Discussing the impact of motorized vehicles in wilderness areas

May 12, 2012   1 Comment  

A key element of the Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act now making its way through Congress would allow motorized vehicles and equipment into wilderness areas, undermine 1964’s Wilderness Act which expressly bans motor vehicles on these last wild vestiges of untrammeled American land. (Comstock)

Destroying what you claim to love

How does mercury get into fish?

Dec. 10, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Once mercury gets into the marine food chain, mostly from human industrial sources such as coal-fired electricity generation, smelting and the incineration of waste, it “bioaccumulates” in the larger ocean predators. That’s why larger fish -- like the bluefin tuna pictured here -- are generally riskier to eat than smaller ones. (Thinkstock)

It’s a big problem

The nasty business of shark finning

Nov. 5, 2011   Leave a Comment  

The practice of shark finning to make shark fin soup, a delicacy mostly in Asian cultures, has taken a serious toll on shark populations worldwide. Besides being inhumane to sharks, consumption of shark fin poses a serious threat to human health since they contain an extremely high concentration of mercury and other toxins now omnipresent in our oceans. (Media credit/Nicholas Wang via Flickr)

$1.2 billion business

Fishing technologies are destroying deep ocean species

March 19, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Scientists speculate that some 10 million different species may inhabit the deep sea. Pictured: a ghostly grenadier on the Davidson Seamount, an undersea mountain 75 miles off the coast of Central California. The seamount is 7,480 feet tall, yet its summit is still 4,101 feet below the sea surface. (NOAA)

It may already be too late

EarthTalk: Fishery depletion? Green professional sports?

Jan. 15, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Although 75 percent of the world’s fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering from overexploitation, many governments continue to provide huge subsidies -- about $20 billion annually --­ to their fishing sectors. Pictured: A fisherman hauls in a catch in the North Sea. (Thinkstock)

Can football stadiums be greener?

EarthTalk: Bluefin tuna? Organic tobacco?

Jan. 8, 2011   1 Comment  

Atlantic bluefin tuna, popular as sushi, are in danger of going extinct within a decade if the governments of the world cannot come together to ban catching and/or selling the lucrative species. (Yusuke Kawasaki via Flickr)

Are the tuna going extinct?

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EarthTalk: Sockeye salmon? Fracking natural gas?

Dec. 25, 2010   Leave a Comment  

Pictured: A hydraulic fracturing site, one of several concentrated in a small area in and around Troy, Pennsylvania. (Shaleshock.org)

What’s going on with fracking?

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Coast Guard suspends search for missing Gloucester fisherman

Oct. 31, 2010   Leave a Comment  

The Coast Guard suspended around noontime Sunday its search for the crewman who fell overboard from the fishing vessel Lindsey II on Saturday. The Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous searched throughout the night, and a HU-25 Falcon jet searched Sunday morning at first light. But neither were able to locate the victim. The Coast Guard searched [...]

Coast Guard ends fishing trip off Cape Cod early

Oct. 20, 2010   Leave a Comment  

When the crew of the 270-foot Coast Guard Cutter Legare boarded a fishing vessel 150 miles east of Cape Cod for a safety inspection, we’re sure they expected some facet of working safety equipment on board. That wasn’t the case. The Coast Guard prematurely ended the fishing voyage of the vessel Hot Tuna after the [...]

NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Agent Andy Cohen to retire

Sept. 29, 2010   Leave a Comment  

Andy Cohen, the former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agent in charge of the embattled Northeast fishery enforcement office, announced he will retire, the Associated Press reported. Cohen has more than 30 years of service with NOAA and told the AP that his retirement was in the works for some time now. Cohen was not [...]

South Shore fishermen share blue lobster tale

Sept. 7, 2009   2 Comments  

Close-up on the single-clawed blue lobster. (Media credit/Courtesy of Wayne Marshall)

Two Brant Rock fishermen pull up the lobster equivalent of a lottery ticket