Monday, October 29, 2007PENSIVE
Canadian Seafood Producers Find New MarketsXPENSIVE
The soaring Canadian dollar has forced seafood producers to scramble to find new markets to replace millions of dollars in lost revenues.
The fishing industry is based heavily on the U.S. dollar, which has meant for troubling times as the Canadian dollar has gained strength.
Blaine Sullivan, an executive with St. John's-based Ocean Choice International, said fish processors have aggressively sought out new business in marketplaces that are not as sensitive to the fluctuating loonie.
"Exchange rate [has] to top the list" of problems, Sullivan told delegates Wednesday to a St. John's convention of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters trade association.
"In the past three or four years, we've had to find 10 to 15 per cent in our business each year to survive."
Colin Tippett, a director of New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture, said the impact of the dollar has been dramatic.
"So we said, 'OK, what do we buy or how do we get U.S. dollars flowing into our business at the same rate that we are selling in U.S. dollars?'" Tippett told the meeting.
Processors are focusing on trimming expenses, greater planning and more innovation.
But Bill Broderick, the inshore director of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, said such changes will do little to help individual fishermen, who have to sell their product no matter the value of the dollar.
The FFAW — which represents 20,000 workers in Newfoundland and Labrador, mostly in the fishing industry — would like to see the creation of a fish marketing board or agency that would direct products to markets that can guarantee a high price.
"Collectively, there's enough of them out there that don't know what they're doing or don't care that we got a problem," Broderick said.
"There's a role for government here. We can't let this thing go down the tubes."
Tippett rejected the idea of a marketing board, which processors say would kill entrepreneurial spirit.
The FFAW, though, says that the harvesting sector has lost about $70 million in the past few years, simply because of fluctuations in currency. – Canadian Broadcasting Corp
Schools of Chum Salmon Charge Through Town
OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Kennedy Creek estuary at low tide is a quiet place — until small schools of chum salmon blow into town.
The chums — some of them longer than your leg — ghosted into the creek at about noon from the big schools milling around Totten Inlet.
The salmon pushed a big bow wave with their toothy heads as their tails thrashed the shallow water to a froth. The fish hydroplane across the shallows — sometimes most of their body is out of water as they skim over the gravel.
The chum slowed and rested when they reached deeper water, but most of the fish kept pushing, pushing, pushing toward the upstream spawning beds, which start less than a mile from saltwater. The resting fish worked their jaws — they looked like dangerous machines — as they pumped water through their oxygen-starved gills.
But they didn't rest for long. They can smell that spawning gravel upstream — so close now after thousands of miles of swimming through the Gulf of Alaska, the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound.
The chum swam right by the noontime crew of anglers. One angler stepped out of the way as three chums rocketed right toward his feet. One of the fish actually swam between the angler's legs.
Anglers hooked a few of the fresh fish and started long battles against the hardest-fighting Pacific salmon.
Chums don't know how to quit.
Hooked chums shake their heads and thrash around. Then they run off some line — and turn their thick bodies sideways to the rod pressure. You can bend a rod double, and chums will just keep swimming and pulling — and sometimes breaking that rod.
One angler landed a chum that broke him off that very morning.
I'm there to test-drive new flies — chartreuse-and-pink egg flies suspended under a foam strike indicator.
Chum — like most salmon and trout — snap at eggs during spawning runs, and all South Sound anglers know that chartreuse drives chum nuts.
Salmon don't eat during their spawning runs. They're too busy getting to the gravel where they were born a few years ago, fighting for mates, spawning — and dying.
But salmon also get very aggressive and territorial during this time, so they snap at things that invade their space.
Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out which lure or fly makes salmon cranky and snappy, but chums are usually mad at just about everything.
On Thursday, anglers drifted chartreuse Corkies and yarn right in front of chums, and the fish slammed the lures. One chum chased my bright little egg fly as it drifted downstream out of a deep slot along the bank.
The fish snapped up the fly and turned to get back into the deeper water — so it hooked itself. The fish — a small male — fought hard, but it wasn't nearly as long as your leg.
I slid the fish into shallow water and eased the barbless hook of my egg fly out of its mouth.
The chum shook his head and jabbed my left forefinger with one of his long, sharp teeth before swimming away.
Two other fish roared on by and spray from their tails peppered my waders.
I didn't want to leave. – The Olympian, Wash.
Dude Food: Eat Your Fish
A guy’s gotta eat, right? But what you eat could make a difference in your overall health. Below are the top foods every guy should include in his daily diet. Many of them can be incorporated in simple recipes.
Fruits and vegetables: According to the National Cancer Institute, men should eat nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day. That’s five servings of vegetables and four servings of fruit. What’s a serving? A 6-ounce glass of fruit or vegetable juice, which is about the size of a small foam cup, counts. So does a medium-size orange, banana or apple. One cup of salad greens, about the size of your fist or a baseball, is considered a serving. In addition, foods rich in magnesium, like beets, dates, raisins and soybeans, keep your bowels moving.
Fiber: The American Heart Association recommends eating food fiber sources, which help lower cholesterol and aid the digestive system. Fiber may also reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes. It is suggested men eat about 30 grams of fiber a day. Some suggested fiber foods include apples (with skin), oatmeal, whole-wheat bread and beans.
