Miriam Goldstein

@miriamgoldstein

Ocean scientist turned federal policy wonk. Executive Director of the National Ocean Protection Coalition. Views my own, especially the salty ones. Maybe off hiatus? We'll see!

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Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· 20d

From the "making the subtext text" files: The administration physically removed the five Tribal seals from the Bears Ears National Monument sign. Source @westernpriorities.org www.instagram.com/p/DbHJ7lMj6-...

Photo showing before/after of the Bears Ears National Monument sign, with the smaller plaque with the five Tribal seals being removed from below the larger sign.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· 29d

Really nothing else to add after 13 years of this.

“The ocean is strong and powerful and it likes to rip things up” - Miriam Goldstein (photo shows illustrated quote)

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Jun 17

Here is my contribution to Bluesky air conditioning discourse. This is my electricity bill from May/June with quite a few 95+ degree daye in DC - solar panels really are great! (Also a rowhouse, also weatherizing).

Electricity bill showing negative $97.26

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Jun 11

I'll end this thread the same way Alan ended his testimony. “Future generations will not judge us by how many fish we caught in the last wild places of the Pacific. They will judge us by whether we had the wisdom and foresight to protect them."

A wedgetail shearwater / ʻuaʻu kani (Puffinus pacificus) soaring over glassy seas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Photo by: Koa Matsuoka, 2014

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Jun 11

"The simple fact is that these fisheries prospered without access to these waters in the past, and they do not need them today. What is at stake is not the future of these fisheries, but the future of some of the last wild ocean ecosystems under U.S. stewardship.” - Dr. Alan Friedlander

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Jun 11

Fisheries management is great at managing fisheries, but monuments protect ecosystems. In 2015 – the last year that fishing was allowed in the Papahānaumokuākea expansion area – the Hawai‘i longline fleet caught 7,800 sharks, and discarded over 99% of them.

Tiger shark / niuhi (Galeocerdo cuvier).
Photo by: Koa Matsuoka, 2015

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Jun 11

There's a lot of misinformation on WHY there are monuments where commercial fishing isn't allowed. It's bc industrial-scale fishing gear can catch & entangle marine wildlife - whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and seabirds. It also can damage corals if it touches the bottom.

A Hawaiian green sea turtle / honu (Chelonia mydas) and pennant butterflyfish (Heniochus diphreutes), spotted during the 2017 RAMP cruise. Photo by: Andrew Gray/NOAAA, 2017

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· May 8

I have seen live giant isopods for the first time ever, and while they don’t really look any different than dead giant isopods, it made me happy. @montereybayaquarium.org

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Apr 27

It was an honor to stand with Pacific leaders against the deep-sea mining industry. With federal leases near the Mariana Islands possible by Fall 2026, experts warn these operations could devastate local fisheries and permanently compromise food security for the islands.

Group picture of conference leaders; Guam governor; University president; feature speakers

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Apr 27

🧵I’ve just returned from Guam from the UOG Conference on Island Sustainability. The timing was tough, arriving just days after Super Typhoon Sinlaku. While Guam was spared a direct hit, the road to recovery for CNMI and Chuuk is long, and my thoughts remain with those communities as they rebuild.

Tumon Bay on Guam at sunset, with orange light filling the sky; two people walking in foreground.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 4

Peter Navarro tried to explain Trump's fisheries policy in my hometown newspaper, but it turns out his geography is worse than his economics policies. You know what the Granite State loves? Getting mixed up with New York! Anyway, I fixed his homework for him. ⬇️ www.unionleader.com/opinion/lett...

Letter: Navarro's fisheries claims just don't hold water
By Miriam Goldstein | March 2, 2026

Navarro’s fisheries claims just don’t hold water

To the Editor: As an ocean scientist and Manchester native, I read with interest Peter Navarro’s op-ed on Donald Trump’s fisheries policy (“Fish ban lifted to lower cost,” Feb. 23). Unfortunately, his op-ed suffers from poor geography and worse economics — no doubt he would have been better off had he also attended Central High School.
First, Navarro seems unaware of where the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument actually is. Located 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, the monument is so far offshore that it comprises less than 1% of historic fishing grounds. While it protects rare deep-sea corals and underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, data on vessel movements show the monument has had little to no economic impact on commercial fisheries — unlike Trump’s tariff policy, which cost the average U.S. household $1,000 last year.
Second, Navarro seems to have confused New Hampshire with New York. He addresses “New York families” and localities such as Montauk and Fulton Fish Market. New Hampshire readers deserve better than warmed-over New York leavings, particularly because of New Hampshire’s proud tradition of stewardship. Indeed, a 2022 poll of 3,500 New Englanders found more than 80% favor permanently protected marine areas.
While Navarro touts his fishing bona fides, the administration he represents is moving to open over 1.27 billion acres of public waters to offshore oil and gas drilling, expanding deep-sea mining into key fishing grounds, and raising electricity prices at twice the rate of inflation. That isn’t just poor geography — it’s deliberate misdirection.

