Monday, February 4, 2008PENSIVE
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Pirate tuna, but ‘dolphin safe’
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Local Costa Rican fishermen blew the whistle against a purse seine vessel that was illegally fishing inside the marine area of Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica, by reporting the incident to officers of the Ministry of Environment (MINAE) and the local coastguard.
The Panama Flagged ship "Tiuna", was caught 9.5 miles away of the island, which is supposed to enjoy a 12 mile no take zone, at the time of its capture. Officers reported the release of 12 tons of live tuna from the purse seine nets, and confiscated the 280 tons of tuna in its hold.
The illegal operation of purse seine tuna vessels inside Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the Eastern Tropical Pacific is not an isolated incident, as there have been similar recent reports in Galapagos (Ecuador) and Malpelo (Colombia). The problem is that local authorities lack resources to efficiently patrol their waters, a situation which tuna purse seiners take advantage of to poach officially protected marine resources.
Not lost on the fishing industry, tuna illegally caught in MPAs still qualifies for a "Dolphin Safe" certification, because the duty of Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) observers is only to report the dolphin kill, not other illegal activities. – Underwater Times
Business Toolbox: Retail
Philippines offers a seafood farmers market
MANILA, Philippines--OVER 30 years ago, a hardworking couple wanted to have a better source of income to be able to raise their five children.
The concept they created remains a popular one today that is patronized by people from all walks of life.
Milagro Cailles, called by her grandchildren as Lola Taba (because of her big size) was a fish vendor in the ‘70s. Husband Narciso, better known to his grandchildren as Lolo Pato (because he walks like a duck), was a former fireman employed by the Pasay City government.
With five children to raise, they knew they had to think of other ways to earn more than from their jobs. They rented a piece of property in Baclaran in 1974 to use for business. Being in the fish trade, Milagro had many friends peddling seafood in the area so she invited them to lease stalls in their rented property, which she and her husband called “Seaside.”
Some tenants sold seafood, while the others put up carinderias. Soon, Seaside became a venue where one may find both a wet market for affordable, fresh seafood and eateries.
Customers themselves helped evolve the now popular concept of paluto -- the shoppers would then buy fish and seafood from the vendors and ask the food stalls to cook these.
The concept remains basically the same today except that now, instead of carinderias, you find restaurants doing the cooking in the manner the diners want. The Seaside group now has four branches and plans to open one this year. – Philippine Daily Inquirer
Business Toolbox: Farmed fish
Water from coal mine to produce salmon
CHARLESTON, W.V. – A Virginia company has acquired majority ownership of a southern West Virginia fish farm, and it has announced it is switching the fish from arctic char to salmon and trout.
The West Virginia spring water at the farm runs from an old coal mine. It will allow them to farm pollutant-free salmon with minimal impact to the environment, according to Blue Ridge Aquaculture.
Blue Ridge Aquaculture, based in Martinsville, Va., plans to replace arctic char, a fish native to the Yukon, with salmon and trout. ..
The Martinsville, Va., corporation -- home of the largest indoor tilapia farm in the United States -- listed the West Virginia farm as one of its operations on its Web site late last week. A company statement said it "will continue operations at its current facilities to take advantage of its unique location and experienced work force."
"We hope to use the employees there," said Jim Franklin, vice president of Blue Ridge Aquaculture, in a telephone interview.
The fish farm had been named West Virginia Aqua LLC. That corporation, started by three coal-related companies -- W.W. McDonald Land Co., Dingess Rum Properties and International Industries -- lists coal operator Gary White as its organizer in state corporate filings. – Charleston Gazette, West Virginia
Russia's application for a caviar export quota makes nonsense of a commercial caviar harvesting ban intended to help the recovery of the decimated sturgeon populations of the Caspian Sea basin, World Wildlife Fund Russia has claimed.
"If the Government allows export, de-facto it allows commercial sturgeon fishing," says Alexey Vaisman, Senior Programme Officer for Europe-Russia for Traffic, the world wildlife trade monitoring network which is a joint programme of WWF and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Harvesting of Caspian Sea basin sturgeon fish, the source of caviar, was this year restricted to populating breeding farms and for the purposes of scientific research.
However, this year Russia has again declared an export quota to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Vaisman said last year was a good example of the confusion surrounding caviar. The government introduced a ban on domestic retail sales of caviar with obligatory destruction of all confiscated caviar.