Food rich in folate : Eating leafy green vegetables and spinach can help boost your immune system. Spinach is full of folate and vitamins A and C. Folate foods may also help in avoiding memory loss and preventing Alzheimer’s.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, which is an antioxidant believed to help lower the risk of heart attacks and some cancers. And the best thing? You can get a good dose of tomatoes by drinking juices, such as V8, and eating tomato sauce.
Nuts: Nuts provide a good source of protein. And some nuts, such as almonds, are packed with other nutrients like calcium. According to the Mayo Clinic, almonds have more calcium than any other nut.
Fish: Although there has been a lot of conflicting information about fish, it is still one of the best foods for low-fat protein and omega-3s, which are good for your heart. Salmon is a good source of omega-3s and fatty acids.
8 glasses of water : While there has been some debate about whether you really need eight glasses of water a day, there is no doubt that drinking water helps flush the body and keeps things moving on the inside, as well as hydrate the skin.
Milk: A glass of milk a day is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. In addition, some studies have shown that adding milk and other dairy items to your diet can help aid in weight loss.
Berries : Berries such as blueberries, blackberries and cranberries contain antioxidants, which help protect against heart disease and cancer. They are also believed to slow aging. - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Ind.
A Crisis on the Other Coast
As President Bush travels to parts of Southern California today to assess the damage wrought by wildfires there, he is being implored by politicians on the opposite side of the country to take a definitive stand on another natural-borne disaster: the intensifying water crisis in the South.
Since late September, politicians in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama have been fighting with each other and with two key federal agencies—the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—over how to share a critical water source, used by all three states, that is now rapidly shrinking in the face of a continued, historic drought. Georgia officials have predicted that Atlanta's supply of drinking water could be imperiled, if not exhausted, by the end of the year.
Now, in the absence of a resolution or even signs of tangible progress, and as the crisis continues to deepen, the states are pleading their cases to the president.
On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist sent a letter to President Bush asking him to reject the request that was made by the state of Georgia last Saturday. Georgia officials have asked the White House to issue an executive order to "suspend environmental laws" that protect the habitats of three aquatic species living in Georgia and Florida.
The suspension of environmental laws, Georgia officials say, is necessary to put the brakes on what they see as the main cause of the current water debacle. The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the reservoir at Lake Lanier, is required to comply with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which mandates federal protection for the habitats of endangered species. To uphold the law as well as to keep power plants in Alabama up and running the Corps of Engineers for the past several months has been releasing water from Lake Lanier at a rate vastly in excess of its rate of replenishment.
The net effect, Georgia officials contend, is that Lake Lanier is dropping alarmingly fast and, moreover, putting the water supply of the region in jeopardy. "The corps is sending 3.2 billion gallons of water downstream out of [the] Georgia reservoir every day," Perdue said in a news conference on Saturday. "That's enough to fill three and a half Olympic-size swimming pools every minute." He also called the corps' actions "irresponsible" and "dangerous."
The corps has rejected the governor's claims of impending calamity, saying that even if the region does go without rain for the next six months, there will still be water from the lake to support the needs of both people and industry. Accomplishing that feat, the corps admits, would require that it dip into the reservoir's conservation pool. Hydrology experts caution that such water is often dirtier and in need of greater treatment.
Perdue, a Republican, has been joined in his missive-writing this week by the state's two U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, also both Republican, who sent their own letter to the president on Wednesday. The letter, signed by the entire Georgia congressional delegation, praised Perdue's efforts and expressed support for his request that the president "implement exemptions to the Endangered Species Act."
Officials in Florida and Alabama, however, disagree vehemently with the solution that Georgia has proposed. In addition to questioning its legality, they contend that it would sacrifice the economic and social interests of the region while selfishly preserving those of Georgia, and more specifically, of Atlanta.
In his letter to President Bush, Crist wrote that Georgia's request for a special suspension of the Endangered Species Act, if granted, would "withhold water needed in Florida's Apalachicola River and would have serious adverse effects on the River and Apalachicola Bay." The extended impact, he continued, would be a "profound disruption" of the Florida panhandle and the Apalachicola region, which currently runs a $200 million annual commercial fishing industry.
In an Atlanta-Journal Constitution op-ed on Thursday, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley echoed Crist's remarks. "We cannot stand by and watch Georgia make a claim on the water in those reservoirs as if it belonged only to Atlanta," he wrote. "Downstream communities in Alabama and Georgia depend on the releases from those reservoirs to meet drinking water needs in times of drought as well as to support industry."
Without continued flows, Riley continued, "industries will be forced to shut down, and thousands of Georgia and Alabama families will lose their income."
Both Riley and Crist have signaled that they are interested in pursuing discussions with the state of Georgia to find an interim compromise. Georgia, however, has charted a more aggressive course in the past two weeks, first with a suit against the Corps of Engineers, filed last week, and more recently with its appeal to the President.
The Bush administration, for its part, has not vocally endorsed any position or state, although recent actions suggest that Georgia's appeal has been well received. According to a statement by White House spokesperson Dana Perino last weekend, the administration has been in touch with the Corps of Engineers about "drafting interim rules...to address the endangered species requirement." Perino also said that the agency is in the process of "revising the operations manual for the river basin." - U.S. News & World Report, DC
Bait Fish Now Hot Fish
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Sunset Harbor Seafood’s cooler is a glistening display of fresh fish: fat sea trouts, red drums as long as a man’s arm, and a flounder on which you could platter a turkey. Assembled at the profusion’s rear are a few barely noticeable striped mullets, what many anglers consider bait fish. Yet, these lowly swimmers are the buzz at the Brunswick County market this Saturday afternoon.
