A make-or-break moment for ‘the most important fish in the sea’

This Washington Post opinion piece lays out what we already know is at stake in the the fight to protect rapidly declining Menhaden stocks. What we did not know is how Virginia manages Menhaden and how it does not bode well in the fight to protect the most important fish in the sea.

In Virginia, fisheries decisions are made by the state’s Marine Resources Commission — except when they relate to one species. Yes, you guessed it: menhaden, which is instead managed by the 140 members of the General Assembly. This odd arrangement puts politicians, lobbyists and money, rather than scientists, in charge of menhaden. This, it goes without saying, does not bode well for making the tough choices needed now.

LINK (via: The Washington Post) 

The Pew Environment Group has been very active in the efforts to protect Menhaden through their Atlantic Menhaden Campaign. I urge you to spend sometime learning the facts about why it so important to protect Menhaden on the Pew campaign site.

People are paying attention!

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has seen a lot in its 70-year history but nothing quite like this. More than 128,000 people flooded the commission’s inboxes with postcards and emails last month, a new record for public comment. Scientists, small business owners, nature lovers, and anglers sent letters and spoke out at public hearings. And it was all about a fish that almost no one ever eats—Atlantic menhaden.

I'll have the Chilean farm raised salmon with a side of pesticides

Reason number 1,476 not to eat farm raised salmon.

The Pew Environment Group recently acquired documents from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealing that three Chilean salmon
farming companies, including the two largest producers of farmed
salmon, used a number of drugs not approved by the U.S. government. 
These chemicals include the antibiotics flumequine and oxolinic acid
and the pesticide emamectin benzoate. The documents further show that
the farmed salmon containing  residues of unapproved chemicals were
destined for the U.S. market.

Chile is the primary source of farmed salmon consumed in the United States. LINK