Officials are still examining the substance in a lab to determine what it is, but DEC suspects it’s black tar or asphalt.

Westfall thanked his training with the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association to help him maximize his odds for survival.

The black substance was staining the feet of people at the beach, prompting one local resident to alert state officials.

The strong winds toppled boats, threw shipping containers into the bay, and even blew the windows out of American President Lines crane. The winds came during a storm from the remnants of Typhoon Bavi.

I've asked quite a few of the elders here if they had ever seen and none of them said they had ever seen it, said Skidegate Chief Councillor Bill Yovanovich, who took the photos Saturday on Lina Island. They show small bits of white shells arranged into what appears to be an intentional grid pattern that stretches at least a hundred metres along the beach.

There has been a surge of plastic trash that has been washing up on beaches in Nome and across the Bering Strait Region.

Large holes had developed by mid-August in the low-concentration ice in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, according to National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The Bering Sea has noted an abundance of foreign debris washing up on our shores. Communities like Unalakleet, Gambell, Savoonga and Nome have all reported and documented hoards of this debris.

Another day of dead marine life surfacing in Biscayne Bay as the swath of suffocated fish appears to be spreading.

Three great white sharks broke the border rules big-time on Friday. The sharks were tracking very tight to shore near South Shore communities.

Officials have been receiving reports of Steller sea lions hauling out on beaches in poor condition, but have been unable to retrieve the animals for research — largely because they are in remote areas.

It lost more than 40 per cent of its area in just two days at the end of July, researchers said on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to remain above 80 degrees for the rest of the week.

The image shows a bloom of phytoplankton in the Barents Sea, north of Scandinavia and Russia.The floating plant-like organisms are showing up in higher concentrations across the Arctic Ocean.

The rate of coastal erosion seems to be speeding up near Cape Blossom.

Birders are continuing to flock to Greystones in Co Wicklow after what is believed to be the first ever sighting of a brown booby in Ireland.

Ferocious fish, not native to Canada, was netted and released in Alberni Inlet

"If we can protect the shoreline for another 30 years, it will give us time to move inland because we all can't up and leave tomorrow," Mayor Elias said.

Thousands of jellyfish clogged up a cooling system and threatened to suspend production at a power plant in Israel. Video filmed at the Electric Company power plant on Thursday shows the light blue sea creatures being swept down a chute and into a bin. The power plant, based in the coastal city of Ashkelon, about 15 miles north of the Gaza strip, uses seawater to cool its

Until 2007, there have been only three verified reports of green sturgeon in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, and two anecdotal reports from the Copper River and Unalaska areas.