“There was also a catch quota of 110 tonnes from which, at most, 12 tonnes of caviar can be extracted. However, the export quota equalled 20 tonnes of caviar,” Vaisman said.
WWF has called on the Russian government to withdraw its application for an export quota and put a moratorium on caviar exports for at least 5 years in order to help saving the threatened sturgeon populations.
According to scientific reports, Beluga sturgeon, Starry sturgeon and Russian sturgeon populations now almost entirely consist of fish spawning for the first time. “Legal and illegal caviar harvesting has eliminated virtually all spawning sturgeons,” Vaisman said.
Although sale of caviar is completely banned in Russia – including the sale of confiscated caviar and caviar from farms - it is still sold on markets and even in large supermarkets.
WWF-Russia is asking the citizens to stop buying illegal caviar and to call the Department of Economic Crimes when they find such a sale is taking place.
WWF is also advising citizens from other countries not to buy caviar from Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan as it belongs to the same depleted fish stock.
“If urgent measures are not taken now, sturgeons will become extinct in the region where they are most renowned”, said Vaisman. – World Wildlife Fund
Business Toolbox: Sustainability
Greens say Nyet to Russian caviar
Russia's application for a caviar export quota makes nonsense of a commercial caviar harvesting ban intended to help the recovery of the decimated sturgeon populations of the Caspian Sea basin, World Wildlife Fund Russia has claimed.
"If the Government allows export, de-facto it allows commercial sturgeon fishing," says Alexey Vaisman, Senior Programme Officer for Europe-Russia for Traffic, the world wildlife trade monitoring network which is a joint programme of WWF and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Harvesting of Caspian Sea basin sturgeon fish, the source of caviar, was this year restricted to populating breeding farms and for the purposes of scientific research.
However, this year Russia has again declared an export quota to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Vaisman said last year was a good example of the confusion surrounding caviar. The government introduced a ban on domestic retail sales of caviar with obligatory destruction of all confiscated caviar.
“There was also a catch quota of 110 tonnes from which, at most, 12 tonnes of caviar can be extracted. However, the export quota equalled 20 tonnes of caviar,” Vaisman said.
WWF has called on the Russian government to withdraw its application for an export quota and put a moratorium on caviar exports for at least 5 years in order to help saving the threatened sturgeon populations.
According to scientific reports, Beluga sturgeon, Starry sturgeon and Russian sturgeon populations now almost entirely consist of fish spawning for the first time. “Legal and illegal caviar harvesting has eliminated virtually all spawning sturgeons,” Vaisman said.
Although sale of caviar is completely banned in Russia – including the sale of confiscated caviar and caviar from farms - it is still sold on markets and even in large supermarkets.
WWF-Russia is asking the citizens to stop buying illegal caviar and to call the Department of Economic Crimes when they find such a sale is taking place.
WWF is also advising citizens from other countries not to buy caviar from Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan as it belongs to the same depleted fish stock.
“If urgent measures are not taken now, sturgeons will become extinct in the region where they are most renowned”, said Vaisman. – World Wildlife Fund
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Business Toolbox: Your customers' health
Mercury: It’s not just at the fishmonger
A recent story in The New York Times reported that mercury in bluefin tuna sushi exceeded levels considered acceptable by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But New Yorkers living in Albany, Catskill or Glens Falls, have heard these types of warnings before.
The state Health Department has issued fish advisories warning women of childbearing age and children younger than 15 to avoid eating any fish caught in the Hudson River because of high levels of mercury and other pollutants.
Fish contaminated with mercury is not just a local problem. New Yorkers are warned not to eat most fish caught in the lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams in the Adirondacks and Catskills. The Health Department also warns that "fish from more than 130 water bodies in New York have contaminant levels that are greater than federal standards."
At least 40 other states have similar warnings. Mercury pollution is a problem not only in fish caught in the ocean and served in high-end restaurants, it is also a problem for fish caught on camping trips and weekend getaways.
So where is all this mercury pollution coming from? While pollution from sources outside New York are certainly to blame, we also need to consider facilities in-state, and make sure they do their part to curb their mercury pollution. It is estimated that as much as 21 percent of the mercury deposited in New York comes from in-state sources.
