By Ali Benjamin •
March 18, 2008
Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date.
Last week, I posted about my love for wild salmon, which is as pure and whole as love gets. The day after I posted — the very next day! — there was some sobering news from the West Coast: wild chinook salmon that run upstream in the Sacramento River are vanishing without a trace. Vanishing. Woosh. They’re gone. We’re talking about the most dependable source of Chinook salmon south of Alaska.
Not surprisingly, this is gloomy news for fishing communities. It’s likely that California and Oregon salmon fishing will be halted altogether. Washington fisheries are under threat. Alaska — the source of the majority of wild salmon — is okay for now, but Blogfish reminds Alaska not to get too giddy. Overfishing has threatened Alaskan salmon in the past, too.
But why? Why is this happening? No one knows for sure.
By Leslie Valentine •
January 25, 2008
Today’s guest blogger is Environmental Defense scientist Tim Fitzgerald.
As a marine scientist who has been researching seafood sustainability and health issues for a long time, I’ve known for a while that bluefin tuna not only has high mercury levels but is severely depleted, too.
These magnificent fish are highly prized for their rich, buttery flesh. The global sushi market can’t get enough bluefin, and as a result, exorbitant prices and severe overfishing are driving bluefin tuna to the brink of extinction.
I love sushi as much as the next person, but given its dire population numbers and high mercury levels, maybe its time that we all lay off for a while.
Now making big headlines is a New York Times report that found that much of the bluefin sushi served in upscale New York City restaurants actually exceeds the Food and Drug Administration’s “action level” for mercury. (The threshold is 1 part per million.)
To reiterate: It’s no surprise that bluefin tuna has high levels of mercury – it’s one of the largest and most predatory fish species in the ocean. What is surprising is just how many New York City restaurants are serving the really high-mercury tuna.
