ABSTRACT: Adequate conservation and management of shark populations is becoming increasingly important on a global scale, especially because many species are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing. Yet, reported catch statistics for sharks are incomplete, and mortality estimates have not been available for sharks as a group. Here, the global catch and mortality of sharks from reported […]
By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press28 February 2013 TOKYO (AP) – It is the king of sushi, one of the most expensive fish in the world – and dwindling so rapidly that some fear it could vanish from restaurant menus within a generation. Yet there is little alarm in Japan, the country that consumes about 80 […]
By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent, BBC News1 March 2013 (BBC) – The most accurate assessment to date of the impact of commercial fishing on sharks suggests around 100 million are being killed each year. The researchers say that this rate of exploitation is far too high, especially for a species which reproduces later in life. […]
How much would the sea level fall if every ship were removed all at once from the Earth’s waters? – Michael Toje About six microns—slightly more than the diameter of a strand of spider silk. […] Sea levels will likely rise a few feet by the year 2100. Current fish wet biomass is about 2 […]
18 February 2013 (Reuters) – A new United Nations plan to involve all nations in marshalling science to fix environmental problems ranging from toxic chemicals to climate change will be put to the test from Monday at talks in Nairobi. The 40-year-old U.N. Environment Programme will open its annual governing council to all the world’s […]
By JESS BIDGOOD15 February 2013 GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts (The New York Times) – B. G. Brown, a second-generation fisherman who chases cod and haddock from this port city, spent a recent morning rigging up his 31-foot commercial vessel to be manned alone. He had just lost his only crew member to the more lucrative lobster fishery, […]
By David Ariosto, CNN31 January 2013 (CNN) – An old wooden carving known as “the Sacred Cod” hangs in the Massachusetts State House. That figurine has stared down at lawmakers for more than two centuries as a reminder of how important cod fishing has been to New England, where generations have made a living by […]
By Ned Potter5 January 2013 (ABC News) – The narwhal, a kind of Arctic whale, has been called “the unicorn of the sea” because of the long, straight, often spiraling tusk that males of the species can grow. It is illegal to import the tusks into the United States because narwhals are listed by the […]
By MALCOLM FOSTER4 January 2013 TOKYO (Associated Press) – A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year. In the year’s first auction at Tokyo’s sprawling Tsukiji fish market, a 222-kilogram (489-pound) tuna caught off northeastern Japan sold for 155.4 million […]
Hong Kong, 3 January 2013 (AFP) – Hong Kong conservationists expressed outrage Thursday after images emerged of a factory rooftop covered in thousands of freshly sliced shark fins, as they called for curbs on the “barbaric” trade. The southern Chinese city is one of the world’s biggest markets for shark fins, which are used to […]
