Latest posts in Healthy Oceans
Gulf oil spill devastating for jobs and economy
Eyeless shrimp, from a catch of 180 kilograms of eyeless shrimp, said to be caught September 22, 2011, in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. (Credit: Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera)
In my last article on the long-term effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, I closed by stating that in some ways it's a good thing that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred in such a populated place. The disastrous 1989 Exxon oil spill in Prince William Sound was easy to ignore because it happened in a place few of us will ever see. The Gulf of Mexico is pretty much the opposite; it's home to about 21 million people and many of the most important fisheries in the United States. Before the spill, the crustacean, mollusc, benthic (bottom-dwelling) and pelagic (mid-depth) fisheries in the Gulf were worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and employed thousands of workers.
And now?
Continue reading »Demystifying "organic" farmed salmon: Is there such a thing?
Synthetic pesticides, non-organic feed, uncontrolled waste disposal: the "organic" salmon farming standard varies little from conventional open-net cage practices.(Credit: This Magazine)
What comes to mind when you think about certified organic food?
Perhaps you think of food that is better for us and the planet. Food that avoids synthetic pesticides. Livestock that are fed a 100 per cent certified organic diet.
It seems intuitive that the same organic principles that exist for land-grown organic produce, livestock and dairy should also apply to farmed fish.
This is apparently not going to be the case.
Continue reading »Oil spill off the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest
An oil spill was reported yesterday off the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest. There are 700 tonnes of heavy oil in a sunken U.S. Army ship under the site of the oil slick. While the current extent and severity of this oil spill is not yet known, there is potential for a significant spill.
What we do know is that 40% of the local diet comes from the sea, and that traditional shellfish harvesting areas are under threat.
Continue reading »Twenty years later: Have ecosystems recovered from Exxon Valdez?
Oiled sea otter in Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdes spill. (Credit: Arlis Reference via Flickr)
We are at the two-year anniversary of the BP oil spill, and some recent accounts paint a pretty bleak picture of the state of the Gulf of Mexico. The immediate impacts on what "matters most" to humans (e.g., fisheries) are plentiful. Tainted seafood, carcinogenic compounds and blackened beaches have all had negative impacts on fisheries and human health in the region. But what about basic biology? Will the ecosystems of the Gulf ever resemble their former selves? Although comprehensive reports for ecosystem damage are still forthcoming, the long-term effects from the last major oil spill (which was much smaller than the BP spill and in a much more contained area) don't provide much assurance.
Continue reading »Pacific Underwater Calendar: Kelp forests in April
This short video features Anne Salomon, a professor at Simon Fraser University, talking about the kelp forests of coastal British Columbia.
What's happening off the coasts of British Columbia during the month of April? Kelp forests are providing shelter and habitat for billions of creatures, some starting life, others just ending.
Herring laid their eggs on the kelp a few weeks back, and now untold numbers of tiny herring are milling about under the kelp forest canopy, eating tiny plankton, and being eaten themselves. Along with the herring and plankton are seals, sea lions, nudibranches, sea snails, wolf eels, jellyfish, rockfish and a multitude of other species.