Dr. Miriam Goldstein is the Executive Director of the National Ocean Protection Coalition and a graduate of the Central High School class of 1999.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 4

can they be shaped like tiny hats

Purple sea urchin wearing a white cowboy hat. Source: https://www.boredpanda.com/sea-urchins-tiny-hats/

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Dec 1

I do encourage anyone familiar with ocean tech/ops/at-sea conditions to take a look both at the report and at IM's response, shown here. They want to run 314 AUVs simultaneously at abyssal depths from a very large vessel. Source: impossiblemetals.com/blog/correct...

2) Architecture Errors

The authors present basic metrics and assumptions about how our fleet is operating that are inconsistent with our latest published documentation and demonstrate a lack of understanding of our system and our operations beyond a basic level. One example of the authors’ incorrect assumptions is the number of autonomous underwater vehicles in a full fleet. A full-scale Eureka IV fleet will operate with 314 vehicles, whereas the authors assumed it would operate 90 AUVs. A second incorrect assumption is the ship size, where the authors assume a Panamax-class vessel with a Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) of 65-80 kDWT. The ship size used in the latest published model is 144 kDTW, and our latest plan is a Newcastlemax-class vessel with a 200 kDWT capacity. There are numerous other errors like this, and there is no documentation indicating where the authors’ numbers for our system come from. You can find our latest published model at this link. An updated version will be published and presented toward the end of this year.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Nov 25

Please join Michael Barnard, Lyle Trytten, and I for a public webinar to discuss their new report on whether seabed mining in the American Samoa region is economically viable and technically achievable. Tues 12/2 at 3 PM ET/12 PM PT/9 AM SST. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Flyer for deep sea mining webinar, showing pictures of panelists and moderator. Text reads:
A new report on the technical and economic feasibility of deep sea mining in the American Samoa region finds that the approaches of two leading companies are plagued by flawed financial models, underestimated costs, and immature technology. Register for this webinar with the report authors to learn why deep sea mining is likely to be much harder, slower, and more expensive than proponents suggest.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Apr 28

Sponge from previous skeet in thread - blobby white with eyeball looking holes, on a thin stalk

Jack the Pumpkin King from “Nightmare Before Christmas”

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Apr 15

The return trip is also pretty nice.

Ocean with last bite of pink sunset, out of train window.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Apr 14

On the one hand, you could sit in traffic on the 5. On the other hand, you could be sipping coffee while gazing at the ocean and working on shockingly functional internet, while a delighted small child giggles in pure glee and occasionally shrieks "DOLPHIN!" (there is no dolphin.) I love trains.

Pacific ocean, beach and pier as seen through Amtrak window

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 24

"No fishery means no work." “You need the federal government to do it...it’s going to become a free-for-all and you're gonna find existing stocks depleted.”

Delayed opening of fisheries means less fishing time for fishermen, less work for crews, and less fish to send to markets, said Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association.
"No fishery means no work," she said.
Alaska’s black cod (or sablefish) and halibut fisheries will open on time on March 20, but only after Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski spoke directly with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, she said on X. NOAA staff worked through the weekend to complete the rule-making process so the season could open, said Behnken, who was involved in the effort.

“You need the federal government to do it,” said Willi, a charter fishing guide and restaurant owner on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. “If these quotas aren't maintained and regulated and monitored with stock assessments by NOAA, it’s going to become a free-for-all and you're gonna find existing stocks depleted.”

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 24

"It's hard for me to believe we're not going to get punished up here in New York and New England for that." “The federal managers for the squid fishery are supposed to be slashed and without them, when do we know when the seasons open? When will they decide how much of the quota is caught?”

Bluefish tuna were overfished in the mid-Atlantic this month because NOAA did not issue the regulation to close the fishery after fishermen filled the quota in mid-January, according to two letters sent to NOAA from Bill Keating, a Democratic representative from Massachusetts.
Keating’s initial attempt to reach NOAA’s congressional liaison failed because that person had been fired, and his second attempt to warn the interim administrator went unanswered, his office said.
NOAA eventually closed the mid-Atlantic fishery on February 28 after 125% of the catch quota had been taken. But John McMurray, a bluefin fisherman in New York, says he is not sure how much of the prized fish will be available for him to catch when his season gets underway in June.
"It's hard for me to believe we're not going to get punished up here in New York and New England for that,” he said.