The nation's largest mercury polluters are coal-fired power plants, which belch more than 48 tons of mercury pollution a year. Only 1/70 of a teaspoon of mercury is needed to contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point where fish are unsafe to eat, according to a 1991 study published in Science News. – Albany Times Union, New York
Business Toolbox: Department of Diversification
Sounds absolutely delicious
The Bohol Chronicle in the Philippines published a checklist of what makes the Philippines the Philippines, including the foundation of cuisine, Bagoong:
“Darkly mysterious, this smelly fish or shrimp paste typifies the underlying theme of most ethnic foods: disgustingly unhygienic, unbearably stinky and simply irresistible.
Business Toolbox: Chesapeake
An Apollo Program for oysters?
Likening the effort to return a large oyster population to the Bay to that of putting a man on the moon, a Maryland advisory commission in January indicated that it would recommend a sharply different-and costly-restoration program.
The commission envisions a future in which the majority of the state's remaining oyster habitat would be set aside in large sanctuaries where oyster reefs would be built and "seeded" with billions of hatchery-reared spat.
Oyster harvests, meanwhile, will largely come from aquaculture, with oysters reared on privately held bottom land, or in floats placed in the water column. Harvests from public oyster grounds would be limited, if allowed at all.
Those actions could result in a "well-established and expanding" native oyster population over "significant" portions of historic oyster habitat within two decades, according to the vision set forth in the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission's interim report.
"I think all of the members realize that this is a critical time, and this may be our last chance to get it right for oysters in Maryland's part of the Bay," said Bill Eichbaum, chair of the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission. "I think people know that we may have to make some tough choices."
Oysters were once a key part of the Bay ecosystem, with vast numbers clearing the water by filtering algae and sediment. Their reefs offered habitat for clams, mussels, fish and a host of other species while also providing ideal conditions for underwater grass beds that often grew nearby.
Bay oysters were once a prized commodity. An average 2.5 million bushels were annually pulled out of Maryland's waters alone between 1920 and 1969.
But the introduction of diseases, overharvesting and loss of habitat have left oyster populations at 1 percent of their historic level. Oyster stocks have shown no major change since 1994, despite the investment of nearly $40 million in state and federal funds, the report said. Oyster reproduction has been below the 22-year average since 1998, with no significant Baywide spat set-baby oysters that settle on solid solid substrates-in Maryland since 1991. -- The Chesapeake Bay Journal, Pennsylvania
Business Toolbox: Conservation
To save the lonely, far-flying albatross
Albatross looking for a free meal on the high seas often pay the ultimate price of being drowned, injured or killed going after baited hooks.
Now, with numbers declining for the birds that can spend years at sea, fishing fleets around the world have agreed to use measures to prevent hooking albatross and other seabirds.
The measures -- which include using streamer lines to haze birds away from the stern of boats as miles of baited hooks are being set and dying bait blue to conceal it in dark water -- will go into effect this year in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
"Some of the most vulnerable seabird populations travel entire oceans in search of food," NOAA administrator Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher said. "Seabird conservation will require nations with longline fishing fleets to work together to adapt their fishing practices to avoid seabirds whenever they fish."
Albatross are particularly vulnerable to being hooked on longlines used to catch tuna, swordfish and other ocean fish. Their long search for food that takes them across international waters makes it imperative that the community of nations with longline fishing fleets abide by certain practices, NOAA officials say.
The measures agreed on by several commissions that govern high-seas fishing require fleets from more than 30 nations to use certain practices to avoid killing the birds. The practices will vary depending upon what works best and where, said Kim Rivera, national seabird coordinator for NOAA Fisheries' Alaska region office in Juneau.
"You have birds that are attracted to the fishing vessels because they see it as a feeding opportunity. The birds congregate there. They see it as a free meal," Rivera said. "They clue in on the baited hook and go after it."
The measures go into effect this year in the Atlantic, with a longer phase-in period in the Pacific. Nations with large fleets that have agreed to the measures include Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
Techniques that could be used for tuna and swordfish in the Atlantic include fishing at night when birds are less active, weighting fishing lines so the baited hooks sink more quickly and using long streamers.
"Those streamers whip around and basically scare the birds away," Rivera said.
Similar techniques will be used in the Pacific, with some longliners required to fish at night and others being prohibited from discharging fish waste at the same time as baited hooks are being set.
"There is really no one single measure that works 100 percent of the time," Rivera said.
In Antarctica, where the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources became the first international organization to require the measures, as many as 6,000 albatross a year were being incidentally caught in the late 1990s. – Associated Press
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Business Toolbox: Your supply
Chesapeake blue crab catch dismal
Last year's catch of blue crabs from Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay was the second-lowest on record, as environmental damage, drought and past overfishing helped drive down the state's most valuable seafood harvest.