“What ya cookin’?” Billy Nicholson yells, pulling up in golf cart near the grill, where seafood house owner Dave Beresoff is stationed in an aromatic fog. “I can smell them all the way down the road.”
Beresoff answers with a knowing nod. Both men are well acquainted with the smokey scent of unscaled mullet filets cooking skinside down over hot coals. It’s an old-fashioned dish locals up and down the Carolina coast call “charcoal mullet.
Long before fried flounder become coastal Carolina’s seafood-menu darling, there was striped mullet, a medium-sized, meaty fish with rich flavor.
Native Americans were roasting mullet when Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1584 reconnaissance party landed on Roanoke Island.
Mullets were so abundant and popular along the state’s shore in the 1800s that the 96-mile-long Atlantic and North Carolina railroad, built in 1858, between Morehead City and Goldsboro was nicknamed the Mullet Line because it carried so many of the fish.
“Wonderful, nutty flavor”
Every fall, when striped mullets began their weather-triggered movements known as “mullet blows,” inland farmers rushed to the coast to become commercial fishermen, according to a report from N.C. Sea Grant. They knew autumn cold fronts combined with chilly northeast winds would set off massive mullet migrations southward. The men set up seaside camps, where they stayed until they had netted hundreds or thousands of barrels of fish before the season ended in late November or early December.
Before refrigeration, much of the mullet haul was salted and transported out of state. Tiny Portsmouth Island, on the Outer Banks’ southern tip, was noted for particularly fine salted mullets, and the fish’s roe, liver and gizzards also were prized, especially by fishing families, who sustained life on spots and striped mullets, N.C. maritime heritage tourism officer Connie Mason, of Morehead City, says.
“Before Charlie The Tuna became the chicken of the sea, the mullet was the chicken of the sea,” she says.
Coastal Carolinians love the striped mullet, preferring it stewed, pan-fried or cooked over hot coals.
“Charcoal mullet is a thing of great pride,” Mason says. The fish, he explains, must be filleted but not scaled, lightly seasoned and grilled scale-side-down over ample heat just long enough to cook but not dry out the flesh. Some North Carolinians skewer drawn mullets lengthwise on long sticks, even rebar, then insert the skewers’ bare ends into the ground, teepee style, around a fire so that the fish extend over the hot coals.
Either way, the result is a delicious, juicy, firm-fleshed filet.
Hearty and heart-healthy
The flavor comes in part from that layer of white fat cursed by gourmets but praised by locals. It keeps the mullet’s flesh moist during grilling and seasons the fish as the melting fat drips onto the hot coals.
“Some people will get mad if you try to cut the fat off,” says Beresoff’s wife Lisa, who manages Sunset Harbor Seafood and filets lots of striped mullet in fall.
And now, with recent research showing the many health benefits of fish oils, the fat may become more palatable to diners who have snubbed mullet.
Four ounces of striped mullet contain 534 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, according to nutritiondata.com. Besides heart-health claims, omega-3s are said to lower triglycerides, reduce blood pressure, improve mood and aid joint health. - Wilmington Morning Star, NC
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
New Purchasing Policy for Farmed ShrimpXPENSIVE
Wegmans Food Markets and Environmental Defense have announced a purchasing policy for farmed shrimp.
Wegmans will be rolling out shrimp purchased under this policy in all of its 71 stores. The policy, according to Wegmans, sets a new bar for the seafood industry and other U.S. retailers.
The new purchasing standards require farmed shrimp producers to eliminate the use of antibiotics and other chemicals, avoid damaging sensitive habitats, treat their wastewater and reduce the use of wild fish to feed shrimp. Suppliers will be able to demonstrate their compliance with these standards by meeting aggressive performance targets and implementing an auditing and reporting system to monitor progress.
“Companies like Wegmans have the market clout to transform their supplier’s environmental practices. With these new purchasing standards, we’ve raised the bar for farmed shrimp production while continuing to provide a healthy seafood option for Wegmans’ customers,” said Gwen Ruta, Environmental Defense’s Director of Corporate Partnerships. “Now it’s time for other large seafood buyers to flex their purchasing muscle and make the same improvements in their supply chain.”
Wegmans and Environmental Defense developed this purchasing policy in cooperation with Wegmans’ farmed shrimp supplier. The policy requires that suppliers immediately meet at least nine of the purchasing standards, including strict standards for levels of PCBs and other contaminants, and comply with local laws. Suppliers must meet all 12 standards within one year. - Environmental Leader, CO
Fish Creates Brainy Kids
Eating recommended amounts of oily fish and seafood during pregnancy could boost the brain of your kids, says a new study.
Jean Golding and researchers of Bristol University and the US National Institute of Health questioned 11,875 women on their fish and seafood consumption during pregnancy.
Children, whose mothers ate lots of fish while pregnant, had better communication and social skills at the age of seven, reported the online edition of BBC News.
The researchers looked at social and communication skills, hand-eye coordination and the total IQ in the children up to the age of eight years. Socio-economic factors were also taken into account.
Eating less than 12oz (340gm) of fish and seafood a week was associated with a 48 per cent increased risk of children being in the lowest group for verbal intelligence, researchers said.
Low fish and seafood intake during pregnancy was also associated with increased risk of poorer behavior, motor, communication and social development scores, said the study published in British medical journal The Lancet.
The oily fish — a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids — that women should eat include salmon, mackerel, pilchards and sardines.
