We have to work on demand for bluefin tuna.  God knows what can be done about the Japanese.  But in Western centers of fine dining, we ought to be able to enlighten chefs, restaurateurs and customers on why bluefin is a very bad menu item.

On the Koreans flying flatfish to LA:
Clueless, if they think it makes sense, with regard both to GHG and particulate pollution from jets, and to animal welfare, to set up a new channel for distributing fresh fish from East Asia to tables in the eastern US.

On the ruined trout farm on the coast of Nova Scotia:
Fish farming can possibly be sustainable, and on balance less abusive of animals, if it is restricted to vegetarian species, or species that can be fed on a diet of invertebrates.  It is pathetic that the storm-battered trout were so shocked and bewildered that they could be picked up easily from the ocean's edge.

It is also sad that Canadian fisheries on the Atlantic are not better managed in general.  Greenpeace and the Humane Society of the United States have asked us all to pledge to boycott Canadian seafood, so long as the Canadian government promotes and protects the annual slaughter of juvenile harp seals.  We hope that that will soon have a good outcome.  Meanwhile, though, we cannot stop thinking with sympathy of the people who live in these quaint old fishing villages.  Beach Meadows and West Berlin, on the coast southwest of Halifax, are just two of many charming seaside towns, including the rather well-known Lunenburg.  It would be great if fishing could become less and less an important part of the livelihoods of their inhabitants.

On North Atlantic right whales and pollution:
It would be surprising if right whales were more affected by pollutants than other large baleen whales.  But of course in their case, every problem is much more critical than it would be with more populous species.

As it happens, though it is hardly big enough to figure in "This week in ocean news," my husband just adopted for me a female right whale named Calvin, through the North Atlantic Right Whale Research Program at the New England Aquarium in Boston.  So a big package of material on right whales came yesterday, which I have not yet got through.  I shall look out for references to pollution, and its effects on the whales' health.

On the harbor seal pup caught in the net of the Suquamish fisherman:
Being interested both in issues relating to Native Americans and in marine wildlife, I am of course troubled when the two respective sets of values come into conflict, and am fascinated by how this story is being covered.  It is not the sort of story we often see here on the East coast.  That the four bitter comments, of writers outraged at the reckless and cruel treatment of seals, at the bottom of the article were written by people with women's names might be meaningful.  Certainly it would be wrong to conclude that concern for the welfare of charismatic little mammals is only an issue of soft-headed girls (as the stereotype might go).

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/nyregionopinion ...

Greenberg likes the farmers' slogan, "No farms, no food."  But, he says, fishermen are hunters, and do not think like farmers, do not think of reseeding their crops.  A more effective slogan for them, he suggests, might be, "No fish, no fishermen."

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Sometimes a total ban is the only answer.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

So though the mechanism of how the pollution might be having this effect seems still to be uncertain, this Maine research group studying toxicity has at least pointed to an unusually high presence of chromium for the first time.

John Wise is quoted here as saying:

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"I don't see how you get levels this high in skin without breathing it in," Wise said. "The whales are close enough to shore that they're getting essentially urban air coming off land. They suck in a lot more air than we do, so we're thinking air pollution may be a bigger hazard than we ever thought about for whales."
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Not really surprising, because right whales famously come pretty close to land, and stay fairly long at the surface.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.