About 21.8 million pounds of blue crab was taken by watermen during the April-to-December season, officials at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said. That was about 6 million pounds less than in the previous year and not much more than the all-time low, 20.2 million pounds in 2000.
"We're concerned about the health of the blue crab fishery and about the health of the blue crab itself," said Lynn Fegley, a fisheries biologist who oversees blue crab programs at the department. The "fishery," in this case, means the industry that depends on the crabs.
In response, Natural Resources officials said Maryland would soon begin seeking comment from watermen, scientists and other government agencies about the possibility of altering harvest rules.
The bay's blue crab population has been at low levels for about a decade. In Virginia last month, state regulators proposed regulations aimed at cutting back that state's harvest from the bay.
Among the problems confronting the crab population: Pollution creates "dead zones," where the shellfish struggle to breathe. Warm weather has contributed to die-offs of underwater grasses that crabs use as nurseries. And for years, scientists have said watermen were taking too much of the bay's crab population.
Last year's harvest was also affected by the weather, officials said. A summer drought caused the bay to become saltier, which sent blue crabs fleeing upstream in bay tributaries or north toward the head of the Chesapeake. – Washington Post
Business Toolbox: Comparison shopping
Here's what's selling in Taipei
With the Lunar New Year, there was a rush on purchasing side food items at traditional retail markets to prepare for grand New Year's eve meals, as well as the more pricey ingredients that consumers wouldn't usually buy, according to market sources.
But prices for some occasional vegetable and fishery products surged significantly, due mainly to stronger market demand than usual.
For instance, the price for white pomfret fish hit a high of NT$1,000 per kilogram ($14.62 a pound). – China Post, Taiwan
Business Toolbox: Sustainability I
Bluefin tuna boycott grows?
As more and more major European retailers boycott Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna, the World Wildlife Fund used the occasion of the Barcelona Seafood Summit to call on more to join the ban until the imperilled species is out of the danger zone.
France's Auchan group, with a nearly 14 per cent share of the retail fish trade, declared its boycott on 28 Dec., noting that scientists had advised a 15,000 tonne ceiling on annual catches, while the international tuna management body was allowing a 2008 quota of 29,500 tonnes. – World Wildlife Fund
Business Toolbox: Sustainability II
Some Greens see Wal-Mart as opportunity
Former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach once referred to Wal-Mart as "a virus, infecting and destroying American culture." Now he's an environmental consultant to billionaire Sam Walton's steamroller of sprawl, and you're more likely to hear him spouting the motto "Take sustainability to scale."
So why did the guy who created the club's nationwide Sierra Student Coalition go to work for a company whose annual revenues of more than $351 billion and some 3,500 U.S. stores make it the world's largest retailer?
Werbach says that by going big he can "focus on helping the companies that have the largest consumer impact."
The environmental community's challenge, he says, is to make the realities of global warming "intensely personal and important to the millions of people who don't live in coastal cities and towns." For Werbach, ground zero in that effort is Wal-Mart.
But Wal-Mart was sprouting signs of green even before it hired the iconic tree hugger.
In late 2005, CEO Lee Scott announced the corporation's goal "to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment." Since then, the company has made strides even a wary environmentalist would find encouraging.
The company, which recently changed its slogan from "Always low prices" to "Save money. Live better," doesn't intend to lose any potential sales as it goes green.
One electronics company, for example, was willing to package even its high-end accessories in inexpensive, highly recyclable cardboard instead of plastic "blister packs."
Fearing a loss of sales if shoppers couldn't immediately see a difference between basic and premium products, Wal-Mart hammered out a compromise in which plastic packaging was reduced by two-thirds -- but not totally eliminated.
Such big-business compromises may keep some green customers from racing to the nearest exurban mall. For its part, the Sierra Club sponsors Wal-Mart Watch, whose goal is "to challenge the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, to become a better employer, neighbor, and corporate citizen." – Sierra Club
Business Toolbox: Thinking beyond the runway
Tired of selling fish? Try haute couture
A quick glance said that this was a typical fashion show. Cameras flashed, magazine editors air-kissed and fiddled with their BlackBerries, and models slinked sultry and slender down the runway. But the runway is where typical ended and innovative began.
