|  Author | Topic: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II (Read 3,862 times) |
Big Bunny
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|  | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #30 on Aug 5, 2010, 11:59am » | |
First Nearshore Survey of Antarctic Krill Reveals High Density, Stable Population in Shallow Waters
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img651/1781/1008041514107420417.jpg "[image]")
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) can be up to 5 cm in length and are the primary food source for most of the marine mammals and seabirds in Antarctica. They are also commercially fished so it is important to ensure that human fishing activities do not negatively impact the native animals that rely on krill for energy for themselves and their offspring. (Credit: US AMLR Program.)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2010) — Using smaller vessels that allow access to shallow, nearshore waters, researchers from Stony Brook University and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center conducted the first multi-year survey of the population of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in coastal waters near Livingston Island and discovered that nearshore waters had significantly higher krill biomass density than offshore waters. They also found that the nearshore waters had less interannual variation than offshore waters.
These findings were published in the July 2010 issue of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.
Antarctic krill are tiny shrimp-like organisms that are an integral part of the Southern Ocean food chain. Krill are an important food resource for penguins, seals, and some whales in the Southern Ocean, and are harvested for use in aquaculture feed and human dietary supplements.
"Nearshore krill biomass is generally most accessible and attractive to land-breeding predators as well as to human fishers competing for this valuable resource," said Dr. Warren.
Because large research vessels cannot safely travel in shallow nearshore waters, previous population surveys of Antarctic krill were restricted to offshore sampling. With funding provided by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs and the United States Antarctic Marine Living Resources program, Dr. Joseph Warren, assistant professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, and Dr. David Demer, leader of the Advanced Survey Technologies Program at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, conducted six acoustic surveys from small boats in the nearshore waters north of Livingston Island, Antarctica. From 2000 through 2007, they examined the abundance and distribution of Antarctic krill in coastal waters within several miles of shore. Deploying their scientific equipment from a 6 m inflatable boat, Warren and Demer were able to carry out their measurements in water ranging from 500 to 2 m in depth. They compared their observations in the nearshore waters with those from offshore surveys of the western Scotia Sea conducted during the same year.
"Although the spatial area of our nearshore survey is quite small when compared with that of the entire Scotia Sea, the high and stable densities of krill in shallow water may be more important ecologically than the offshore krill," said Dr. Warren.
About the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York's center for marine and atmospheric research, education, and public service. With more than 85 faculty and staff and more than 500 students engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales.
Journal Reference:
1. Warren et al. Abundance and distribution of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) nearshore of Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica, during six austral summers between 2000 and 2007. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2010; 67 (7): 1159 DOI: 10.1139/F10-042
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804151410.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #31 on Aug 5, 2010, 12:10pm » | |
Top Predators and Biodiversity Historically Pressured in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img831/440/100802173721large821128.jpg "[image]")
Gloucester station, MA, shipping cod on sloop Venus. (Credit: Courtesy of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2010) — The numbers of top-level predators in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, such as halibut and swordfish, have decreased significantly over what existed 100 years ago, according to a new NOAA report released by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
The National Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series report, "Stellwagen Bank Marine Historical Ecology Final Report," describes fish populations in the sanctuary that are resilient, but have suffered declines in numbers and species diversity over time.
The report, produced by the Gulf of Maine Cod Project at the University of New Hampshire, presents results of a three-year survey and analysis of historical documents and manuscripts relevant to the marine historical ecology of the sanctuary. The authors, Stefan Claesson and Andrew Rosenberg, former director of NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office, said the report's findings challenge currently established baselines "and should influence the direction of management actions needed to improve overall ecosystem integrity."
Key findings from the research include:
* Halibut, swordfish and other top predators were overfished to near commercial extinction in the late 19th and 20th centuries;
* Declines in diversity of bottom-dwelling species in the western Gulf of Maine, including the sanctuary, from 1900 to 2000;
* Maximum annual catch levels of important commercial species declined by nearly 50 percent over a 100 year period; and
* Proportional catch ratios of haddock and cod in the sanctuary have reversed in the last 100 years from 3:1 to 1:7, signaling a resurgence of cod but a precipitous decline of haddock.
"These findings present a serious wake-up call to marine resource managers, the fishing community and environmentalists," said Craig MacDonald, superintendent, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. "Biodiversity conservation is one of the key management priorities for the sanctuary, and a major focus in our new management plan."
According to the report, the waters of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary have been fished for nearly 400 years, since European mariners came to the New World even before the Pilgrims. Near-shore fish populations and micro-banks, such as Stellwagen, were already showing declining numbers by the early 1800s, the report notes.
Since the late 19th century, human interactions with the Stellwagen Bank ecosystem caused dramatic changes to animal populations, according to the report's authors. They attribute the relatively quick ecosystem shifts to the development of new fishing technologies, such as gill nets and trawl gear, which were invented and adopted to improve efficiency and catch levels in an environment of declining numbers of fish caught and increasing market demand.
The report recommends additional analysis that examines historical trends for fish populations and habitat conditions back to 1800, and identifies socio-economic and cultural drivers related to shifts in catch levels.
The Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series Report (ONMS-10-04) is available on-line at the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries website at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/conservation/stellwagen_history or at the Stellwagen Bank sanctuary website at http://stellwagen.noaa.gov
Designated in 1992, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary encompasses 842 square miles of ocean, stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod. Renowned for its remarkable productivity, the sanctuary supports a rich diversity of marine life including 22 species of marine mammals, more than 53 species of seabirds, more than 80 species of fishes, and hundreds of marine invertebrates.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802173721.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #32 on Aug 5, 2010, 12:53pm » | |
Human Noise Pollution in Ocean Can Lead Fish Away from Good Habitats and Off to Their Death
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img713/2037/100803212015large064616.jpg "[image]")
A damselfish swims around a coral reef. (Credit: Steve Simpson)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2010) — The growing amount of human noise pollution in the ocean could lead fish away from good habitat and off to their death, according to new research from a UK-led team working on the Great Barrier Reef.
After developing for weeks at sea, baby tropical fish rely on natural noises to find the coral reefs where they can survive and thrive. However, the researchers found that short exposure to artificial noise makes fish become attracted to inappropriate sounds.
In earlier research, Dr Steve Simpson, Senior Researcher in the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences discovered that baby reef fish use sounds made by fish, shrimps and sea urchins as a cue to find coral reefs. With human noise pollution from ships, wind farms and oil prospecting on the increase, he is now concerned that this crucial behaviour is coming under threat.
He said: "When only a few weeks old, baby reef fish face a monumental challenge in locating and choosing suitable habitat. Reef noise gives them vital information, but if they can learn, remember and become attracted towards the wrong sounds, we might be leading them in all the wrong directions."
Using underwater nocturnal light traps, Dr Simpson and his team collected baby damselfish as they were returning to coral reefs. The fish were then put into tanks with underwater speakers playing natural reef noise or a synthesised mix of pure tones. The next night the fish were put into specially designed choice chambers (long tubes with contrasting conditions at each end in which fish can move freely towards the end they prefer) with natural or artificial sounds playing. All the fish liked the reef noise, but only the fish that had experienced the tone mix swam towards it, the others were repelled by it.
Dr Simpson said: "This result shows that fish can learn a new sound and remember it hours later, debunking the 3-second memory myth."
His collaborator, Dr Mark Meekan added: "It also shows that they can discriminate between sounds and, based on their experience, become attracted to sounds which might really mess up their behaviour on the most important night of their life."
In noisy environments the breakdown of natural behaviour could have devastating impacts on success of populations and the replenishment of future fish stocks.
Dr Simpson said: "Anthropogenic noise has increased dramatically in recent years, with small boats, shipping, drilling, pile driving and seismic testing now sometimes drowning out the natural sounds of fish and snapping shrimps. If fish accidentally learn to follow the wrong sounds, they could end up stuck next to a construction site or follow a ship back out to sea."