But the Food Standards Agency, which advises that pregnant women should eat one or two portions of oily fish a week, warns against eating certain types of fish likes shark, marlin or lots of tuna because of the risks to the developing fetus associated with mercury. – Hindustan Times, India
Report Blasts Chile Salmon Industry
More than 50 salmon industry workers have died in Chile since 2005.
The environmental NGO Ecoceanos this week released a scathing report on Chile’s $2.2 billion farmed salmon industry, the world’s second largest after Norway. “X-Ray of the Chilean Salmon Industry,” which details the industry’s shoddy labor and environmental record, will be distributed later this week to the Chilean and Norwegian embassies in Washington D.C.
The 40-page document, based on information collected from government and union sources, notes that 52 salmon industry workers have died in Chile since 2005. Norway, by contrast, has not registered a single industry death since 2000.
Twelve of those deaths involved divers, thousands of which work for the industry maintaining net systems or retrieving dead fish from the bottom of pens. In fact, around the island of Chiloé (Region X), three divers have perished in just the past three months. The most recent industry casualty, 25-year-old Victor Lemus Contreras, died just 10 days ago (ST, Oct. 19).
Diving is a particularly dangerous job, as divers can easily get caught up in netting and drown. They also risk developing Acute Decompression Illness, also known as “the bends,” a potentially fatal condition that occurs when divers ascend too rapidly and/frequently. Some divers have even been attacked by sea lions, which tend to collect around salmon farms.
Ecoceanos is one of several NGOs participating in the Washington, D.C.-based Pure Salmon Campaign, which looks to pressure salmon farmers into employing more sustainable, environmentally friendly and safer production practices. The Pure Salmon Campaign is not, at this point, calling for a boycott of Chilean salmon products.
This is certainly not the first time Chile’s booming salmon industry has come under fire. Critics have complained for years that the industry, while no doubt a short-term commercial success, is nevertheless a ticking environmental time bomb.
Chile’s Region X, where the bulk of the country’s salmon is farmed, is saturated, say environmentalists. Huge concentrations of farmed fish mean huge concentrations of waste – both in terms of feces, and uneaten fish food that collects on the ocean floor. The over-concentration of such organic materials has created dead zones in the bays, estuaries and fjords that house Chile’s countless fish farms.
Another problem is that it takes fish to make fish. Salmon are carnivorous by nature. As such, they are fed pellets derived from other types of fish. According to some studies, it takes between five and 10 kilos of wild fish to produce one kilo of farmed salmon. Chile, in other words, is sacrificing its native fish stocks for the sake of salmon, say industry opponents.
“It’s a vital contradiction,” said economist Francisco Pinto of the environmental policy group Fundación Terram. “The idea behind aquaculture is to produce more food, to make more food available on a global level. It’s like an answer to the problem of world food shortages. But salmon producers are doing the opposite. It’s not just sustainable.” – Santiago Times, Chile
Toss Out Old Rules, Pair Red Wine, Fish
The rules of wine pairing are centuries old and etched in stone. They are the immovable laws that all wines must adhere to. Any deviation borders on blasphemy.
These rules worked way back when but fall apart in today's screwtop, boxed-wine, plastic-bottle world. Wines today are made totally differently than those of as little as a decade ago. Modern winemaking removes the problems that channeled wines into distinct food-pairing niches.
In the '60s and '70s, cabernet sauvignon wines were so tannic (the element that produces the dry cheek sensation) they needed years of aging to become drinkable. The same was true of pinot noir and merlot, both of which were not widely grown.
Red wines from California were mostly inexpensive "taste-alike" blends of simpler red grapes that avoided the classical grapes at all costs.
White wines fared similarly. The good chardonnays were acidic and needed years to soften while the rest of the white wines were just plain poor.
So cut yourself free from the rules set by others. Who said you can't have red wine with fish? Try a pinot noir or merlot with salmon steaks and you may be pleasantly surprised. In fact, a red wine can go well with most seafood except for the very delicate ones, like tilapia or flounder, which it may overpower.
White wines can beautifully accompany lighter meats such as pork, lamb or veal. You doubt that? Germans, who are famous for their heavy meat dishes, drink riesling, a white wine, with almost everything.
What we are suggesting is to not to get stuck with wine-pairing stupidities set down by the "experts." There are no "wine police," so experiment; you can never tell what wonders you my come up with.
May we suggest some excellent wines along with some unorthodox pairings that we have tried?
Our first suggestion is sparkling wine. All too often called Champagne, this style of wine can accompany almost anything and lift a simple meat to greatness. It should not be relegated to celebrations. Life is a celebration, so give sparkling wines a chance at a meal; you may be pleasantly surprised.
Recently we had a dinner of pan-broiled steak, potato and vegetables, which we served with a Fetzer Gewurztraminer. The wine is sweet, fruity and proved to be a fine accompaniment to the steak with absolutely no flavor or texture conflicts.
Merlot and rainbow trout is an excellent pairing, as is red zinfandel and snapper. Try cabernet sauvignon with grilled swordfish steaks. This is a superb marriage, and the wine will enhance the flavor of the swordfish, which is often quite subdued.
White wines can fare very well with many meat dishes. They do not have to be relegated to the chicken, pork and other light meats. Try a riesling with lamb chops; they belong together, as does chardonnay with a pork tenderloin roast. An interesting combination would be barbecued ribs and pinot grigio. The pinot grigio has a very high acid content and fruit sweetness, so it will enhance the flavor of the ribs. – Bennet Bodenstein, News-Leader, Missouri
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
New Purchasing Policy for Farmed ShrimpXPENSIVE
Wegmans Food Markets and Environmental Defense have announced a purchasing policy for farmed shrimp.