This was FutureFashion, an eco-conscious fashion event started in 2005 by the environmental awareness organization Earth Pledge. The garments that graced the runway are at the forefront of an initiative to bring increased awareness to the ways in which the clothes we wear each day move from the farm to the manufacturer to the retail store to our bodies (and to wherever they end up when we are finished with them).
Top designers — Bottega Veneta, Stella McCartney, Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Versace and more — were asked to create one-of-a-kind creations using only sustainable materials.
The trusted eco-fabrics bamboo, hemp and organic cotton had starring roles, but they shared the catwalk with lesser-known natural materials like PLA (a polyester alternative made from corn), Lyocell (made from wood pulp cellulose) and abaca (a hemplike material made from the leaf stalks of a Philippine banana plant).
The range of materials that can be considered environmentally preferable is wonderful, from sea leather [made from commercial fish skin that would otherwise go to waste] to fine organic wovens, to new tech dying processes. – USA Today
Thursday, February 5, 2008
Business Toolbox: Your customers' health
Fish poisoning emerged from the Gulf
WASHINGTON — Several outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning have been confirmed in consumers who ate fish harvested in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.
The FDA said that fish such as grouper, snapper, amberjack and barracuda represent the most significant threat to consumers. They feed on fish that have eaten toxic marine algae.
The toxin is stable in the tissue of living fish and does them no harm. But larger carnivores have higher concentrations of the toxin in their tissues. As a result, the greatest risk of poisoning for humans comes from the largest fish.
Symptoms of ciguatera poisoning include nausea, vomiting, vertigo and joint pain. In the most serious cases, neurological problems can last for months or even years. Several outbreaks of the illness were confirmed in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, the FDA said. Overall, there have been at least 28 reported cases across the country, with the first case being reported in late November.
The fish linked to the illnesses were harvested near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, an area of 56 square miles in the northwestern Gulf. The FDA recommends that processors not purchase fish harvested near the sanctuary.
Ciguatera is common in fish living in tropical and subtropical regions, including the Caribbean Sea, the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. But the FDA has considered it rare for fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico to have the toxin.
The FDA warned processors to reassess their hazard control plans as necessary, and that failure to take proper precautions may cause products to be considered adulterated by the agency.
Consumers who think they may have ciguatera poisoning are encouraged to report their symptoms and what fish they ate to a doctor or local health department. – Associated Press
Business Toolbox: Purity
Chinese say products getting safer
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese farm products are getting safer, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday in a regular press conference, citing recent tests of vegetables, seafood and meat in major cities that showed more than 95 percent of products were up to standard.
The ministry sent teams to more than 30 cities during January to check chemical residues in vegetables and meat and contaminants in seafood.
About 95.4 percent of tested vegetables met the standards, 0.1 percentage point higher than at the end of last year and 2.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier, said the ministry.
Pork and chicken samples were found free of any drug residues in 21 cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Changsha, it said.
All the seafood that was tested was up to scratch when it came to chloramphenicol (an anti-microbial agent) contamination.
Tests for Malachite green, a cancer-causing chemical formerly used by fish farmers to kill parasites, found that 91.5 percent of food passed inspection, two percentage points higher than a year earlier, it said.
The proportion of seafood free of nitrofurans, an antibiotic that has been linked to cancer, was 5.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier, at 92.3 percent, it said.
The ministry has ordered local branches to tighten quality checks and push for standardization in the farm sector while helping farmers in snow disaster regions resume production. – China View
Business Toolbox: Imports
Peru following route of Chile
Peru seems to be following the lead of Chile as it gears up its agricultural and fish industries.
Aside from metals, with which Peru is blessed, seafood is finding a growing market in members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Two provinces – Ancash and Arequipa – report the bulk of exports.
During the assessed period, Ancash’s exports to APEC amounted to $2.91 billion, a 11.8 percent increase compared with 2006 when exports totaled 2.6 million.
Among the main products exported by Ancash to APEC member countries are minerals like copper, zinc, gold, molybdenum and lead. Other products are fish meal and oil, as well as frozen and fresh asparagus – a product that has significantly harmed U.S. farmers competing with Chile – and peas.
Arequipa’s exports reached $1.88 billion last year, representing a 240 percent rise in comparison with 2006’s $544 million.
APEC includes 21 countries, a market of 2.6 billion people and 56 percent of world’s GDP. – Living in Peru
Business Toolbox: Competition
The British are coming!
Tesco’s Fresh & Easy chain will threaten Kroger more than other US retailers, a new study by Nielsen has revealed.