The study is published in Behavioral Ecology and was carried out at Lizard Island Research Station. The work was supported with a fellowship for Dr Simpson from the UK Natural Environment Research Council and by the Australian Institute of Marine Science for Dr Mark Meekan.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100803212015.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #33 on Aug 8, 2010, 12:33pm » | |
Tuna meltdown: is there an alternative?
Numbers of bluefin tuna are so low that the species is heading for extinction. But there is hope for this magnificent red-fleshed, warm-blooded fish. Salvation may come in the form of Kona Kampachi, which is abundant and has the sushi bite of bluefin. Isn't it time we changed the menu and got tuna off the hook?
* Paul Greenberg
* The Observer, Sunday 1 August 2010
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img832/91/almacojackseriolarivol0.jpg "[image]")
Almaco Jack Seriola rivoliana Seriola rivoliana or Almaco jack, which Neil Sims markets as Kona Kampachi. Photograph: Michael Patrick O'Neill /Alamy
Whale carpaccio – 130 kroners." Thus read the lead starter on the menu in an upscale Norwegian restaurant where I was dining on a winter evening not long ago. Eight slices of whale arranged raw on a plate for the reasonable price of about £13. I have to admit that the prospect of ordering it was intriguing. A near global commercial whaling moratorium has been in effect since 1986, with only Norway, Iceland and Japan refusing to stop. I had never been to a country that still practised whaling, and I had certainly never seen whale on a menu. What would whale taste like, I wondered. Would it be fatty and chewy like beef, or would it have the loose, flaky texture of fish that don't need dense muscles to resist the pull of gravity? Would it be served like prosciutto, with a thin slice of Parmesan cheese? Or, since carpaccio is an Italian dish, would it be more appropriate merely to drizzle olive oil over the whale's buttery sheen?
These were the thoughts that made my mouth water as the waitress approached my table. But when she asked me in blunt Nordic style if I'd like to "try the whale", all at once my 21st-century foodie curiosity wilted. "No," I said, "I'll have the mussels."
I would like to be able to say that I did not "try the whale" because of some superior moral quality I possessed. But which animals we think of as food and which we think of as living creatures is highly contextual. My conception that a whale was somehow too good to eat comes from a historical process that predates me by nearly two centuries, a process that has yet to happen with fish.
A couple of years afterwards the New York Times asked me to write an opinion essay on whether people should continue to eat fish. I considered this question for a long time and conferred with people on both sides of the issue. In the end I decided to try to track a middle course, saying that yes, we should still eat fish, that it was important that we still regard the ocean as a living source of food and not just a place to spill our oil and dump our garbage. However, I stipulated that a few basic guidelines should be followed to find a balance between human desire and ocean sustainability.
I covered the usual topics one comes across at sustainable-seafood conventions: that one should favour fish caught by small-scale hook-and-line fishers because of the lower impact on seabeds and underwater reefs. That when choosing aquacultured fish one should choose vegetarian fish, like tilapia and carp, because of the lower strain they put on marine food webs. When it came to tuna, though, I offered no triangulation whatsoever, because in my view there simply was no compromise possible. "Don't eat the big fish," I declared toward the end of the article. "Dining on a 500lb bluefin tuna is the seafood equivalent of driving a Hummer."
But two weeks after making my high-minded pronouncements, I found myself at a family dinner party at an upscale restaurant. The first-course choice on the prix fixe menu was either a mini-sirloin steak or bluefin tuna carpaccio. It would seem the choice should have been simple. I had my principles, and I had expressed them quite publicly.
But unlike the earlier moment in Norway when I successfully kept myself from ordering whale carpaccio, this time, nearly without hesitation, I chose the bluefin. I quickly scarfed it down and nearly forgot about the delicious paper-thin slices after they had been washed away with a glass of pinot grigio. I turned to my 12-year-old daughter, who had ordered the sirloin steak, and asked her how her food was. She had just read my article in draft form. "Hypocrite," she said coolly.
In the modern world whales are simply not considered food, while bluefin tuna are judged an acceptable delicacy. But based on population numbers and the international regulatory structures in place for each kind of animal, whale carpaccio is the carpaccio of choice. The whale on my menu at that restaurant in Bergen, Norway was most probably a minke whale, an animal whose population in the wild, after the moratorium was put in place, has grown to more than a quarter of a million animals (estimates vary widely, with some putting the population at close to 1m). Norwegians continue to conduct "scientific whaling" for research purposes. Some of those research subjects end up in restaurants as whale carpaccio.
But judging Norway's dubious moral position on whales becomes increasingly problematic when those countries doing the judging are nations that fish bluefin tuna. The most pessimistic estimates indicate that the population of Atlantic bluefin may have already imploded beyond the point of recovery. Even before the British Petroleum oil spill fouled one of the world's only two Atlantic bluefin spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, some scientists put the total number of ecologically critical 12-year-old-plus bluefin mega-spawners in the western stock at a mere 9,000 animals, or in food terms about 43m individual slices of sashimi.
And whereas only three countries still hunt whales commercially, every year dozens of fishing nations gear up to hunt bluefin when the eastern stock arrives from North America and passes through the Strait of Gibraltar in an increasingly fruitless quest to spawn in the Mediterranean. Fishermen are fond of claiming the Mediterranean bluefin fishery is "highly regulated", yet in 2007 every single member nation violated catch limits set by a kind of International Whaling Commission of tuna, called the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). In 2008 catch quotas were set at double what biologists on ICCAT's scientific committee recommended.
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img822/2680/fishmongerschecklarget0.jpg "[image]")
Fishmongers examine tuna at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market earlier this year. One fish weighing 512lb was sold for $178,000. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images
Bluefin, then, represent a very whale-like dilemma. They are big. As such, they are ecologically limited in their populations. Even before they were commercially fished, they were never anywhere near as plentiful as cod, salmon or sea bass. Like whales, whose migrations carry them sometimes from pole to pole, tuna are far-ranging and committed to no single nation. Their transience is intractable and indeed imperative to the continuation of their life cycles. They are in many respects an unmanageable fish.
Other, smaller tuna – the longfin albacore that make up the bulk of the tinned-tuna fishery and yellowfin – may be more manageable (they grow faster, spawn earlier, and have slightly less far-flung peregrinations). But if the bluefin go bust, the other species are next in line. They are sure to face increasing fishing pressure from a broader range of nations.
In the past two decades, conservationists have pushed multiple times to list the bluefin in Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, or Cites – a status achieved by tigers, rhinos and giant pandas, and a change that would end the international trade in bluefin, theoretically putting an end to their export to their primary market, Japan. But every time this option is put forth the bluefin-hunting countries prevail.
At the most recent Cites convention held this past spring in Doha, Qatar, both the European Union and the United States backed a Cites listing for Atlantic bluefin for the first time. Nevertheless the usual dynamic came to pass: one wealthy nation nominated the species for Cites inclusion (this time around it was Monaco). Afterward a host of poorer nations torpedoed the motion in collaboration with Japan. This despite the fact that a cessation of international trade in bluefin is probably the only thing that can halt the fish's decline – a whale-like scenario in which nobody would be able to profit from the animal, at least until the species has a few years to rebuild its numbers. Some tuna advocates are coming to the conclusion that a different tack has to be taken, one that would try to convert bluefin from a wild animal into a domesticated creature, one that would allow us to grow all the tuna we'd ever need.
BLUEFIN have been "farmed" on tuna "ranches" in the Mediterranean since the late 1990s – a practice which today removes more wild young fish from the sea than traditional capture fisheries. Some success has also been achieved in "closing the life cycle" of bluefin, and at least two companies are engaged in trying to fully domesticate the fish for the farm. But bluefin swim at a lightning pace and may require as much as 15lb of wild forage fish to produce a single pound of tuna. If tuna farming ever scales up to the size of salmon farming, then the wild oceans will surely pay the price.
