japanese view on eating tuna to extinction

Are Japanese consumers responsible for eating bluefin tuna towards extinction? What should be done? Here's a view from Japan that includes the most comprehensive and reliable examination of the issues that I've ever seen in a newspaper.

Overall, Japan's sushi habit is a problem for tuna, but the Japan Times article says that increasing popularity of sushi elsewhere, including China, is letting Japan "off the hook."

Suggestions for what to do center on shifting consumer preferences in Japan to yellowfin tuna, the best substitute and a fish that has some problems but is in better shape overall than bluefin.

Take a look at this story from "the World's Window on Japan."

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A codless country

Hold on to your Mark Kurlansky books, they might become historical artifacts. The cod of the Gulf of St. Lawrence have 40 years left, at best, and only 20 years if fishing stays at current levels. Douglas P. Swain and Ghislain A. Chouinard report on this imminent extinction in the latest Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, only, being scientists, they call it extirpation. Technically, extinction requires you to prove all the fish are gone, while an extirpated population is barely hanging on -- too small to sustain itself, much less feed people or wildlife.

This is the second Atlantic cod stock to crash in the region, and even severe restrictions haven't brought the fish back. Fish mortality is high and getting higher, with no clear answer or remedy. Once upon a time, cod were money; today they're just emulating the financial markets, with no bailout in sight.

It's open access so you can enjoy the whole paper.

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Ocean doom and gloom and Jeremy Jackson

Ocean decline is in the news again. Marine biologist Jeremy Jackson provides a stunning update on the state of the world's oceans, and it's not good.

What do I think? Does this dim my optimism? I doubt it, since optimism vs. pessimism is probably rooted more in brain chemistry than rational judgment. This paper makes a strong case for ocean decline and offers a stark warning about our future if we fail to change.

Will we change? Here's where I differ with Dr. Jackson. I can see change coming. He sees bad stuff coming down the road at us, and he thinks we're paralyzed like deer in the headlights, getting run down by a big black Humvee. Ouch.

Jeremy Jackson is good at doom and gloom. There's something about his habit of dressing his pale skin in black, and the obvious contrarian pleasure he takes in promoting the decline of his own body by smoking cigarettes. Lugubrious scientist offer requiem for the sea, it's "Brave New Ocean: the Opera."

But I'm unfair, Jackson does offer some remedies. "Talk to Mark Powell," he says, "and work for implementation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act." OK, that's a paraphrase. Really, he says if we just end overfishing (by implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Act), then things will get a lot better in the US. That would be a nice start.

Well, working with my colleagues in the Gulf of Mexico, we've helped deliver an end to overfishing in this recalcitrant region. It took a lawsuit and lots of other work, and now it's going to happen. They said it couldn't be done, and they were wrong. Next stop for the End Overfishing Express? New England. Anything is possible.

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Human-caused extinction of Caribbean monk seal

It's official, the Caribbean monk seal is extinct. Overhunted during 1700-1900, the small remnant population declined gradually into oblivion.

It's a sad day, and this extinction provides a grim reminder of how serious declines can lead to extinction years later.

Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals are in bad shape and could go extinct in the next few decades. Do we care enough about monk seals to do what's necessary to save the remaining two species? I hope so.

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