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Around the Gulf . . .
 

In September, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Johnson's seagrass in southeastern Florida as a threatened species. This is the first marine plant listed as threatened or endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
 

Scientists reported that the annual summer "dead zone" of oxygen-deprived water in the Gulf of Mexico appeared smaller but deeper this year. In past years, the zone covered up to 7,000 square miles but in 1998, it measured 4,800 square miles.
 

For the ninth straight year, Florida led in all measures of saltwater recreational fishing activity in 1997, with 4.4 million salt water fishing participants, including over two million out-of-state tourists who took 24 million trips. Florida also led in catch and harvest numbers with a harvest weighing 69 million pounds of fish.
 

On September 15, a Federal judge in Florida struck down part of Florida's Everglades Forever Act that allows farmers to send discharges into the Everglades until 2006. The decision also directs the Environmental Protection Agency to take a more active role in plans to clean the Everglades.
 
 
 

Around the Nation and the World . . .
 

In August, Clinton announced the opening of nearly 4 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's North Slope to oil leasing, leaving 580,000 acres off-limits to protect wildlife and hunting grounds used by native people. Touted as a compromise, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains off-limits to leasing.
 

This summer, NOAA honored Jean-Michel Cousteau with the Environmental Hero Award for his outstanding dedication to the marine environment. Other recipients include Ted Danson of the American Oceans Campaign, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, and marine photographer Bob Talbot.
 

On September 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Bill 3445 proposing to establish an Oceans Policy Commission. The Senate is considering a similar bill.
 

On October 3, the nation celebrated National Estuaries Day to educate the public about estuaries and water quality issues. Titled "Estuaries - Gateways to the Ocean," the event highlighted the EPA's National Estuary Program and NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System.
 

For five days this summer, the Coast Guard pursued Chinese fishing vessels suspected of high-seas driftnet fishing from international waters off Russia to waters 500 miles southeast of Japan. The Coast Guard and the Russian Fisheries Patrol seized four vessels, one of the largest high-seas driftnet fisheries busts in history.
 

In July, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed to an accord that delimits the northern Caspian Sea bed, allowing the two countries to exploit resources lying under the sea bed. Other littoral states denounce it as a breach of internationally recognized agreements, insisting that the Caspian be divided by territorial waters. Oil deposits underlying the waters are driving the negotiations.
 
 

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