In addition, there is little evidence to suggest that taming a species saves its wild forebear. Tiger farms in China have not halted tiger declines in the wild. The example of whales again rises. As the science historian D Graham Burnett points out in a forthcoming book on the Save the Whales movement, collaborations between American nuclear scientists and marine biologists were once proposed in the 1960s whereby tropical atolls, levelled by nuclear testing, could be used as giant corrals for the commercial farming of cetaceans. But fortunately for the whale – and I think for us, too – we have come to see the whale not as something we fish for, not as something we farm, but as something we appreciate and maybe empathise with. Instead of expanding our stomachs or our wallets, whales have expanded our consciousness, our very humanity.
So we have to ask ourselves: is bluefin tuna really so special that no substitute will do? Japanese defenders of the bluefin trade cite the long cultural tradition of tuna sushi in Japan. But when you look at it in a historical context, the Japanese have a very short tradition of eating bluefin. Before the American occupation of Japan, the Japanese preferred lean fish and meats and found the bluefin too fatty to stomach. It was only after the Second World War and the subsequent introduction of fatty beef into the Japanese diet that a taste for the fatty "otoro" belly of bluefin started to become fashionable. If the Japanese adapted to a higher-fat diet in less than half a century, can we not shift gears again and adapt to a sustainable diet in the same period of time?
It was in answer to these questions that I set out trying to discover a truly thick-fleshed farmed fish that could fulfil the steaky category most seafood diners now expect to see on a menu. A fish that had the "bite" of tuna but might have a footprint more akin to that of a barramundi or a sea bream.
And so I found myself in a dive boat three miles off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, motoring across the cerulean blue of the South Pacific with a tall, highly optimistic Australian named Neil Sims. Eventually we neared the site of Sims's farm – a huge underwater ziggurat that is the centre of his company Kona Blue.
It had been a long time since I'd scuba dived, and even when I'd first learned in college my skills had been rudimentary at best. We were now about to embark on what is called in scuba a "blue-water dive" – a plunge into the open ocean, hovering over a depth of nearly 300ft of water. Because such a dive does not take place above a coral reef, a seawall or any other structure, a blue-water dive is extremely scary. There are no perceivable reference points that allow the diver to determine depth. If the diver is, like me, inexperienced, he can freak out, lose his bearings, fail to establish neutral buoyancy with his buoyancy- compensator vest and find himself sinking unstoppably. If this happens, the diver will surely die. Either he will be crushed like a tin can at the bottom or, because he sank so low that he did not have adequate oxygen to surface slowly and decompress, oxygen will boil out of his blood and block his veins and arteries when he dashes to the surface. I was busy trying to keep cool and not betray the fact that I was scared sh_tless.
This all crumpled when Sims patted me on the back, looked me in the eye and said: "Got your wetsuit on backwards, mate."
Sims was flying in the face of convention when it came to his selection of fish. Up until very recently, most of the fish that we've chosen for our consumption and domestication have been accidents. We have taken those species because we knew them as wild game and then found that they fit well into our culinary and economic niches. We seldom considered their biological profiles or whether they gelled well with conditions that humankind could provide them.
Norway selected Atlantic salmon as its target farmed fish because the demise of wild temperate-zone rivers around the Northern Hemisphere was a common plight. Most Americans or Europeans had a distant memory of wild salmon, but practically no one had access to a reliable supply of it. Farmed salmon reclaimed that lost memory.
Israelis chose to pursue the domestication of the European sea bass because it was known in nearly all countries of the Mediterranean and because it was so overfished that it fetched a high price.
Cod became the first global fish commodity, mainly because it took well to preserving – dried cod lasts for years and could be shipped around the globe even on the slowest of ocean-going vessels. But when farmed, cod is expensive and slow-growing – disastrous as an aquaculture product.
But Sims came to aquaculture through environmental zeal, not with the intention of making a buck. And it was his direct personal experience with the limitations of fisheries management that convinced him that fish farming was a better choice than fish catching.
Sims began his career in the remote Cook Islands of the South Pacific. There he was responsible for managing a giant snail called a trochus that produces an attractive pearly shell, valuable to native jewellers. Over half a decade, he implemented numerous management strategies. Nothing worked – not even shortening the harvest season drastically. The day after one season ended, he came across a bare-chested Polynesian elder who had pulled his dugout canoe on to the beach. Sims looked inside the boat and saw it filled with trochus.
''I yelled at him,'' Sims remembers. ''Then he yelled at me. He started to cry. Then I started to cry, and then the old bugger finally says: 'Why? Why did you close the season? There are still some left!'''
This moment prompted him to look beyond fishing, to an entirely different approach.
A chain of events led him to Hawaii, where there were small government grants available for research into marine aquaculture. "People were trying out the Hawaiian fish called moi. It's a niche species, really. And they were also trying milkfish and mullet." None of these species, Sims felt, truly addressed the niche that needed to be filled by sustainability – the niche of thick-fleshed predators such as tuna.
It was at this point that Sims decided to turn the equation of aquaculture on its head. Instead of finding a fish that people knew, that was scarce and that had an established market, Sims wanted to find a fish that was right for aquaculture, whether or not it was known.
Eventually Sims came across a fish that previously had no market value whatsoever. Seriola rivoliana, known as the Almaco jack or the kahala in Hawaii, is a speedy, firm-fleshed bluewater species of the same family of fish as yellowtail and amberjack. Kahala are only distantly related to tuna and do not have their ruby-red colour, but they still have the thick, dense flesh of tuna and could easily pass for white albacore if prepared as sushi.
Another important factor about kahala is that they were never fished commercially and are hence quite abundant. In their wild form kahala can carry ciguatera poison – a toxin sometimes deadly to humans that kahala ingest when they feed around coral reefs. But when kahala are isolated away from reefs and fed a traditional aquaculture diet of soy and fishmeal, they are ciguatera-free. And because the wild population of kahala is large and healthy, they are unlikely to be severely damaged through interaction with farmed populations. Moreover, farmed kahala have a good feed-conversion ratio. Without any selective breeding whatsoever, the amount of fish required to produce a pound of kahala ranges from 1.6-to-1 to 2-to-1, which is 10 times better than the feed-conversion ratio for bluefin tuna. Feed trials beginning this summer will introduce pellets made from recycled fish discards that contain no directly harvested forage fish at all.
Even better, unlike bluefin, which require a tremendous investment in spawning technology, kahala are naturally fecund. When I asked Sims later if he uses industry-standard practices like hormone pellets or photo-period manipulation to get the fish to spawn, he responded cheekily. "No, we do not use any hormones or environmental manipulation. We tried soft music and candlelight and a little wine, and it worked just as well without. So we kept the wine for ourselves." Kahala breed constantly, sometimes weekly, throughout the year. They are, in short, the sushi fish we should have chosen from the start.
The problem is no one quite knows what they are. Neil Sims and a marketing team have decided to call the fish "Kona Kampachi" – Kona for its point of origin and kampachi based on a similar fish that is consumed in Japan. A sushi chef I later asked about the fish complained: "Well, you know, Kona Kampachi – that's an artificial name. Kampachi is kampachi, and it is from Japan." And like all aquaculturists, Sims does have dreams of grandeur beyond what might be biologically correct. He has proposed expanding his farm away from Hawaii to the shores of Mexico – a practice I don't support because of the obvious problem of introducing a non-native species to a new environment.