Wegmans will be rolling out shrimp purchased under this policy in all of its 71 stores. The policy, according to Wegmans, sets a new bar for the seafood industry and other U.S. retailers.
The new purchasing standards require farmed shrimp producers to eliminate the use of antibiotics and other chemicals, avoid damaging sensitive habitats, treat their wastewater and reduce the use of wild fish to feed shrimp. Suppliers will be able to demonstrate their compliance with these standards by meeting aggressive performance targets and implementing an auditing and reporting system to monitor progress.
“Companies like Wegmans have the market clout to transform their supplier’s environmental practices. With these new purchasing standards, we’ve raised the bar for farmed shrimp production while continuing to provide a healthy seafood option for Wegmans’ customers,” said Gwen Ruta, Environmental Defense’s Director of Corporate Partnerships. “Now it’s time for other large seafood buyers to flex their purchasing muscle and make the same improvements in their supply chain.”
Wegmans and Environmental Defense developed this purchasing policy in cooperation with Wegmans’ farmed shrimp supplier. The policy requires that suppliers immediately meet at least nine of the purchasing standards, including strict standards for levels of PCBs and other contaminants, and comply with local laws. Suppliers must meet all 12 standards within one year. - Environmental Leader, CO
Fish Creates Brainy Kids
Eating recommended amounts of oily fish and seafood during pregnancy could boost the brain of your kids, says a new study.
Jean Golding and researchers of Bristol University and the US National Institute of Health questioned 11,875 women on their fish and seafood consumption during pregnancy.
Children, whose mothers ate lots of fish while pregnant, had better communication and social skills at the age of seven, reported the online edition of BBC News.
The researchers looked at social and communication skills, hand-eye coordination and the total IQ in the children up to the age of eight years. Socio-economic factors were also taken into account.
Eating less than 12oz (340gm) of fish and seafood a week was associated with a 48 per cent increased risk of children being in the lowest group for verbal intelligence, researchers said.
Low fish and seafood intake during pregnancy was also associated with increased risk of poorer behavior, motor, communication and social development scores, said the study published in British medical journal The Lancet.
The oily fish — a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids — that women should eat include salmon, mackerel, pilchards and sardines.
But the Food Standards Agency, which advises that pregnant women should eat one or two portions of oily fish a week, warns against eating certain types of fish likes shark, marlin or lots of tuna because of the risks to the developing fetus associated with mercury. – Hindustan Times, India
Report Blasts Chile Salmon Industry
More than 50 salmon industry workers have died in Chile since 2005.
The environmental NGO Ecoceanos this week released a scathing report on Chile’s $2.2 billion farmed salmon industry, the world’s second largest after Norway. “X-Ray of the Chilean Salmon Industry,” which details the industry’s shoddy labor and environmental record, will be distributed later this week to the Chilean and Norwegian embassies in Washington D.C.
The 40-page document, based on information collected from government and union sources, notes that 52 salmon industry workers have died in Chile since 2005. Norway, by contrast, has not registered a single industry death since 2000.
Twelve of those deaths involved divers, thousands of which work for the industry maintaining net systems or retrieving dead fish from the bottom of pens. In fact, around the island of Chiloé (Region X), three divers have perished in just the past three months. The most recent industry casualty, 25-year-old Victor Lemus Contreras, died just 10 days ago (ST, Oct. 19).
Diving is a particularly dangerous job, as divers can easily get caught up in netting and drown. They also risk developing Acute Decompression Illness, also known as “the bends,” a potentially fatal condition that occurs when divers ascend too rapidly and/frequently. Some divers have even been attacked by sea lions, which tend to collect around salmon farms.
Ecoceanos is one of several NGOs participating in the Washington, D.C.-based Pure Salmon Campaign, which looks to pressure salmon farmers into employing more sustainable, environmentally friendly and safer production practices. The Pure Salmon Campaign is not, at this point, calling for a boycott of Chilean salmon products.
This is certainly not the first time Chile’s booming salmon industry has come under fire. Critics have complained for years that the industry, while no doubt a short-term commercial success, is nevertheless a ticking environmental time bomb.
Chile’s Region X, where the bulk of the country’s salmon is farmed, is saturated, say environmentalists. Huge concentrations of farmed fish mean huge concentrations of waste – both in terms of feces, and uneaten fish food that collects on the ocean floor. The over-concentration of such organic materials has created dead zones in the bays, estuaries and fjords that house Chile’s countless fish farms.
Another problem is that it takes fish to make fish. Salmon are carnivorous by nature. As such, they are fed pellets derived from other types of fish. According to some studies, it takes between five and 10 kilos of wild fish to produce one kilo of farmed salmon. Chile, in other words, is sacrificing its native fish stocks for the sake of salmon, say industry opponents.
“It’s a vital contradiction,” said economist Francisco Pinto of the environmental policy group Fundación Terram. “The idea behind aquaculture is to produce more food, to make more food available on a global level. It’s like an answer to the problem of world food shortages. But salmon producers are doing the opposite. It’s not just sustainable.” – Santiago Times, Chile
Thursday, November 1, 2007
For Healthy Diet, Get Hooked on FishX
The benefits of seafood, specifically fish, are plentiful.
