http://www.blueplanetsociety.org

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080107-AP ...

The very same article mentions that quality of Med BFT had fallen as their supply has fallen off; imports from America weren't even discussed.

That's because most of the BFT caught off the US are what we call "juvies." They are sold as sushi markets from San-Fran to New York but no, our grade of fish is too small and to lean for their grading system ... and are not considered sushi grade there.

Instead of $90 per pound, most US dockside prices are about $10 to 20; we're talking fish barely above the legal length limit, about 100 pounds. Auctions add a bunch of money to the dockside price but that's nowhere near our prize Japanese BFT.  

To me, the lesson learned is that we need to push our US sushi restaurants to not use juvenile tuna but use alternatives instead.  Yellow fin tuna and king mackerel are not endangered by any means.  Have you ever eaten Vermilion snapper raw?  It is not threatened in the least way ... and tastes like candy.  

Remember how we shamed the world into not eating swordfish?  Ah, it was a true success of the enviro movement.

Onward through the fog

And how are they supposed to figure out what the right sex is?  It is interesting that while these Adelies seem to be very up-tight over a difference in color, they have no problem with accepting same-sex couples as their neighbors.  Oppositely in our own species, that recent children's book about the well-documented pair of male penguins at, I think, the Central Park Zoo got banned by parents from many libraries and schools; but protesting positive representations of interracial love and "miscegenation," as though they would corrupt children, is fortunately no longer done (at least not openly).

It is also interesting how the excessive interest of certain people in the albino penguin and the albino alligators (bred and raised in captivity, apparently) illustrates two different behavioral traits in us.  In the case of the penguin, we like to stick up for those who are picked on.  In the case of the alligators, we like to collect what is considered rare, unusual and precious.  The same instinct exhibited by the alligator thieves is responsible for the mistreatment of very many wild animals.

As for the "beige lovers," their cheers for the albino penguin are sweet and well-intentioned, I guess.  But if they are actually going to put up serious money to rescue it, could they not be encouraged to do something a bit more practical with it, by way of penguin conservation?

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

As to the Navy's mid-frequency sonar testing, I think the Judge ruled a major decision that permanently closed some areas for training missions yet allowed some flexibility ... as long as a whale was not detected within about a half mile (which is too close I will admit). The ruling appears to apply to the lower West Coast, since San Diego has the largest submarine fleet there.

The case against mid-frequency testing was really documented in the Bahamas, however, and the effect of the ruling is not known there. Only time will tell if we have to fight for special deals to limit such sonar testing off places like Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Cape Cod. The East Coast is dominated by right whales, another truly endangered species. /sammie

Onward through the fog

It would be meaningful if irresponsible use of boating were showing signs of becoming un-cool.

Ideally, recreational boating in those waters should be powered only by rowing, paddling, punting or sail.  No propellers.

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

The numbers do not matter, do they.  Chickens, after all, are very very plentiful, and that just makes for so much more misery.

Twenty years ago or so, an epicure took me to lunch at a sushi restaurant, and insisted that I order some fish with "yellow" in the name: yellow fin, yellow tail, yellow belly, whatever.  I remember liking it well enough; and while I have eaten sushi only twice maybe since then, and certainly not yellow bodypart, I can understand how certain people might become aficionadoed, and slightly addicted.

Sammie,
if the activism of the NRDC got new regulations placed on the swordfish fishery, or on the marketing of swordfish in the US, and if that has resulted in increased numbers of swordfish, and older and larger individual swordfish, subsequently, then I agree, that is very good news, and it counts as an environmentalist victory.

But as I observed, the whole matter took place on the legal level, way above the heads of us people in the street with mouths in those heads, and so I consider the victory to be quite limited and temporary.

If there had been a true, first-rate victory, demand for bluefin tuna would not be such as it is right now that in certain markets it can fetch $90/pound.

So long as demand remains very high for one or another kind of wild caught fish, or at least so long as consumers are not seriously reconsidering what exactly they are demanding, then we environmentalists are not getting our job done.

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

In that regard, the baleen whales now present off the coast of Pakistan are not so very interesting.  But the river dolphins of Pakistan, and of other Asian countries, including the Baiji, the Chinese river dolphin, which may have gone extinct in the last couple of years, seem to represent very old lineages.

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

As to the albino penguin, this relates to cricket not rugby.

One Day (50 overs per side) cricket is played in coloured kit (in the 1980's New Zealand played in beige and brown), as is 20/20 cricket (20 overs per side). Test cricket (3 days or 5 days, unlimited overs) is played in a white kit.

And you thought baseball was comlicated?

Would not be surprised if they discover that the drop in manatee deaths is because there are fewer manatees floating in the giant blender.

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

I've had great success with Chinese restaurants and sharkfin soup in my area and now beyond. Everytime I pass one with it on the menu I pop in and have a word with the owner.

As they generally don't sell huge quantities of sharkfin soup they will normally take it off the menu if they think it will damage business in the long-term.

If they refuse, then a well placed poster normally does the trick.

'BIN THE FIN, IT'S A SIN!'