But expansion or not, the fish as an aquaculture animal has real benefits. Diving into the waters around Kailua-Kona, watching Sims up ahead of me, I felt the sensation of a whole different world emerging before me. I glided down, down, down, past the beautiful fish swimming in unison in their net pen. The site of these pens had been chosen carefully and was far enough from coastal areas to mitigate the impact on the seaside; regular monitoring has shown the seabed beneath the cages to be in better shape than seabeds beneath inshore salmon cages. Down and down I drifted. From below I looked up at the cage, seeing how little it looked in relation to the bigness of the ocean.
Suddenly I saw a human hand reach over in front of me and grab my diving vest. In the silent communication that happens underwater, I could read the grave concern in Sims's eyes. He looked at me wide-eyed and pointed down. I glanced below and saw the huge, gaping maw of the lifeless ocean beneath me. I had incorrectly set my buoyancy compensator, my human swim bladder, and if he hadn't grabbed me, I would have been well on my way to sinking into the 300ft trench below. Sims expertly inflated my vest. I began to float easily, and my breathing quieted.
Sims waved me over to the side of the net pen. I floated above him silently, close enough to see that the fish actually seemed to recognise him. In what he'd later describe to me as the "rock-star effect", the fish crowded to be close to him, expecting from him some kind of deliverance or gift or both. Sims spread his arms out wide and seemed to take in their adulation.
Kona Kampachi has a fat content more than 30% higher than most tuna. It retails for around £12-15 a pound in fillet form and to date has a tenuous foot in the market. Production reached more than a million pounds in 2008. After a hiatus during most of 2009 and the first part of 2010 while Sims reconfigured his cages, the product was reintroduced in July with even more capacity. The fish does not have the rich ruby colour of tuna (a colour often enhanced artificially by "gassing" tuna with carbon monoxide), but it is an extremely pleasant sushi experience – it satisfies the sashimi yen for the firm musculature of a fast-swimming pelagic fish.
And for those who would still favour tuna, Sims is quick to point out the essential imbalance between humans and those great fish. "Is tuna farming really going to be able to sate the panting palates all around the planet? We certainly cannot do it on the backs of wild bluefin or wild yellowfin any more than we could sustainably feed the world with wild woolly mammoths."
Kona Kampachi is slowly getting a reputation. But as the world tries to emerge from financial crisis, money for ventures such as Kona Blue may dry up. Can we embrace a whole new set of species that we don't know intimately? Can true sustainability rise above the noise of so many pretenders to that name? Can we come to an understanding of which fish work for us and which fish don't?
I would hope so. I'd hope that these traits, these characteristics, become the traits and characteristics we desire most. Our survival and the survival of the wild ocean may depend on it. I took one more look at Sims floating below me with arms outstretched, his kahala finning in the current, each one mutely appraising this conductor of an all-too-silent concert. The only sound was the whir of bubbles boiling by my ears up toward the silver mirror of the surface above.
The Atlantic Bluefin tuna are among the fastest, most powerful fish in the world. Even the most confirmed enemy of "intelligent design" theories can have a hard time imagining the forebears of these great fish inching slowly down an epochs-long evolutionary course to become modern tuna. They seem like deus ex machina incarnate, or rather machina ex deo – a machine from God.
How else could a fish develop a sextant-like ''pineal window'' in the top of its head that scientists say enables it to navigate over thousands of miles? How else could a fish develop a propulsion system whereby a whip-thin crescent tail vibrates at fantastic speeds, shooting the bluefin forward at speeds that can reach 40mph? And how else would a fish appear within a mostly cold-blooded phylum that can use its metabolic heat to raise its body temperature far above that of the surrounding water, allowing it to traverse the frigid seas of the subarctic?
Yes, bluefin tuna are warm-blooded.
Bluefin can be extremely large – in excess of 14ft and 1,500lb – but for those of us who have held them alive, their smooth hard-shell skins barely containing the surging muscle power within, they are something bigger than the space they occupy. All fish are a distinctly different colour when alive than when dead on ice in a seafood market. But with tuna the shift from alive to dead seems more profound. Sometimes fresh out of the water with their backs pulsing neon blue and their bellies gleaming pink-silver iridescence, they seem like the very ocean itself.
And in a way they are. If salmon led us out of our Neolithic caves in the highlands down to the mouths of rivers, if sea bass and other coastal fish led us from the safety of shore to the reefs and rocks that surround the coasts, and if cod led us beyond the sight of land to the edges of the continental shelves, tuna have taken us over the precipice of the continental shelves into the abyss of the open sea – the final frontier of fishing, and the place where the wildest things in the world are making the last argument for the importance of an untamed ocean.
We now face a battle between the altruism toward other species that we know we can muster and the primitive greed that lies beneath our relationship with the creatures of the sea. And yet it is a battle that has been fought and won before, against high odds. Looking back over the history of the ocean, we can see that there is one order of sea creatures bigger than tuna that has earned our empathy and, more important, our protective resolve, rising up from the background of marine life to become a superstar of conservation, on a par with the tiger and the elephant. Perhaps we will never come to feel about tuna the way we have come to feel about whales, but it is to this example we must look if we are to fix our tuna problem once and for all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/01/tuna-fishing-kona-kampachi
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"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #34 on Aug 13, 2010, 7:09pm » | |
Now Britain and Iceland go to war over the mackerel
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img213/6568/pg12mackerelgett429541s.jpg "[image]")
Last week, Fishermen from Peterhead, Scotland (pictured), prevented a Faroese vessel from unloading 900 tonnes of mackerel GETTY IMAGES
The European Union could impose trade sanctions against Iceland or stop its ships from entering EU ports in an emerging "mackerel war".
In an echo of the 1970s "Cod War" when British gunboats were sent to ward off Icelandic trawlers in disputed waters, the EU has warned it will take "all necessary measures" to protect its fishing and economic interests.
The rising tension follows Iceland's unilateral decision to catch three times as much mackerel this year as the EU considers reasonable, prompting a similar move by the Danish-owned Faroe Islands. Together with the amounts traditionally taken by the EU and Norway, the quotas would exceed the sustainable catch by a third and threaten a success story in European fishing, which has been dogged by political dithering and national self-interest.
Iceland – which traditionally has a reputation for good stewardship of fish – insists it has the right to catch any fish it wants within its 200-mile territorial limit, established during the Cod War. The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners defended its behaviour as "legal and responsible".
After failing to resolve the dispute – which Brussels says threatens to wreck international fishing agreements, Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said on Monday the EC would be sending a "very clear message" to the two states demanding a sustainable deal.
She added: "However, should the current anarchic situation in the mackerel fisheries continue with unreasonable positions being maintained by parties, then the Commission will contemplate all necessary measures to conserve the mackerel stock and safeguard EU interests."
The EU, which suspects Iceland's decision is being driven by the parlous state of its economy, says it will consider abandoning all fishing agreements with the states – which could spell chaos to efforts to conserve stocks such as cod. Another possibility is trade sanctions, or preventing Icelandic boats from landing their fish in EU ports.
In a sign of its anger, Norway has already banned fish processors from accepting any mackerel landed by Icelandic or Faroese boats.
Tempers are also running high in Scotland, where mackerel is more valuable than haddock or cod. Last week 20 fishermen from Peterhead and Fraserburgh used vans and cars in a bid to prevent the Faroese vessel the Jupiter from unloading 900 tonnes of mackerel at Peterhead.
In a further reverberation, the UK, Norway and other fishing nations might seek to damage Iceland's hopes of joining the EU, or use negotiations to encourage it to back down. The Scottish Fisheries Secretary, Richard Lochhead, said yesterday: "I am greatly encouraged by the commitment being shown by the EU on this and hope that these matters will be at the fore of Iceland's EU accession negotiations."
