — like the one the aquarium helped establish that covers a wide swath of southeast Connecticut.

“This is the first one in Connecticut," Cubina said. "And it really recognizes the fact that Long Island Sound is an estuary of national significance, that it's a working estuary, that it's in a state of restoration.”

Cubina said ocean conservation is an important part of the administration’s climate goals.

“Identify the parts of the ocean that have the greatest capacity to serve as a carbon sink, and see what we can do to protect those areas," Cubina said. "Because if they're really good at taking carbon out of the atmosphere, then they're going to serve multiple purposes. But mitigating climate change is definitely one of them.”

The Biden administration has endorsed a plan to put protections in place for 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Copyright 2022 WSHU. To see more, visit WSHU.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He fell in love with sound-rich radio storytelling while working as an assistant reporter at KBIA public radio in Columbia, Missouri. Before coming back to radio, he worked in digital journalism as the editor of Newtown Patch. As a freelance reporter, his work for WSHU aired nationally on NPR. Davis is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism; he started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.