Overall, seafood is a low-saturated fat and lean source of high-quality protein. For fish, it's their heart-healthy omega-3 fat content that makes them all-stars.
When shopping for fish, pay attention to color. White-fleshed fish tend to be leaner choices, as they are typically lower in total fat. Deep, dark-colored fleshed fish often provide more fat.
Don't swear off darker fish simply due to its fat content. Do the opposite. Include darker-colored, fattier selections into your fish repertoire on a weekly basis.
The fat offered by darker fish is primarily heart-healthy unsaturated omega-3 fats. Although there are plant sources of omega-3s (flax seeds and walnuts), their health benefits are observed in diets that contain a consistent, high level of two specific kinds of omega-3 fats naturally found in fish - DHA and EPA.
Some individuals worry about eating fish, fearing they'll be exposed to environmental contaminants like PCBs, dioxin and mercury. To add to the fear of environmental contaminants, the mercury content of fish has received a lot of attention over the past few years.
Populations traditionally considered sensitive to the mercury content of fish are children, pregnant and nursing women, and women who are able to become pregnant. This month, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition updated previous recommendations by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency for women who are able to become pregnant, and pregnant and nursing women. Instead of the agencies' recommendations that this population eat no more than 12 ounces of fish or seafood each week, the coalition took the recommendation a bit further and stated these women should eat at least 12 ounces of smaller fish like sardines, salmon, light chunk tuna, herring and mackerel every week.
The coalition's recommendations were made to emphasize the importance of women eating diets rich in low-mercury, high omega-3 fat containing fish.
Why? Omega-3 fat, particularly DHA, appears to have a significant impact on fetal and infant brain development during both pregnancy and breastfeeding. Additionally, the coalition noted that selenium, a mineral commonly found in fish, "accumulates and appears to protect against the toxicity from trace amounts of mercury." - Carrie Taylor, a registered dietitian and licensed dietitian nutritionist, writing in The Republican, Massachusetts
Swiss Retail Chain Goes Sustainable
Manor, a major Swiss retail chain, has joined the Friend of the Sea project for certification and promotion of seafood from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.
“Our suppliers already comply with the minimum size requirements and engage at protecting marine mammals and turtles from bycatch. But Manor wanted to go even further in its conservation efforts. This is why we joined the Friend of the Sea project,” said Mr Steiner, Purchase Director of Manor SA.
As a first important step, Manor took off from its shelves any seafood originated from species deemed to be threatened in the wild: Atlantic cod, haddock, halibut, bluefin tuna and Atlantic salmon. In the future, only cod, salmon and halibut from Friend of the Sea certified aquaculture will be found at Manor’s points of sales. Bluefin tuna will be replaced by other tuna species, such as yellowfin.
Manor will then gradually introduce on its shelves only seafood certified as sustainable by Friend of the Sea. “Manor engages to sell, by the end of 2008, only certified sustainable seafood, whether preserved, fresh or frozen,” said Steiner. Products and their origins are assessed according to strict Friend of the Sea criteria and audited by independent third party certification bodies.
“Manor took a brave decision, which should be followed by the whole industry,” comments Paolo Bray, director of Friend of the Sea. “We are sure consumers will appreciate and reward. Not only, this decision will take pressure off those overexploited resources, it will also reduce the impact on the seabed, since several of those species – namely cod, haddock and halibut - are mostly fished with bottom trawlers, a fishing method which ploughs the sea floor destroying corals and sponges, by-catching any marine species found on its way.”
Manor joins a list of retailers and processing companies, which in Europe, USA, Africa and Asia have already joined Friend of the Sea and had their products certified. – FishUpdate, UK
Brits Now Prefer Salmon Over Cod
LONDON - Salmon beats cod as the most popular fish for health-conscious Brits who are eating more seafood than ever before. A poll of 4,000 people by Nobilo Wines, to coincide with National Seafood Week, found that 58% are eating more seafood than five years ago with two thirds (65%) citing health reasons.
The same proportion (66%) said that media reports on the benefits of seafood have influenced their eating habits - nutrition experts say we should be eating a minimum of two portions of fish every week.
According to the research, Brits are turning away from traditional fish and chip shop favorites such as cod, haddock and plaice in favor of salmon, prawns and even lobster. 62% say they are eating a wider variety of seafood than five years ago. Salmon, which is popular because of its high protein and low fat levels, beat cod to the top spot, while prawns came third. Tuna is the fourth most popular fish, closely followed by haddock. Adventurous Brits voted the exotic lobster into sixth place.
50% of respondents said that holidays abroad have influenced the type of fish and seafood they now enjoy at home. Almost 90 per cent of those surveyed believe people are becoming healthier and finding new and healthier ways to cook fish, such as grilling and steaming, in favor of more traditional deep frying.
Clare Griffiths, spokesperson for Nobilo Wines, said: “It is clear that while traditional fish and chips remains an iconic British meal, we are expanding our culinary horizons and finding new ways to enjoy seafood. There is a real overseas influence with dishes like sushi and paella becoming increasingly popular.”
Wine is the most popular drink with seafood reflecting a cultural shift from fish and chips wrapped in yesterday’s papers to seafood with wine as part of a culinary occasion. An honest 29 per cent of those surveyed admit the main reason for their love of fish meals is simply because it is easy and quick to cook.
