Video: Japan tuna sale sets price record

By Roland Buerk, BBC News, Tokyo 5 January 2011 A tuna has sold at auction for a record 32.49m yen in Tokyo, nearly $400,000 (£257,320). The fish was a blue fin, a variety prized for making the finest sushi. It was bought by a joint Japanese and Chinese bid. The first auction in January at […]

Video: On the trail of the men who hunt exotic shellfish and trade it illegally

By Karen Allen29 December 2010 The trade in exotic shellfish is part of a trade which is earning criminals some $70m a year. The smuggling of the giant sea snail – known as abalone – is being linked to the Chinese Triads and international drug gangs – who capture the fish from the deep and […]

Shark poachers hold chef Gordon Ramsay at gunpoint, douse him with petrol

[Desdemona has a new respect for Chef Ramsay. For more on the fishing mafia, see Sharkwater and SSCS Defending Sharks.] By WENN.COMLast Updated: January 3, 2011 3:56am Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was doused in gasoline and held at gunpoint as he tried to uncover the dark world of illegal shark fin trading for a new […]

US shark fin restrictions carry little weight in Hong Kong

By Staff WritersDec 26, 2010 Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 26, 2010 – The US Senate’s move to toughen laws on shark finning is unlikely to have much impact in Hong Kong, dubbed the “Grand Central Station” of the controversial trade, environmentalists say. The new legislation passed last week is aimed at protecting the ancient fish […]

Graph of the Day: Length of Four Fish Species on the Scotian Shelf, 1970-2002

There has been a decline in the size and condition in a number of groundfish species. There has been a reduction in the size of some groundfish species (e.g., haddock, cod, pollock, and silver hake) since the start of the time series in 1970. This decrease in size has been observed both on the Eastern […]

Shark finning continues despite EU ban, says report

By Mark Kinver, Science and environment reporter, BBC News 9 December 2010 Last updated at 04:53 ET Loopholes in EU regulations mean that illegal shark finning is continuing undetected, a report warns. Finning involves cutting off a shark’s fins and throwing the rest of the carcass back into the sea – a practice that the […]

Veron: The end is in sight for the world’s coral reefs

By Joe RommDecember 7, 2010 Reefs are the ocean’s canaries and we must hear their call. This call is not just for themselves, for the other great ecosystems of the ocean stand behind reefs like a row of dominoes. If coral reefs fail, the rest will follow in rapid succession, and the Sixth Mass Extinction […]

Scientists alarmed by worldwide spread of ‘black anoxic zones which belch up dead sea life’

James Cook UniversityNovember 30, 2010 Australian marine scientists have expressed disquiet over the continued worldwide spread of large, dead zones in the ocean. Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Associate Professor Mark McCormick of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies have recently published scientific articles, which raise concern about the impact of large areas […]

World running out of new places to fish: study

By Allan Dowd; editing by Peter GallowayThu Dec 2, 2010 5:50pm EST VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The world’s fishing industry is fast running out of new ocean fishing grounds to exploit as it depletes existing areas through unsustainable harvesting practices, according to a study published Thursday. Expansion into unexploited fishing grounds allowed global catches to increase […]

Bluefin tuna gets scant relief at fisheries meet

By Staff WritersNov 27, 2010 Paris (AFP) – Fishing nations opted Saturday to leave catch limits for eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna virtually unchanged despite concerns that the species is perilously close to collapse. Annual quotas for the sushi mainstay will be trimmed from 13,500 tonnes this year to 12,900 tonnes in 2011, the 48-member International […]

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