Reporting on international fishing can often feel like investigating organized crime. Everyone knows how things are run, but the truth is obscured by shell companies, back-door dealings, and plausible deniability. This is why it’s remarkable that a recent, bungled initial… Read More ›
Sustainable Seafood
USA Fisheries “Recovering”
Inspired by a recent post by Grist, Neptune 911, agrees, let’s share the good news about our oceans, as opposed to the constant stream of news that gets, well, it gets depressing sometimes. Vox recently reported that US fisheries are… Read More ›
Gulf of Maine’s Prize Seafood Leaves for Cooler Seas
FRIENDSHIP, Maine — Imagine Cape Cod without cod. Maine without lobster. The region’s famous rocky beaches invisible, obscured by constant high waters. It’s already starting to happen. The culprit is the warming seas — and in particular the Gulf of… Read More ›
Illegal Fishing Claimed in Gulf Waters
It seems that every week brings another story of U.S. Coast Guard or other maritime law enforcement giving chase to foreign fishermen who have snuck into U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico to fish illegally. Foreign illegal fishing in… Read More ›
English Channel–“Scraping the Barrel” for Finfish
Staff Report FRISCO — The English Channel is all but fished out, leaving fishermen scraping the bottom of the barrel in their quest for a commercial haul. Sharks, rays, cod, haddock and many other species at the head of the… Read More ›
Acidic Oceans and the Lobster, Scallop, & Crab Industry
Today, experts predict pH declines in the world’s oceans of .4 units by the end of this century—a mere 85 years from now.
The oceans absorb over a quarter of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The more we pollute, the more they absorb, and the more acidic they become. It’s unlikely that some marine life that we depend on will be able to adapt to a rate of acidification that is over ten times as fast as during the PETM.
Oceana Releases Shocking Report: “Wasted Catch” in the US
From Oceana, March 20, 2014 Today, Oceana released a new report exposing nine of the dirtiest fisheries in the United States. These nine fisheries combined throw away almost half of what they catch and are responsible for more than 50… Read More ›
The Economist Discusses “The Tradgedy of the High Seas”
New management is needed for the planet’s most important common resource Feb 22nd 2014 | From the print edition The Economist IN 1968 an American ecologist, Garrett Hardin, published an article entitled “The Tragedy of the Commons”. He argued… Read More ›
Fishing Gear–Deadly For 8 Large Atlantic Whale Species
Death by fishing gear entanglement is the most commonly diagnosed cause of death among eight large whale species on the eastern North American Continental shelf.
Overfishing Seriously Endangers Sharks & Rays
The most threatened species in the shark and ray Class are the sawfishes; all the world’s species are classified by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as Critically Endangered. The US population of smalltooth sawfish has declined by an estimated 99% while European sawfish are assumed extinct.