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seafood 
Fri Jul 02, 2010 at 20:01:07 PM PDT
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There's one school of thought that says you should "eat it to save it." I take pride in the slow-growing pasture-raised chicken I buy for my stepdaughter. Last time I picked up my chickens, I learned that the farmer is sold out of his heritage breed turkeys for Thanksgiving already - and he just spotted five endangered California Condors on his land. I'm thrilled to give this man business so that he can continue to raise heritage breeds of poultry on land so thoughtfully cared for that it's a haven for endangered species. But I don't feel the same about Gulf seafood. Here is why.
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Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 22:44:28 PM PST
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As of today, Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch put out new recommendations on seafood to eat and avoid. They also have a 60-page report on the state of the oceans (PDF). From their research, the best seafood choices as of October 2009 are as follows:
Albacore Tuna (Troll or pole-caught)
Mussels (farmed)
Oysters (farmed)
Pacific sardines (wild-caught)
Pink shrimp (wild caught from Oregon)
Salmon (wild-caught from Alaska)
Spot Prawns (wild-caught from British Columbia)
Rainbow Trout (farmed)
As you can tell, even when you're buying the right species, it's also important to know where your fish was caught or raised, and whether it was farmed or not.
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Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 22:05:57 PM PDT
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Shrimp is the #1 seafood in the U.S. I'd sooner eat Soylent Green. Let me tell you how farmed shrimp gets to your plate. And there's a darn good chance the shrimp you're eating is farmed. If anyone still wants to eat shrimp after finding out how its produced, I'll be shocked. To make an enormous understatement, it's disgusting.
From the book Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe:
...a dry [shrimp] pond should be prepared by spreading urea and superphosphate to encourage plankton growth. Once the pond has been filled with brackish water, generally pumped from a nearby creek, it is typically covered with diesel oil to kill off any insect larvae. The water is then treated with piscicide - a substance that poisons any competing aquatic life- such as chlorine or rotenone; the latter has been strongly linked to Parkinson's disease in humans...
Had enough yet? There's more below...
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Fri Jul 24, 2009 at 14:36:57 PM PDT
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Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 09:19:08 AM PDT
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The Pew Environment Group released a report today (available at http://www.endoverfishing.org ) called "Investing in Our Future: The Economic Case for Rebuilding Mid-Atlantic Fish Populations." It compares what DID happen and what COULD HAVE happened if we had rebuilt the populations of four mid-Atlantic fish species by 2007 (summer flounder, black sea bass, butterfish, and bluefish). Long story short, rebuilding these fish populations would have generated at least $570 million per year in "direct economic benefits." In other words, our extractive management of fish populations isn't even helping us out financially. And it certainly isn't helping us ecologically. So with no real benefits for poor management of fish populations, what the heck are we doing?
From their press release:
Delays in rebuilding translate to lost opportunities for commercial and recreational fishermen to catch the maximum amount of fish that can sustainably be taken from a population. Failing to quickly address overfishing and allow populations to rebuild as quickly as possible forgoes current financial benefits and may result in more costly regulations in the long-term.
Key findings from the report show that:
- Commercial landings would have increased by 48%, if the four populations had been rebuilt by 2007. The financial value would be approximately $33.6 million per year in perpetuity.
- Rebuilding would bring an increase in recreational landings of 24% more per year than the status quo management. The economic value would be approximately $536 million per year in perpetuity.
- These direct economic benefits would also likely generate secondary financial benefits in the Mid-Atlantic region through increased income, sales and jobs from businesses associated with commercial and recreational fishing, including bait and tackle shops.
While this report concludes that we need to take action, it seems that Congress has already done so. In 2006, Congress reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, strengthening it to hopefully rebuild fish populations within 10 years. So, in other words, what we've done is too little, too late.
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Thu Jun 11, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT
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This week, Grist has posted a series of fantastic articles about the oceans, seafood, and marine life. The posts coincide with World Oceans Day - Monday.
- Jane Lubchenco, Obama's pick to head NOAA, says "Ocean acidity has increased by 30%" thanks to human emissions. This piece includes that and other dire predictions on the fate of the oceans as a result of human carelessness.
- The documentary The End of the Line predicts the end of seafood by the year 2048 if we don't change our ways. (For another review of the film, see one here in The Independent.)
- This piece is a little cheerier, pointing readers to a reference guide to eco-friendly seafood. Plus, it includes an entertaining story about a fishing trip the author remembers from his childhood. (Mark Bittman in NYT did a piece on the same topic - the difficulty of buying ethical fish - this week.)
- Yikes, another scary documentary - this one, Sea Change, is about ocean acidification.
And here's some more recent fish-and-marine-life-related headlines (not from Grist but still on topic):
- A study in Woods Hole, MA links environmental toxins to stranded marine mammals.
- This is one of the stupidest things I've heard since Larry Summers called Africa "underpolluted." West Virginia's state government decided that because West Virginians don't eat much fish, it's OK for their waterways to have more mercury. Weak!
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Mon Jun 08, 2009 at 12:00:00 PM PDT
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Today (World Oceans Day), Grist has an article up about the rise in jellyfish, a problem for both fishermen and swimmers. The article postulates that the increase is due to both overfishing and climate change. As we make the oceans less hospitable for a number of species - and overfish many other species - the jellyfish have less predators and less competition for resources. The author calls them the "cockroaches of the sea."
I've got a simple solution to this problem: more Chinese people.
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Sun Apr 12, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT
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The headlines I see about ocean life are all sad.
There's just not any good news out there about fish, unless you count the articles by chefs talking about how good they taste (as well as this exchange about saving the oceans between Tom Philpott and Mark Bittman). And you know what else gets me? The Smithsonian talk is framed as saving "seafood" supplies - as if the residents of our oceans have only one purpose and that is being our dinners.
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Sat Jul 12, 2008 at 12:23:03 PM PDT
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(This is a world wide problem. - promoted by Asinus Asinum Fricat)
Algae blooms have been in the news lately primarily as an adjunct to sporting news, what with the vast bloom that was choking the sailing event venues of the Olympic games in China. Much more serious is the impact on health and on the food supply.
There are several types of algae blooms, each having a different bad effect. The ones that make the news most often are those commonly referred to as 'red tides,' but are more properly called Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs.) These are blooms of poison-producing algae, which can spread neurotoxins through the food web, sickening or killing everything from plankton to humans.
Join me below the fold for a brief bit of phycology (the study of algae) below the fold...
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