With co-operation between interested fishing nations and consumer demand buoyed by advice to eat oily fish, mackerel had been hailed by the Marine Stewardship Council as an example of a good fishery. For 10 years, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands had a trilateral agreement, apportioning fixed shares of the total catch recommended by scientists. But two years ago – arguing that shoals were moving north due to climate change – Iceland began large-scale fishing and set a catch of 115,000 tonnes for 2009.
Reykjavik increased that to 130,000 tonnes this year, when scientists were recommending a decline in the total overall catch. The Faroe Islands, which had a 4 per cent share of the deal with the EU and Norway, announced it would take 85,000 tonnes, a 16 per cent share. Assuming all the parties catch their expected quotas, 772,000 tonnes will be caught this year, 35 per cent more than the 570,000 tonnes recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas.
Accusing Iceland of "piracy", Bertie Armstrong – head of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation – said: "We would classify that as the abandonment of rational fisheries management."
At Westminster, UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, was more diplomatic: relations between Britain and Iceland are already strained due to Labour's decision to freeze the assets of the Landsbanki bank during the financial crisis two years ago.
Mr Benyon said: "Mackerel is one of the most sustainable fisheries, due to the action that EU member states have taken in successfully managing the stocks. This is being put at risk by the setting of arbitrary quota.
"I do not want to see this issue cause a deterioration in the otherwise good relationships between our respective industries and I urge both Iceland and Faroe Islands to reconsider their actions."
The 1970s Cod War
Iceland has always jealously guarded its fishing rights, so much so that a row that erupted in the 1970s almost brought Reykjavik and London to the brink of military action.
The "cod war", a more serious version of an earlier row over fishing rights that took place between the two states in the 1950s, began in 1972 when Iceland announced a unilateral extension of its fishing rights from 13 miles off its coast to 50 miles. Ostensibly the reason was to reduce over-fishing, but it hit British boats catching cod and other whitefish in the same waters and London protested the move. Iceland's coastguard began cutting the nets of British trawlers straying into its new, enlarged waters. As a result, Prime Minister Edward Heath sent Royal Naval warships and tug-boats to protect British fishing crews. There were some incidences of boats being rammed.
With the row still simmering, in 1975 Iceland extended its fishing rights again, to 200 miles. Britain protested again – but Iceland laid down its trump card by threatening to close the Keflavík Nato base, crucial for defending the Atlantic Ocean from attack by the Soviet Union. Iceland finally got its way and, after 1 December 1976, Britain agreed its ships would not fish within 200 miles of Iceland.
Since the "war", the two countries' fishing industries have fared very differently. Iceland – which is thought to have stayed out of the EU in order to protect its fishing industry – is acknowledged to run fisheries responsibly, allowing other species caught by accident to be traded between boats and landed, rather than thrown back into the sea.
By contrast, the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which Britain joined on its accession to the Common Market in 1973 – is considered to have been a disaster. A third of all fish are thrown back dead from boats, either because they are the wrong species, a legal but imperfect size, or the quota has already been met.
As a result, cod in the North Sea has plunged to 3 per cent of its natural abundance, despite a recent recovery. And much of the cod sold in Britain now comes from Iceland.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/....el-2049099.html
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
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"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #35 on Aug 14, 2010, 10:10pm » | |
Environment cuts: fight to preserve the health of the seas
Ecologists warn cuts will hamper efforts to set up marine conservation areas and safely build offshore windfarms
* Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
* The Guardian, Saturday 14 August 2010
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img830/3743/seahorsehippocampusgutt.jpg "[image]")
Threatened: the seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus in a sea grass bed in British waters. Photograph: Lin Baldock/Natural England/PA
Plans to set up a network of marine conservation areas and safely build vast offshore windfarms and deep-sea oil rigs around the UK could be hampered or irreparably damaged by spending cuts, senior ecologists have warned.
They fear that 40% cuts in the government's environment funding will hit crucial research programmes into the health of Britain's seas at a time of unprecedented pressures on marine habitats.
Conservationists believe the cuts will severely affect a marine research centre in Aberdeen, an outpost of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), where 30 scientists and support staff lead crucial surveys and scientific studies on fish stocks, marine biodiversity and the seabed around Britain.
One senior government adviser said that this would leave the UK exposed to legal action and potentially the loss of funding from the European commission for breaching its duties under EU birds and habitats directives, which require ministers to protect vulnerable species such as dolphins and sea birds.
Legal action and uncertainties about the suitability of sites could delay the offshore renewables programme and cost industry and the taxpayer more in future. "It's a double bang: it gets in the way of development and if we make mistakes we'll be clobbered by the [EU] commission. We'll get whopping great penalties, to say nothing of the reputational damage," he said.
Energy companies are installing thousands of offshore wind turbines around the British coast, while the oil industry, led by BP, is pushing for licences to drill test wells in deep but poorly studied waters off western Scotland and Shetland.
Under legislation passed by the Labour government, the UK is also committed to setting up a network of marine conservation zones, dedicated to preserving the most vulnerable and significant areas of sea, as the first step towards introducing marine protection areas where tough controls on industry, fishing and pollution will be enforced.
Stuart Housden, director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said the JNCC's work in Aberdeen played a vital role in establishing where to set up marine protection zones and where it was safest to build offshore windfarms or tidal and wave power machines, or to sink oil wells.
"These are very expensive and difficult to do, and these processes have already been starved of funds, but at the same time governments in Edinburgh and London are very anxious to see opportunities for offshore renewables and oil and gas pursued with vigour," he said. "But to do that we need to have good environmental assessments; we need to know what's out there and where to declare the best protected areas. They're trying to cut corners and save money when the pressures to do developments at sea are so fast and furious, and before the best sites are identified, with serious damage potentially being done."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20....ne-conservation
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #36 on Aug 18, 2010, 8:32am » | |
New Insights Could Mean Better Fish Feeds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 16, 2010) — A better understanding of what happens in a fish's body when it eats could lead to the production of better fish feeds. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, are hoping to contribute to more energy-efficient aquaculture. In the long term, this could increase the supply of farmed fish and so provide more food for the Earth's burgeoning population.
Studies of fish by researcher Henrik Seth from the University of Gothenburg's Department of Zoology have helped to increase our understanding of what happens in parts of the body after one of its most frequently recurring activities: eating.
It has long been known that a number of changes take place in the body following food intake, including an increase in blood flow to the stomach and intestines. This happens in humans and other mammals as well as in fish. However, we still know relatively little about the signals that trigger these changes and how they are regulated. Both the volume and the chemical composition of food play a role in how the body reacts.
Chemical composition affects energy consumption
"It's not just blood flow that is affected by its chemical composition, but also energy consumption in the stomach and intestines, and these factors are believed to be interlinked," says Seth.
If energy consumption in the stomach and intestines rises, an increased blood flow will be needed to supply the active tissue with oxygen and nutrients.
"Increased blood flow is also important for carrying away absorbed nutrients so that they can be used to nourish different parts of the body and to build up and repair different tissues."
The results of Henrik Seth's research also show that parts of a fish's nervous system are involved in this regulation, and that a number of hormones (including cholecystokinin) can affect this regulation depending on the composition of the food.
It is primarily here that an increased understanding of this field could make it possible to produce fish feeds in the future that require less energy to be broken down and absorbed.
"It might then be possible to enhance the growth of farmed fish, which would greatly increase the efficiency of fish farming with less wastage of energy," says Seth. "Using nutrients as efficiently as possible may prove increasingly important as the global population continues to swell."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100816095709.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #37 on Aug 19, 2010, 2:03pm » | |
Queensland fish species migrating south due to climate change
* By Brian Williams
* From: The Courier-Mail
* August 20, 2010 12:00AM
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img208/3433/540096groper3993642.jpg "[image]")
The groper is one of the Queensland fish species migrating south due to rising temperatures. Source: Courier-Mail Source: The Courier-Mail
CLIMATE change is turning the environment upside-down, with Queensland groper, tiger sharks and even warm-water fish like coral trout being found in Tasmania.