John Ainsworth, a commercial fisherman who has been fishing squid and other fish off of Rhode Island since 1990, said he fears a chaotic approach to the catch could wipe out fishing stocks.
“The federal managers for the squid fishery are supposed to be slashed and without them, when do we know when the seasons open? When will they decide how much of the quota is caught?” he asked.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 24

"There's just a lot of confusion right now, both internal and external." “It can make or break a fishery if the window of opportunity to go fishing is narrowed or shifts significantly."

"There's just a lot of confusion right now, both internal and external," said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, an industry group. "I'm getting calls from fishermen asking what's going to happen."

“It can make or break a fishery if the window of opportunity to go fishing is narrowed or shifts significantly,” said Noah Oppenheim, principal of Homarus Strategies, which advises commercial fishermen and organizations across the country.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 13

And my kids understand the stakes.

Her son, Solomon Wolff, flashed a handmade sign that read, “I like to play baseball,” and said the spending bill could mean cuts to youth sports. He was also worried about safety: “There will be less firefighters and police when fires start.”

His sister, Diana, pointed out that the money wouldn’t be redirected elsewhere if it wasn’t spent. “It’s from us,” she said. “They don’t have a right to take it away.”

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 10

Here's the details, from the blog post linked above.

I wanted to do something similar in the US. So in 2023 I applied for and received a grant from the Department of Agriculture's Local Food Promotion Program to launch Dayboat Blue. You might wonder why I needed grant funds to do this: if it's such a successful model, wouldn't it just support itself? The answer is that it often does take money to make money: I've bootstrapped Downeast Dayboat for 13 years and it's still a struggle, because the vast majority of Americans don't know seafood of this quality exists. Nowadays people find their sources online, and Social Media and Google Ads cost money (newsflash: the first few companies that come up when you search for "premium seafood near me" likely paid for their positions). Sure, I offer the very best seafood available anywhere, great service and a great mission/story, but that doesn't matter if no one knows I exist. Companies with investor-backed ads claiming sustainability, mission and flavor, even if they're empty promises, are going to appear well above me in searches. And that's a shame, since my mission is to get fishermen better prices while getting consumers better seafood, so there's significant public benefit if my company grows.

So grant funds were critical to hiring a project director, establishing the website, launching and most importantly, promoting the program. To get these funds, I submit reimbursement requests for agreed-upon expenditures at the end of each month, and then the Department of Agriculture reimburses me for 75% of these expenses. We launched the program in December 2024 and were just starting to promote it when I received some surprising news: After multiple unanswered inquiries into the status of the program, I was told last week that only those costs incurred on or before January 19th 2025 were being processed - never mind the contract that states otherwise. This means roughly $30,000 I've already spent and was expecting to be reimbursed for immediately is currently in limbo. I don't know when or even if I'll receive it, and I don't know if I'll receive any of the contractually-agreed-upon funds I'd counted on to promote Dayboat Blue.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Mar 3

Also please enjoy this uncomfortably on-point parody about the current situation with DOGE and NOAA (full video www.instagram.com/reel/DGmLW5I...

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 26

Spotted near NOAA 💙 (source www.reddit.com/r/NOAA/s/qfW...)

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 19

unbothered. moisturized. 🐌.

Snail secretion filtrate 35,000 ppm for nourishing, plumping skin

Screenshot of "Advanced Snail Mucin Power Sheet Mask", $6

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 18

House Natural Resources Dems, led by @rephuffman.bsky.social, are looking for stories from federal workers impacted by recent horrible actions. This is an effective way to communicate directly with Congress - Ana is the lead staffer. Please share widely. www.linkedin.com/posts/anaunr...

Image text is same as in link:
I have spent most of my professional career in rewarding roles in public service. In early January, I left the White House Council on Environmental Quality to return to the House of Representatives.

💔Now my social media feeds are filled with heartbreaking stories of others who have had their public service arbitrarily cut short. These stories are powerful testaments to the American people and Congress about the vital work non-partisan federal employees do every day.

📧 If you have been fired and are willing to share your story with me, please send a message to MyFedServiceStory@pm.me (via proton email). Please only send what you are willing to have shared publicly.

⏭️ For everyone else, please share this message or send stories you have seen posted publicly to the email above.

🚨If you have something to report and want to invoke whistleblower protections, please see the information here: https://lnkd.in/e3rvh7tB

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 18

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 12

It’s the best.

Rocky rim of Tuckerman Ravine with a small waterfall.

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 12

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Battered yellow Forest Service sign that says “STOP. The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad. White Mountain National Forest.”

Miriam Goldstein@miriamgoldstein· Feb 11

The simulation is glitching.