Clare Griffiths, spokesperson for Nobilo Wines, continued: “These days, more people than ever are enjoying cooking up delicious dishes like salmon steaks or pan-fried seabass and sitting back to enjoy it with a glass of sauvignon blanc.”
Top 10 fish
1. Salmon
2. Cod
3. Prawns
4. Tuna
5. Haddock
6. Lobster
7. Mackerel
8. Scampi
9. Seabass
10. Plaice
– FishUpdate UK
Nantucket Scallop Season Holds PromiseToss Out Old Rules, Pair Red Wine, Fish
NANTUCKET, Mass. - In the context of the 15,000 bushels of scallops harvested during the 2004/2005 commercial scallop season, the past two seasons were anemic - 3,850 bushels were harvested in 2005/2006 and 5,500 were harvested in 2006/2007.
And though the prognosis for the 2007/2008 season, which begins tomorrow, is somewhat tempered, it is encouraging that there appear to be more than a few scallops left around the harbors for the roughly 140 commercial licensed scallopers - as anyone who pushrakes, snorkels or peers down into a view box can attest.
Though concentrated from Monomoy up to Quaise, Marine Superintendent Dave Fronzuto said that he has reports of other pockets of the tasty mollusks elsewhere in Nantucket Harbor, and, in one or two places in Madaket, despite that harbor's new opening to the ocean.
"I guess what I would have to say is it seems like we have a few more scallops than we had anticipated. The family people have done well in shallow water," said Fronzuto. "I think the colder temperatures will help."
Cold weather serves to sever dead eelgrass blades from these underwater plants, exposing scallops on the bottom that the thickly matted eelgrass would otherwise hide, deflecting the scallopers' dredges being pulled over the bottom from above. This clearing of the harbor bottoms could occur tomorrow, opening day, with the forecasted strong winds that help break off dead eelgrass blades.
Town Biologist Keith Conant, who has spent a lot of time assessing scallop populations, offered his own predictions of the coming season, which extends from Nov. 1 to March 31.
"I don't see this season being that much better than last year," said Conant. "There seems to be good charge of seed from the shipyard almost up to Quaise, but that seems to be the only area that's well populated. There's probably other pockets in the harbor."
Madaket is a different story, though. While Fronzuto said scallops have been found along the main channel leading out of Hither Creek to the harbor proper, both he and Conant worry about the impacts of the new cut in Smith's Point created by the Patriot's Day nor'easter, saying it is still unclear at this point.
Nantucket's commercial scallop fleet is staring in the face of the potential demise of the last viable bay scallop fishery on the East Coast that only a handful of solutions are likely to reverse.
After learning last month that despite having the cleanest harbor among 89 embayments being reviewed by the Massachusetts Estuaries Project in the southeastern part of the state, the town still needs to scrape out certain amounts of nitrogen, fecal coliform bacteria and pollution from runoff. Fronzuto said that a watershed management plan will be needed. A shellfish management plan is due by October 2008.
Instead of waiting months for yet another plan to adjust its compass, The Marine Department is already taking steps to restore scallops in Nantucket waters.
Earlier this year, the town purchased one million scallop seed from Aquaculture Research Corporation of Dennis, Mass. (spawned from adult scallops from Nantucket waters). – Nantucket Independent
Another Reason to Eat Oysters
PARIS - After at least 530 million years of clamming up, the oyster has revealed its secret curative properties to mankind. And they are not only aphrodisiac.
French biologists who have been studying the way oysters produce nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, believe the process could be replicated to provide cures and preventative treatments for osteoporosis, arthritis and certain skin complaints.
"The key is biomineralisation," said Christian Milet at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. "Humans and oysters share the capacity for self repair. A human bone heals, as does a cracked oyster's shell. We now believe nacre can be used to stimulate bone growth."
Biomineralisation is as old as bivalve mollusks, which gives it quite a few million years on the human species. More than 4,000 years ago, the Maya people of central America realized that nacre was not only beautiful but also extremely hard and durable. They used it to make false teeth. In other cultures, including ancient Chinese and Egyptian, paste made from crushed nacre was recommended as a beauty cream.
The aphrodisiac quality of oysters has been recognized for many years but never scientifically proven. However, the mollusk's high content of zinc, which in humans is required for the production of testosterone, could be one explanation. Other research has shown that the shellfish are rich in certain amino acids that trigger increased levels of sex hormones.
For the biomineralisation process to work there does not need to be an "R" in the month. But scientists already know that some oysters are better at it than others. Those we eat, and which do not produce pearls, are the least scientifically interesting.
The oysters that produce the largest quantities of nacre are those, such as the Pentad oyster, which also produce pearls. This is because natural pearls are formed when an oyster, while taking a gulp of water containing plankton, inadvertently swallows a piece of grit. To avoid the discomfort of sharing its shell with a nasty, jagged foreign object, the mollusk envelops it with smooth nacre: the pearl.
News of the French biologists' progress in understanding nacre-making emerged with the opening of an exhibition, Perles, une histoire naturelle, at the natural history museum in Paris. Apart from showing some of the biggest pearls ever found – including a 171-gram seawater pearl – the exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view a globe made by the jeweler Mikimoto on which the oceans are represented by 12,000 cultured pearls, the continents are made of gold and the equator is drawn with 377 rubies.