Scientists also have recorded yellowtail kingfish and snapper heading south, while north Queensland barramundi and threadfin salmon are being caught in Moreton Bay off Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
Scientists say it shows how climate change is redistributing species.
They have identified 45 species – including 30 per cent of inshore Tasmanian fish families – relocating.
Others are warm temperate surf species such as silver drummer, rock blackfish and rock flathead, and warm-water tuna and billfishes.
Australian National Fish Collection curator Peter Last said yesterday up to 19 species or 5 per cent of Tasmanian coastal fish such as the maugean skate had declined or were possibly locally extinct.
"At the same time many warm temperate species have moved in," Dr Last said.
"The problem is that in southern Tasmania, shallow cold-water species have nowhere to escape warmer conditions."
Dr Last said he was surprised when a coral trout, a Great Barrier Reef species, was caught at Port Arthur.
"I didn't believe this guy when he said he had caught one until he brought it in," Dr Last said.
"We also had a big Queensland groper sneak up behind people on a dive off Bicheno. We get great whites so it scared the heck out of them.
"I also had an aquarium collector with a heap of Queensland species off Eden (NSW)."
Dr Last said odd northern species had always travelled down the east Australian current, but it now extended 350km further south than about 65 years ago. Water temperatures had risen 2C.
"Species like groper and tiger sharks are normally not seen much south of Sydney and tropical fish that turn up in summer in Botany Bay and then die off, are persisting," he said.
CSIRO oceanographer Ken Ridgeway said the current was strong to about Eden in the 1940s but powerful flows now continued through to Tasmania because of a switch in winds generated by changing ozone levels and warming.
Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Baltais said evidence of dramatic species moves was mounting.
"The tragedy is scientists have been warning of this for about three decades yet nothing has been done by governments at a policy level," he said.
"It's surprising how many fools believe (climate change) sceptics despite evidence being so overwhelming."
Dr Last said it was logical to expect species such as barramundi and king salmon to increase in Moreton Bay and he expected survey work near Perth, WA, to show major shifts.
Dr Last, the CSIRO and Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute have published a paper on the changes in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.
http://www.news.com.au/features/environm....1#ixzz0x51RjdLO
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #38 on Aug 24, 2010, 7:17pm » | |
Shallow Water Habitats Important for Young Salmon and Trout
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img827/1719/100823080814large527623.jpg "[image]")
Normusån in Stenung municipality, north of Gothenburg. (Credit: Rasmus Kaspersson)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2010) — Research carried out at the University of Gothenburg shows that competition from older fish causes young salmon and trout to seek refuge in shallow water. Preserving such habitats may, therefore, be important for the survival of the young fish.
Using field studies in watercourses north of Gothenburg and laboratory experiments in Denmark and Scotland, scientist Rasmus Kaspersson at the Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, has studied the competition between different age groups of Atlantic salmon and brown trout.
Forced into shallow water
It has previously been believed that poor swimming ability forces young salmon and trout to remain in shallow habitats where the water flows at a lower velocity. Rasmus Kaspersson's work, however, shows that it is rather competition for habitats from the older fish that compels young fish to use shallow water. Rasmus Kaspersson's experiments show that young-of-the-year move to deeper parts of the watercourse as soon as the number of older individuals is reduced.
"This suggests that young-of-the-year actually prefer to live in deep, rapidly flowing water, where they can find food easier and are protected from predatory birds and mink," says Rasmus Kaspersson.
Population determines survival
In the natural world, however, older and younger individuals are both present, and shallow habitats then function as refuge for the younger fish. The weight and length of young-of-the-year increased when older individuals were removed from parts of the watercourses studied. Thus it seems that the population of older salmon and trout in a watercourse affects indirectly the number of young-of-the-year that reach adulthood.
More protected habitats required
The results presented in Rasmus Kaspersson's thesis show how important it is to preserve and restore shallow parts of Swedish watercourses with low-velocity flow. This will provide more protected habitats for the young fish.
Journal Reference:
1. R. Kaspersson, J. Höjesjö. Density-dependent growth rate in an age-structured population: a field study on stream-dwelling brown trout Salmo trutta. Journal of Fish Biology, 2009; 74 (10): 2196 DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2009.02227.x
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823080814.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #39 on Aug 26, 2010, 11:38pm » | |
Shetland trawlermen illegally caught £15m worth of herring and mackerel
Six skippers face unlimited fines and multi-million pound confiscation orders after admitting breaching fishing quotas
* Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 August 2010 17.45 BST
Six trawlermen from Shetland face unlimited fines and multi-million pound confiscation orders for illegally landing £15m worth of herring and mackerel to cheat strict quotas designed to conserve fish stocks.
The six skippers from Lerwick admitted today that they made false declarations about the true size of their catch after nearly 200 voyages between January 2002 and March 2005, deliberately breaching their own annual fishing quotas.
Their conviction followed a long-running investigation by police and the Scottish fisheries protection agency which also led to guilty pleas from a Lerwick-based fish wholesalers Shetland Catch Ltd for supplying false reports about the size of the landings.
The case is one of the largest-ever involving so-called "black landings", the illegal practice once widespread in Scottish ports where skippers deliberately caught and landed fish which breached quotas, in defiance of European conservation measures.
The practice has largely died out, but Scott Pattison, director of operations with Scotland's prosecution authority, the Crown Office, said there were other similar investigations under way.
"This is not a victimless crime. The consequences of overfishing on this scale are far-reaching and the impact on fish stocks and the marine environment is potentially devastating," he said. "The legislation is to protect the marine environment for the good of all and to safeguard the fishing industry."
The six men were caught after the fisheries agency suspected widespread and significant quota breaches. Detailed "forensic accounting" uncovered significant discrepancies between the declared income for Shetland Catch and its actual income.
Detective superintendent Gordon Gibson of Grampian Police, who led the investigation, said: "As can be seen from the pleas tendered today, this was criminality at an extremely high level."
The Scottish mackerel fishery, the largest of its kind for the British fishing industry, is now accredited for its conservation practices by the Marine Stewardship Council.
However, British ministers and industry leaders are currently in a furious dispute with Iceland and the Faroes for dramatically increasing their self-declared mackerel quotas. Last week, one Faroese boat was blockaded at the quayside by angry local skippers in Peterhead.
Precise details were released after the hearing at the high court in Glasgow about the scale of the illegal landings by all six men, who had shared three trawlers.
Robert John Polson, 47, made 46 "black" landings worth £3,682,000, and David Kay Hutchison, 64, made 49 landings worth £3,698,433, from the vessel Charisma; Thomas Sutherland Eunson, 55, made 18 illegal landings worth £1,457,243, and Allen Magnus Anderson, 44, made four undeclared landings valued at £442,168 from the trawler Serene; while John Arthur Irvine, 66, made 56 landings worth £3,658,981 and Allister Irvine, 61, made 25 landings worth £1,828,981 from the Zephyr.
European and British fisheries legislation requires skippers to make full declarations of their catch sizes, including the species of fish caught, within 48 hours of landing their catch in port, at the time to within 80% accuracy.
All six men are due to be sentenced in November, when they face unlimited fines. The Crown Office added that it was also pursuing a confiscation order under proceeds of crime legislation of up to £15m against all the accused. As a result of their conviction, they have also had their quotas of mackerel and herring drastically reduced between 2007 and 2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/26/shetland-fish-herring-mackerel
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #40 on Aug 27, 2010, 10:47am » | |
Acidifying Oceans Spell Bleak Marine Biological Future 'by End of Century', Mediterranean Research Finds
![[image]](http://a.imageshack.us/img844/3889/100825093651large386724.jpg "[image]")
CO2 vent around the island of Ischia. (Credit: © University of Plymouth)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) — A unique 'natural laboratory' in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions in the past.
