RICHMOND – Virginia watermen and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are asking Washington to approve emergency funding to help the struggling crab industry.

 Virginia Waterman's Association President Ken Smith is among those who've signed a joint letter to U.S. senators. In it, several groups urge immediate assistance to keep the industry afloat.

 Faced with near record low crab populations, Virginia and Maryland plan to reduce the female crab harvest by 34 percent.

 Watermen worry that will cut into their livelihood.

 Virginia and Maryland senators already are working to include emergency money for distressed fisheries nationally in a supplemental war appropriations bill now before Congress. – Forbes

SEATTLE – The famed Copper River brand was invented in Seattle 25 years ago--and 1,200 miles south of where the salmon are actually harvested. Wild, fresh, and organic, these king (aka Chinook) and sockeye breeds have become the marquee fish in a damaged market.

 Traditionally the first Alaskan salmon fishery to open each season, the Copper River run is prized for its high omega-3 oil content and lean, pink flesh -- the product of athletic, carnivorous fish returning home to spawn after years at sea.

 Price is no deterrent among affluent, health-conscious Seattle diners with "Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish" bumper stickers on their hybrids who've been raising their kids to avoid red meat and savor fishy brain food. 

 The cult of the Copper River salmon is now a conspicuous form of connoisseurship, like drinking the early bottles of Beaujolais nouveau flown over from France. We want the first and the best and the healthiest, and we're willing to pay for that privilege.

 But how green are those precious pink fillets? New awareness of "food miles" and greenhouse-gas emissions means that scientists are starting to measure the carbon footprint from fishing fleets' diesel engines, the factory processing on shore and sea, and—most important in the Copper River case—the air shipping of product from distant fisheries.

 "For seafood and out-of-season produce, 'fresh' often means 'air-flown,' which is 10 times more emission-intensive than transporting products by ship," according to the Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation. The California food service provider's advocacy arm is promoting local, organic food in its many institutional cafeterias nationwide.

 Helene York directs its Low Carbon Diet initiative, and says, "Transportation really matters when choosing a perishable consumer product, such as seafood."

 Other experts agree. Pablo Päster, an authority on carbon emissions with the Toronto-based environmental consulting group ClimateCheck, recently crunched a few numbers. He compared the carbon impact of transporting a Copper River king salmon (headed and gutted on shore to a weight of 25 pounds) the 1,738 miles from Cordova to Anchorage and on to Seattle, versus shipping it the same route. His conclusion: Delivery by air produces 57 times more CO2. In this sense, first is worst. – Seattle Weekly

The boats have been out on the water and the catch leaves much to be desired in the 2008 Louisiana spring shrimp season.

 Butch Schouest, a commercial fisherman from Cypremort Point, said this year’s season opener was one of the worst he has ever seen.

 “The shrimp are small, fuel is high and the prices at the factory are low,” he said. “I can see where we are gonna have to just shut down eventually.”

 As a marine biologist with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Paul Cooke has been on the front lines this week witnessing the season’s slow start.

 “I went down to Intercoastal City and practically the entire offshore fleet is at the dock,” he said. “Nobody is working down there.”

 Cooke hopes things get better as the season progresses and the weather warms up. He said this year’s developments have been issues that shrimpers have been dealing with for the past several years.

 “The price of shrimp goes in one direction and the price of fuel and other necessities that the fisherman need have continued moving in the opposite direction,” Cooke said. “A lot of these guys are having a very tough time.”

 The spring shrimp season usually closes the weekend before July 4.

 Cooke and Schouest are keeping their fingers crossed and remaining optimistic that conditions might improve.

 “As the rivers drop down and we get some good water, the bigger shrimp will move in from off shore,” Schouet said. “Possibly things will get better then.” – Daily Iberian, LA 

A Chinese restaurant has been criticized for keeping ornamental fish in a urinal.

 The restaurant in Changchun city has around 20 fancy carp in an over 12-foot-long trough in the men’s bathroom.
 
Experts have reportedly condemned the move saying it's harmful to the fish.

The restaurant says the fish are not in any danger and that the water is running and staff change the water at least twice a day and add oxygen into the water much like a regular fish tank.

The restaurant's owner adds the fish are just an attraction and not used in dishes.

Guests say they're surprised to see the fish swimming in the trough which has a sign saying, "Please urinate here" above it. – ABC2 News, MD