But Milet's discovery is not going appear in the world's hospitals immediately. "We have already carried out in vivo bone graft tests in which we have obtained a perfect bond between the nacre and the bone. The medical uses of the biomineralisation will be seen some years into the future," he said. "We have already asserted that not only can nacre be grafted on to bone and be accepted by the human body, it also releases active molecules which induce bone regeneration." – The Independent, UK
Friday, November 2, 2007
Abalone Ban PostponedXPENSIVE
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - South Africa has postponed an indefinite ban on commercial abalone fishing, due to start on Thursday and designed to protect stocks of the shellfish.
The cabinet's move last week prompted the powerful COSATU trade union to join with fishermen to lodge an urgent court case to overturn the ban.
"I have decided to delay the implementation of the decision to February 1, 2008," South Africa's environmental affairs minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told a media briefing.
"I don't think there's any basis for any urgent or other application. ... I'm very confident that legally we are absolutely in the clear on this issue," van Schalkwyk said on Wednesday.
The government has drastically reduced the total allowable abalone catch in the wild and attempted to encourage saltwater farming of the shellfish.
Shipped to Asia as a seafood delicacy, abalone has become a prized commodity for South African entrepreneurs as well as criminals who have poached the mollusk close to extinction.
The amount of illegal abalone confiscated in South Africa has soared to more than 1 million shellfish from 21,000 in 1994.
COSATU said in a statement it welcomed Wednesday's decision and was committed to working with the government on the issue.
However, the South African Abalone Industry Association, which represents the commercial abalone fishing industry, will press ahead with court action to overturn the ban.
"Our abalone season opens tomorrow, we want to go fishing and put food on the table," said spokesman Scott Russell. – Reuters
Flounder Sport Fishery in May Close
Summer flounder fishing that accounts for an estimated 40 percent of New Jersey party and charter boat business could be shut down through 2009 if planned conservation measures fail to meet targets, the nation's top federal fisheries official warned, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.
In a letter to Mid-Atlantic regulators, William Hogarth, administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said the summer flounder -- or fluke -- catch must be contained within limits, or his agency will move to halt all fishing for the species in federal waters, the report said.
"Let me stress that if the measures implemented by the states to manage the 2008 recreational fishery are not effective to constraining harvest . . . NMFS is prepared to close the summer flounder recreational fishery in the exclusive economic zone if the recreational harvest, when added to the commercial quota, threatens to result in the overall quota being exceeded," Hogarth wrote in a letter Monday to W. Peter Jensen, chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the newspaper reported. - The Star-Ledger – New Jersey
Big Violators of Bluefin Quotas
MARSEILLE, France - Italy, France, Japan and Spain are guilty of the biggest violations of international quotas for bluefin tuna fishing, a report claimed on Wednesday.
Countries are assigned fishing quotas by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to help avert the eventual extinction of the fish, which is highly prized for Japanese sushi and sashimi.
Italy fished 7,500 tonnes more than allowed in 2006, followed by France with 3,770 more and Japan with 3,550 tonnes, said the report, titled "The Plunder of the BlueFin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea."
In 2007, Italy, Spain and France were the biggest offenders.
The 708-page study was compiled by Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi, a consultant who has previously carried out research for the WWF. He cited official data and information from industry insiders.
"Given the unsustainable rates of capture, both legal and illegal, the species will disappear," warned the report.
In September, the European Commission banned fishing of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean for the rest of the year because quotas for 2007 had already been met.
ICCAT has no way of enforcing its quotas and relies on the goodwill of member countries.
The report said Italy, Spain and Libya were the countries that had most under-reported their catches to ICCAT in 2007. - Agence France-Presse
Feds Say Snake Dam Plan OK
SAN FRANCISCO - Federal fisheries officials in Seattle on Wednesday endorsed, with minor modifications, a plan for the government’s continued operation of the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. They said it did not jeopardize the survival of 13 stocks of salmon and steelhead that the government must protect under the Endangered Species Act.
The endorsement, a draft analysis from the National Marine Fisheries Service, agreed with dozens of proposed protective actions that would provide enhanced measures to get juvenile fish past the dams as they swim seaward, improve habitat in the river and discourage predators like California sea lions and Caspian terns.
Wednesday’s draft represents the fisheries agency’s third effort to find a binding, legally acceptable solution to the Northwest’s tug of war between salmon and dams.
The agencies operating the dams are required by law to consult with federal biologists about their impact on endangered and threatened species and what they intend to do about it.
The opinion by the fisheries service, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, made no mention of the possibility of removing four dams on the lower Snake River that sit on the annual migration route of some of the more imperiled species. Many environmentalists and scientists see these four dams as the deadliest obstacle these fish face.
Federal officials said the new plan’s approach to the recovery of the 13 stocks was significantly different from an approach they offered three years ago.
Judge James A. Redden of Federal District Court in Portland, Ore., who has presided over the issue, has made clear he is willing to step in and direct the dams’ operation if he believes it is the only way to protect the fish. In a court hearing this summer, Judge Redden said: “I’m going to be very picky because I want a bi-op that works. This is a very, very, very, very important document.”
Bob Lohn, the northwest regional administrator of the fisheries service, said in a conference call on Wednesday that the plan had been prepared with much more collaboration with interested groups like Indian tribes and commercial interests. Lohn added, “This plan is based on a much more detailed approach to the problem,” taking into account the needs of six dozen subgroups of fish.
The opinion was condemned by environmental groups, from the Sierra Club to a regional group, Save Our Wild Salmon, as doing more for the Bonneville Power Administration than for the 13 troubled fish runs, two of which have very few wild fish left to reproduce outside hatcheries. – New York Times
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