The scientists, from the University of Plymouth and the University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, studied a single celled organisms called Foraminifera around volcanic carbon dioxide vents off Naples in Italy. The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the Geological Society, found that increasing CO2 levels caused foram diversity to fall from 24 species to only 4.
'Previous studies have shown a reduction in diversity of 30%, but this is even bigger for forams', said Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, one of the study's co-authors. 'A tipping point occurs at mean pH 7.8. This is the pH level predicted for the end of this century'.
Rising carbon dioxide levels acidify the ocean, which has a particularly devastating effect on organisms that have calcium carbonate shells, like Foraminifera.
'Forams are well preserved in the fossil record, which is why we chose to study them', says Dr Hall-Spencer. 'We knew the results were likely to show a decline in foram diversity but we weren't expecting such a seismic shift'.
Forams record past events in the geological record -- in particular, the effect of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period of massive carbon release and rapid warming, 55 million years ago, accompanied by extinctions in marine life. It is also thought to have seen a period of ocean acidification.
'That was a period when massive changes in marine ecology happened' says Dr Hall-Spencer. 'Our natural laboratory provides a glimpse into the future of our oceans'.
'These are the first CO2 vents to be used to study ocean acidification. They allow us to observe how ecosystems react to changes in ocean acidity. We can see for our own eyes what increasing CO2 levels do to marine communities'.
'At a mean pH level of 7.8, calcified organisms begin to disappear, and non calcifying ones take over. We are headed towards that being the case in this century. The big concern for me is that unless we curb carbon emissions we risk mass extinctions, degrading coastal waters and encouraging outbreaks of toxic jellyfish and algae.'
Co-author Professor Malcolm Hart are presenting the research to the 2010 FORAMS meeting in Bonn on Friday 6 September. This weekend, Deborah Wall-Palmer will present the work being done at Plymouth on the last 250,000 years of ocean acidification at the International Palaeoceanography Conference in San Diego, being held on 29 August -- 3 September.
Journal Reference:
1. B. B. Dias, M. B. Hart, C. W. Smart, J. M. Hall-Spencer. Modern seawater acidification: the response of foraminifera to high-CO2 conditions in the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of the Geological Society, 2010; 167 (5): 843 DOI: 10.1144/0016-76492010-050
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825093651.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #41 on Sept 3, 2010, 10:31am » | |
Seafood Stewardship Questionable, Experts Argue
ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2010) — The world's most established fisheries certifier is failing on its promises as rapidly as it gains prominence, according to leading fisheries experts from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego and elsewhere.
Established in 1997 by the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, one of the world's largest fish retailers, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has been helping consumers eat fish "guilt-free" by certifying fisheries. Major North American grocery chains such as Wal-Mart, Whole Foods and Europe's Waitrose carry seafood bearing the blue-mark label as part of their sustainability strategy.
But in an opinion piece published in the current issue of Nature, six researchers from Canada, Italy and the U.S. object to the many of the MSC's procedures and certification of certain species.
"The MSC is supposed to be a solution, but a lot of what they do has turned against biology in favour of bureaucracy," says Jennifer Jacquet, lead author and post-doctoral fellow with UBC's Sea Around Us Project.
The largest MSC-certified fishery, with an annual catch of one million tonnes, is the U.S. trawl fishery for pollock in the eastern Bering Sea. It was certified in 2005 and recommended for recertification this summer.
"Pollock has been certified despite a 64 per cent decline of the population's spawning biomass between 2004 and 2009, with no solid evidence for recovery. This has worrisome implications for possible harmful impacts on other species and fisheries besides the viability of the pollock fishery itself," says Jeremy Jackson from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. "How is that sustainable?"
Paul Dayton, also of Scripps Oceanography, and David Ainley, a biologist who works in the Antarctic, remain concerned about the recent certification of krill and the proposed certification of toothfish.
"The certification of the Ross Sea is an embarrassment as it flies in the face of existing data and denies any sense of precautionary management," says Dayton.
"We're especially concerned about the recent certification of Antarctic krill despite estimates of long-term decline and a link between krill population depletion and declining sea ice in areas sensitive to climate change," says Daniel Pauly, head of UBC's Sea Around Us Project. "The rationale for this certification is on further thin ice because the catch is destined to feed farmed fish, pigs and chicken."
Fisheries that are being heavily depleted, reliant on high-impact methods such as bottom trawling and that aren't destined for human consumption should be excluded from certification, conclude the authors, which include Sidney Holt, a founding father of fisheries science.
"The MSC should not certify fisheries that are not demonstrably sustainable, fisheries that use high-impact methods such as bottom trawling and/or fisheries that aren't destined for human consumption," says Pauly.
"The MSC needs to strengthen its commitment to its own principles in order to fulfill its promise to be 'the best environmental choice,'" says Jackson.
The authors also note that the current certification system, which relies on for-profit consultants and could cost as much as $150,000, presents a potential conflict of interest and discriminates against small-scale fisheries and fisheries from developing countries -- most of which use highly-selective and sustainable techniques.
Dayton points out that "the failure of the MSC hurts the populations that are not sustainably taken and their ecosystems; it deprives the public of an opportunity to make a meaningful choice and it damages those fisheries that are well managed -- this is especially important for those sustainable small-scale fisheries competing with the giants that buy certifications they have not earned."
"Unless MSC goes under major reform, there are better, more effective ways to spend the certifier's $13-million annual budget to help the oceans, such as lobbying for the elimination of harmful fisheries subsidies or establishing marine protected areas," says Jacquet.
Journal Reference:
1. Jennifer Jacquet, Daniel Pauly, David Ainley, Sidney Holt, Paul Dayton, Jeremy Jackson. Seafood stewardship in crisis. Nature, 2010; 467 (7311): 28 DOI: 10.1038/467028a
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100901132159.htm
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #42 on Sept 26, 2010, 6:10pm » | |
Genetically Engineered Salmon Safe to Eat, but a Threat to Wild Stocks, Expert Says
ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2010) — Craig Altier, a member of the Food and Drug Administration's Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee and an associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, comments on potential FDA approval of the first genetically engineered animal for use as food.
Altier says: "The fisheries of the world are being rapidly depleted and so advances in aquaculture will be needed to meet the growing demand for protein. Genetically engineered animals might help to feed the world, but they must first meet the most stringent requirements for human and environmental safety.
"Is the introduced growth hormone gene safe for the fish itself? The studies designed to determine this were flawed, and so we don't know yet whether this is true. The burden of proof here is on the producer of this fish, Aquabounty, to perform further research to establish safety for the fish.
"Is the fish safe for human consumption? Exhaustive analysis by the FDA showed no difference from conventional salmon. The growth hormone itself presents no specific risk, as we consume growth hormone in all meats we eat. The FDA also found no increase in allergens, which is important, as fish is already a food that causes allergic reactions in many people.
"We advised the FDA on the possible environmental impacts of this fish. Containment of the fish is essential, as the release of this fast-growing animal could have devastating effects on native fish populations. The producer, Aquabounty, plans to raise these fish in an inland, self-contained facility. To protect wild fish stocks, these facilities would require the utmost security, rigorous inspections and constant oversight by the FDA.
"We need to treat these fish as we would a potentially dangerous medicine or pharmaceutical, and apply all of the same security measures to its production and transport."
