The remarkable recovery of the Atlantic haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), a commercial fish species once in serious decline from over fishing, is described with reference to an article in The Scientist (July 1, 2009) and a discussion of the theorized causes for this fish species’ rebound. Quote from the post:
The decline of commercially valuable ground fish stocks is symptomatic of the global, over-fishing crisis. Perhaps no other region on the globe is more indicative of this crisis than New England [...]
Twenty years ago last month, the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound and ran aground, releasing 40 million liters {approximately 10 million gallons) into the surrounding sea and onto the beaches. It remains the worst oil spill in US maritime history. In the days that followed, impact inventories revealed the lethal outcome: a quarter of a million sea birds had been killed, along with 22 Orca whales, nearly 3000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and unknown millions of fish eggs.
In 1991, the Alaskan and US Governments reached an agreement with Exxon Mobil in a 900 million dollar settlement, almost 200 million of which was set aside for scientific study of the disaster and its impact on the PWS ecosystem. Exxon Mobile also funded its own studies (generating 400 papers and reports) which were frequently in disagreement with the government scientists’ reports and findings.
Twenty years after, the Exxon Valdez spill has become the most studied maritime, industrial disaster ever. A news report in Science Magazine (March 26, 2009) by Lila Guterman (with Jacopo Pasotti reporting) presented some of the scientific findings from the post-spill research.
