Trends in marine fishery catches as a function of fish diversity. (A) Trajectories of fish and invertebrate collapses (i.e., falling below 10% of maximum historical harvest) over the last 50 yr (♦=collapses by year, ▲=cumulative collapses). Data are shown for all (black), species-poor (<500 species, blue) and species-rich (>500 species, red) Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). […]
By Guy Dinmore Like bovine torpedoes, a trapped shoal of bluefin tuna, some two metres long, swirl in ever decreasing circles within the “chamber of death” as an intricate maze of nets closes around them. The signal is given and the mattanza – slaughter – begins. Two dozen Italian fishermen on longboats haul the final […]
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday. More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection […]
By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Millions of sockeye salmon have disappeared mysteriously from a river on Canada’s Pacific Coast that was once known as the world’s most fertile spawning ground for sockeye. Up to 10.6 million bright-red sockeye salmon were expected to return to spawn this summer on the Fraser River, which empties […]
Thousands of suffocating fish have been spotted dying off a British beauty spot where the sea has been turned red by what experts believe could be a rare killer bloom of toxic algae. Warnings have been issued around St Austell Bay, Cornwall, where the mysterious rusty brown seas threaten to poison bathers, infect food and […]
by Richard Harris Scientists say the world’s coral reefs could go extinct during our children’s lifetimes. Human activities are putting this beautiful ecosystem at risk. Some risks are obvious — such as global warming, which results in overheated seas. Others are more subtle. Consider the case of the damselfish: Looking off the coast from the […]
The eastern seaboard’s longest continuous shark-targeted survey (UNC), conducted annually since 1972 off North Carolina, demonstrates sufficiently large declines in great sharks to imply their likely functional elimination. Declines in seven species range from 87% for sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus); 93% for blacktip sharks (C. limbatus); up to 97% for tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier); 98% […]
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer ISLAMORADA, Fla. – Boat captain Tad Burke looks out over Florida Bay and sees an ecosystem that’s dying as politicians, land owners and environmentalists bicker. He’s been plying these waters for nearly 25 years, and has seen the declines in shrimp and lobster that use the bay as a […]
By MARY PEMBERTON (AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon — long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they’re mostly empty. The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon. One […]
This graph presents only seafood caught by fisheries. Overall per capita seafood (or aquatic products, including freshwater fishes and invertebrates) therefore, will be maintained only if aquaculture picks up the slack. Pauly, D., Lectures to the 2003 class of the United Nations University Fisheries Training Program, Institute of Marine Research, Reykjavik, December 15-19, 2002 Technorati […]
