Section » Fish
Sardinistas! Love the little fish with the big impact
Falling hard for pilchards: Jane Black gives some attention to the sardine, a much maligned fish these days. Sardines are a relatively good choice for many reasons — they are high in Omega 3's, low in mercury and PCBs, they reproduce relatively quickly, and the California sardine fishery is currently well managed. (Which wasn't always the case, as
More articles
Can aquaculture feed the world with protein sustainably?
Swimming in controversy: In a world of growing population and shrinking ocean resources, aquaculture is often touted as a necessary tool for food production. And yet many criticize the damage that aquaculture does to wild ecosystems, its use of chemicals, and other unsavory practices. Environmental Health
Farmed fish have low levels of PCBs and other toxins
One win for aquaculture…some, anyway: Scientists from the Netherlands measured concentrations of several halogenated toxins in tilapia, pangasius, shrimp, salmon, trout, and shrimp that were farmed in several places around the world. Such toxins included Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine
Comments Off • Read more »
Lack of hippo manure tips ecosystem into failure
Hippo-suction: From Lake Edward in war-torn central Africa comes another example of the complexity of nature. The lake was once a rich and reasonably well-managed source of fish for the region, but now fishing nets are coming up empty. Reasons include unlicensed boats, fishing in the normally off-limits
Dan Barber’s fish tale at the Brooklyn Food Conference
A healthy ecoseastem: Chef and lyrical speaker/writer Dan Barber gave one of his amazing lectures at the Brooklyn Food Conference, and some little agtivist angel has transcribed it for those of us who weren't there. Barber tells a love story about two fish: one that he had to throw back into the sea-based
Dow Chemical should catch hell
Walleye from the Chemical guys: In spite of Michigan's restrictive walleye consumption advisories, Dow Chemical — the company responsible for the dioxins that contaminated the local watershed — sponsors a Walleye Festival that promotes sport fishing in the polluted waterway. Although Dow promised
Comments Off • Read more »
Digest – News: Perilous pork, the First Lettuce, food safety plateaus
Free-range throwdown: A New York Times op-ed turns the food-fear spotlight on pastured pork, covering a study that finds that "free-range pork can be more likely than caged pork to carry dangerous bacteria and parasites" including potentially-deadly Trichinosis. The author gets in a few more digs with
Digest – Commentary & blogs: Bittman busted for unconscious eating
Snap!-per: Tom Philpott chides Mark Bittman, aka The Minimalist and author of "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating," for recommending red snapper—one of the most endangered species in U.S. waters. "I believe that influental food writers, especially ones concerned with conscious eating, need to
Comments Off • Read more »
Digest: Times et al on food movement’s “arrival,” dairy drama, Murphy profiled
Busy days; we're playing catch-up on news this week. Send URLs we shouldn't miss to 1 Comment • Read more »
Meet menhaden – before this ecologically critical fish vanishes
By Alice Friedemann Ever heard of menhaden? Probably not, although perhaps you're familiar with the fish’s other names: bunker, pogies, mossbacks, bugmouths, alewifes, and fat-backs. You may be surprised to learn they’re the most important fish in the Atlantic and Gulf waters. Menhaden are the vacuum
Fatal attraction: Humanity’s love affair with fish like the Chilean sea bass
Recently I was snared — or hooked, snagged, or netted (pick your favorite fishing pun) — by a book that shows humanity's enormous capacity to affect ocean life. We can nearly wipe out an entire species in just a few decades thanks to new technologies and taste trends. Take the Chilean sea bass, Dissostichus
Digest – Blogs: Tomato truths, legislation lies, and the murky waters of sustainable shrimp
The price of tomatoes: Tom Philpott follows up on his trip to Immokalee, Florida with the second of a two-part post, examining how tomato pickers survive on $50 a day. The answer? With much difficulty. (Grist) That's the internet for
Digest – News: Salmon synergy, Whole Foods less whole, rotation’s right
Slammed by synergism: Researchers expose juvenile coho salmon to combinations of commonly-used agricultral pesticides. For two-thirds of the pesticide combinations, they find that the effect of the combination is greater than the sum of the impacts of the individual pesticides (i.e. the combo has synergistic
Comments Off • Read more »
Digest – News: Vilsack updates, Clif Bars recalled, OJ CO2
Tractor tire hits the dirt: After clearing the Senate confirmation process, new USDA chief Tom Vilsack gets to work. (Des Moines Register) Meanwhile, speculation abounds on who may join him at the agency
Comments Off • Read more »
Digest – News: More midnight rollbacks, valuing fast food, and Irish pork CSI
Heavy metal blowout: The FDA has recommended that the Bush Administration revise its consumer guidance on fish, changes that would encourage women and children to eat more fish despite growing concerns about mercury contamination (not to mention, um, the absolute unsustainability of our current seafood-consumption