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Cornell University, via Newswise.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100925105209.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #43 on Nov 18, 2010, 7:18pm » | |
Scientists Question Widely Adopted Indicator of Fisheries Health and Evidence for 'Fishing Down Marine Food Webs'
![[image]](http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3192/101117141419large571534.jpg "[image]")
The gray line represents the average trophic level of what was caught worldwide starting in 1950 according to a 1998 Science paper about fishing down the marine food web. Newly revised and updated information, the black line, shows that the average trophic level of what is being caught has, instead, been generally going up since the mid 1980s. (Credit: Trevor Branch/U of Washington)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2010) — The most widely adopted measure for assessing the state of the world's oceans and fisheries led to inaccurate conclusions in nearly half the ecosystems where it was applied according to new analysis by an international team led by a University of Washington fisheries scientist.
"Applied to individual ecosystems it's like flipping a coin, half the time you get the right answer and half the time you get the wrong answer," said Trevor Branch, a UW assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.
In 1998, the journal Science published a groundbreaking paper that was the first to use trends in the trophic levels of fish that were caught to measure the health of world fisheries. The trophic level of an organism shows where it fits in food webs, with microscopic algae at a trophic level of one and large predators such as sharks, halibut and tuna at a trophic level of around four.
The 1998 paper relied on four decades of catch data and averaged the trophic levels of what was caught. The authors determined those averages were declining over time and warned we were "fishing down the food web" by overharvesting fish at the highest trophic levels and then sequentially going after fish farther down the food web.
Twelve years later, newly compiled data has emerged that considers such things as the numbers and types of fish that actually live in these ecosystems, as well as catch data. An analysis in the Nov. 18 issue of Nature reveals weaknesses in assessing ecosystem health from changes in the trophic levels of what is being caught.
"This is important because that measure is the most widely adopted indicator by which to determine the overall health of marine ecosystems," said Branch, lead author of the new analysis in Nature. Those involved with the U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity, for instance, chose to use the average trophic level of fish being caught as the main measure of global marine diversity.
An example of the problem with the measure is in the Gulf of Thailand, where the average trophic level of what is being caught is rising, which should indicate improving ecosystem health according to proponents of that measure. Instead, it turns out fish at all levels have declined tenfold since the 1950s because of overharvesting.
"The measure only declines if fisheries aimed for top predators first, but for the Gulf of Thailand the measure fails because fisheries first targeted mussels and shrimps near the bottom of the food web, before shifting to predators higher up in the food web," Branch said.
Including the Gulf of Thailand, Branch found that changes in the average trophic levels of what was being caught and what was found when fish populations were surveyed differed in 13 of the 29 trawl surveys from 14 ecosystems. Trawl surveys, generally done from research vessels, count the kinds and abundance of fish and are repeated over time to reveal trends.
Branch and his co-authors are the first to combine so many trawl surveys for analysis -- no one had combined more than a handful before. The trawl survey data came from efforts started three years ago by fisheries scientists and ecologists gathered at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, Calif. They brought together worldwide catch data, stock assessments, scientific trawl surveys, small-scale fishery data and modeling results. What emerged is the most comprehensive set of data yet for fisheries researchers and managers.
It paints a different picture from previous catch data and has revealed another major new finding: On a global scale humans don't appear to be fishing down the food web, Branch said.
The new catch data reveal that, following declines during the 1970s in the average trophic levels of fish being caught, catches of fish at all trophic levels have generally gone up since the mid-80s. Included are high-trophic predators such as bigeye tuna, skipjack tuna and blue whiting.
"Globally we're catching more of just about everything," Branch said. "Therefore relying on changes in the average trophic level of fish being caught won't tell us when fishing is sustainable or if it is leading to collapse." That's because when harvests of everything increase about equally, the average trophic level of what is caught remains steady. The same is true if everything is overfished to collapse. Both scenarios were modeled as part of the Nature analysis.
"The 1998 paper was tremendously influential in gathering together global data on catches and trophic levels and it warned about fishing impacts on ecosystems," Branch says. "Our new data from trawl surveys and fisheries assessments now tell us that catches weren't enough. In the future we will need to focus our limited resources on tracking trends in species that are especially vulnerable to fishing and developing indicators that reflect fish abundance, biodiversity and marine ecosystem health. Only through such efforts can we reliably assess human impacts on marine ecosystems."
"In this paper we conducted the first large-scale test of whether changes in the average trophic levels of what is caught are a good indicator of ecosystem status," says Beth Fulton, a co-author and ecosystem modeler with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia. "Catch data might be easiest to get, but that doesn't help if what it tells us is wrong. Instead we really need to look directly at what the ecosystems are doing."
Other co-authors are Reg Watson and Grace Pablico, University of British Columbia; Simon Jennings, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and University of East Anglia, England; Carey McGilliard, University of Washington; Daniel Ricard, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Sean Tracey, University of Tasmania, Australia.
The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. It used data from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis working group, used the stock assessment database funded by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and used data from the Sea Around Us project funded by Pew Charitable Trust.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Washington.
Journal References:
1. Trevor A. Branch, Reg Watson, Elizabeth A. Fulton, Simon Jennings, Carey R. McGilliard, Grace T. Pablico, Daniel Ricard, Sean R. Tracey. The trophic fingerprint of marine fisheries. Nature, 2010; 468 (7322): 431 DOI: 10.1038/nature09528
2. D. Pauly. Fishing Down Marine Food Webs. Science, 1998; 279 (5352): 860 DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5352.860
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101117141419.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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| | Re: Worldwide Fish Stocks Facing Extinction II
« Reply #44 on Dec 25, 2010, 11:27pm » | |
Growing Hypoxic Zones Reduce Habitat for Billfish and Tuna
![[image]](http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3257/1012221624027411604.jpg "[image]")
Samples of surface skin slime are taken from the Atlantic sailfish to determine gender. (Credit: NOAA)
ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2010) — Billfish and tuna, important commercial and recreational fish species, may be more vulnerable to fishing pressure because of shrinking habitat, according to a new study published by scientists from NOAA, The Billfish Foundation, and University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
An expanding zone of low oxygen, known as a hypoxic zone, in the Atlantic Ocean is encroaching upon these species' preferred oxygen-abundant habitat, forcing them into shallower waters where they are more likely to be caught.
During the study, published recently in the journal Fisheries Oceanography, scientists tagged 79 sailfish and blue marlin with satellite tracking devices in the western North Atlantic, off south Florida and the Caribbean; and eastern tropical Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa. The pop off archival satellite tags monitored horizontal and vertical movement patterns. Researchers confirmed that billfish prefer oxygen rich waters closer to the surface and will actively avoid waters low in oxygen.
While these hypoxic zones occur naturally in many areas of the world's tropical and equatorial oceans, scientists are concerned because these zones are expanding and occurring closer to the sea surface, and are expected to continue to grow as sea temperatures rise.
"The hypoxic zone off West Africa, which covers virtually all the equatorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean, is roughly the size of the continental United States, and it's growing," said Dr. Eric D. Prince, NOAA's Fisheries Service research fishery biologist. "With the current cycle of climate change and accelerated global warming, we expect the size of this zone to increase, further reducing the available habitat for these fish."
Less available habitat can lead to more fish being caught since the fish are concentrated near the surface. Higher catch rates from these areas may give the false appearance of more abundant fish stocks. The shrinking availability of habitat and resulting increases to catch rates are important factors for scientists to consider when doing population assessments.
Researchers forecast that climate change and its associated rise in ocean temperatures will further increase the expansion of hypoxic zones in the world's oceans. As water temperature increases, the amount of oxygen dissolved in water decreases, further squeezing billfish into dwindling available habitat and exposing them to even higher levels of exploitation.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Journal Reference:
1. Eric D. Prince, Jiangang Luo, C. Phillip Goodyear, John P. Hoolihan, Derke Snodgrass, Eric S. Orbesen, Joseph E. Serafy, Mauricio Ortiz and Michael J. Schirripa. Ocean scale hypoxia-based habitat compression of Atlantic istiophorid billfishes. Fisheries Oceanography, Volume 19, Issue 6 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2419.2010.00556
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101222162402.htm
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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