The research company's latest Consumer Insight report – Retail Riot – Tesco, a giant in the U.K., has arrived in the US: a competitive retailer review – says Kroger stands to lose $6.7m a week to its new rival.
The findings are based on an analysis of the grocery stores near planned Tesco locations in the Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas markets.
But other chains are vulnerable too, says the report.
SuperValu, Safeway, Bashas and Wal-Mart are also represented in those four markets. Nielsen estimates their potential weekly losses at $4.4m, $4.0m, $2.4m and $1.5m.
How close US rivals' stores are to Tesco's Fresh & Easy branches will also impact trade, says Nielsen.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Business Toolbox: Pricing strategies
Selling fish like selling magazine subscription
When a holiday season neared, retailers around the world racked their brains for brilliant new gift ideas.
Japan, which boasts an advanced retail system, is noteworthy in this field. While Koreans prefer heavy boxes of meat and ribs for gifts, Japanese enjoy a somewhat more delicate gift culture.
For example, for Japan's great Buddhist festival of Obon (Aug. 15) last year, Mitsukoshi Department Store offered a special gift set in which customers could choose three items among sweets, cakes, jellies, puddings, and shrimp chips or smoked eel, seasonal fish, salmon roe and pollock roe.
The gift's delivery system was also remarkable. The "triple delivery" system allowed customers to pay once to have the gift delivered in three separate monthly installments, from July to September. Because the set contains seasonal fruits and fishes, recipients could enjoy a variety of foods each month.
Korea's gift-giving culture is showing signs of change. Hyundai Department Store last year offered a tailored gift set. The so-called "hamper set" allows customers to pick gift items for a basket pre-priced at W100,000 to W400,000.
The idea has received a favorable response. A Hyundai Department Store official said that hamper set sales grew by double digits this year, adding that customers are so satisfied with the set that few recipients ask to return or exchange it. – Chosun Ilbo, South Korea
Business Toolbox: Sustainability
British government begins buying green
Growing concern over sustainability could see traditional species such as cod and plaice disappear from government–sanctioned menus.
They are likely to be replaced by more ethically sourced seafood products including line-caught pollack, Cornish sardines and Scottish pot-caught langoustines.
But the British Food Standards Agency said it was unlikely to alter its current recommendations on the amount of fish people should eat. Experts are convinced that fish is a vital source of Omega 3, which guards against cancer, heart disease and helps boost brain power.
Announcing the review, Rosemary Hignett, the head of the Food Standards Agency's nutrition division, said it would consult the Government and environment and industry groups before making a final announcement. "We are aware that fish consumption and sustainability is a key issue for many consumers and current advice can be confusing," she said.
Celebrity chefs have already thrown their weight behind international efforts to promote sustainable stocks. A Greenpeace campaign launched last month to persuade food writers to drop endangered species from their recipes saw Heston Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Raymond Blanc and Tom Aikens sign up to the cause.
According to the most recent figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, more than half of all fisheries worldwide are being fished at, or beyond, their maximum biological capacity. A further 24 per cent are being over-exploited, depleted or are recovering from overfishing. -- Independent, UK
(The next three items appeared in our Fish Wrap service. The issue is vital to Alaska fishermen who work in the single largest sustainable fishery in the world.)
Business Toolbox: Exxon I
Our friends at Exxon doing quite well
Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company -- $40.6 billion -- as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at the end of the year.
By comparison, some 30,000 plaintiffs are now before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking $5 billion in damages from an Alaskan oil spill in 1989.
Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil had in 2006. – Anchorage Daily News
Business Toolbox: Exxon II
Alaska delegation supports Exxon lawsuit
The United States Supreme Court accepted an amicus brief authored by Alaska's Congressional Delegation in support of the plaintiffs in Exxon Shipping Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Grant Baker, et al.
In the brief, the delegation discusses the origins and legislative history of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the federal law that is central to the controversy. – SitNews, Ketchikan
Business Toolbox: Exxon III
State attorney generals follow suit
OLYMPIA – Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna announced that Washington will sign on to an amicus brief to support the commercial fishermen, seafood processors, tribes and others whose lives were impacted by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
McKenna is taking a lead role in encouraging other states to support the respondents in Exxon v. Baker, which will be argued in the United States Supreme Court this year. He and Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler co-signed a letter sent by e-mail to attorneys generals nationwide, encouraging them to sign onto the amicus brief being prepared by Maryland. – Washington Attorney General’s Office
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