seafood

Toxic algae and West Coast marine life

June 5, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Over the first several months of this year, hundreds of sea lions, dolphins, and seabirds have fallen ill or died after eating sardines or anchovies that had been feeding on an algal bloom along the California coast since winter. The biotoxin in the algae accumulates in the feeder fish.

Two cases of whales dying from the biotoxin have been confirmed by two nonprofit organizations tasked with testing dead mammals. These were a humpback that washed ashore in Huntington Beach in January and a minke whale found dead in Long Beach in April.

This is the fourth year a row that California has experienced major algal blooms. Warmer waters are causing blooms to be bigger and more damaging than they have been before. They enter into new areas and contaminate the food web for longer. The warmer waters accelerate algae growth that is further fueled by nutrients that rise to the surface from deeper colder waters driven by winds that blow parallel to the coast. This year’s algae event started earlier than usual and is lasting longer than normal.

More than a dozen animal rescue and rehabilitation groups that form NOAA’s West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network are providing resources to try to respond to the situation. At the Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles, more than 80 sea lions and seals were being treated for domoic acid poisoning, the result of ingesting algae neurotoxin. Since February, it has cared for more than 300 poisoned animals.

Marine mammals are sentinel species for humans who also consume seafood. The West Coast ocean ecosystem is currently filled with toxins.

**********

Web Links

California Toxic Algal Bloom Blamed for Months-long Marine Life Poisoning

Photo, posted March 26, 2025, courtesy of Marnee Jill via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The importance of shallow water

March 26, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Vacationers love beaches with shallow water. They are great for families with small kids and for less confident swimmers. Such beaches often attract intense coastal development. However, they are also fragile habitats that are disappearing around the world.

A new study led by the University of South Florida highlights the need to protect these marine ecosystems. Shallow coastal waters are known as tidal flats, and they are critical to global seafood supplies, local economies, and overall marine health. Shallow water ecosystems are interlinked with other marine habitats and are vital for the lifecycle of marine species far from shore.

Shallow water ecosystems are at risk not only from coastal development, but from harmful algal blooms triggered by human activity, from marine heatwaves, and from boats operating in sensitive habitats such as seagrass meadows. These habitats contribute millions of dollars to local economies such as those in Florida but there is not much direct habitat managements in place to protect these ecosystems.

The University of South Florida study, published in the journal Fisheries, enumerated ten core strategies that boaters, anglers, wildlife managers, and policymakers can adopt to prioritize and preserve shallow marine ecosystems from humans and from increasingly powerful weather events. Foremost among these efforts are the protection of key fish species, such as tarpon, whose protection would benefit additional species that use the same habitats.

Habitat management and restoration should be essential concerns for coastal communities to provide long-term benefits for both themselves and for the marine life that depends on shallow-water habitats.

**********

Web Links

Why shallow water at the beach is more important than you might realize

Photo, posted February 14, 2018, courtesy of Marcelo Campi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wind farms and sea farms

August 5, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There has been increasing use of agriculture coexisting with solar farms. This dual use of land is a win-win situation. Recently, Danish researchers have been investigating the potential for farming marine products at offshore wind farms.

Scandinavia’s largest wind farm, Kriegers Flak, is the site of a four-year-old project in which long lines are stretched between the wind farm’s pylons and are used to grow mussels and seaweed. With the first harvest that has taken place after 18 months, it is showing signs of early success.

Seaweed and mussels are low trophic aquaculture crops. That means that that they don’t need to be fed or fertilized. They take up nutrients from the sea and produce healthy foods.

The 328-foot lines spread between the turbines can be used to grow substantial quantities of the underwater seafood. According to modeling by Aarhus University – the institution conducting the study – using just a tenth of Denmark’s wind park area could produce tons of seafood annually while using only the naturally-available resources. This form of aquaculture captures emissions instead of producing them.

Researchers say that it is time to develop guidelines to encourage companies to plan for multiple uses of the ocean because countries are ramping up production of clean energy from offshore wind farms. Denmark was the first country in the world to install a commercial offshore wind park in 1991. Over 30 years later, nearly half of the country’s electricity comes from wind turbines.

The benefits of such sea farms combined with offshore wind farms go beyond food production and clean energy production. They also help improve water quality and capture carbon. It is another win-win situation.

**********

Web Links

Beneath offshore wind turbines, researchers grow seafood and seaweed

Photo, posted August 5, 2007, courtesy of Andreas Klinke Johannsen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Ocean Oxygen Levels And The Future Of Fish | Earth Wise

June 23, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Climate change is creating a cascade of effects in the world’s oceans. Not only are ocean temperatures on the rise, but oceans are becoming more acidic, and oxygen deprived. The warming temperatures and acidification have grabbed headlines and prompted academic research. Declining oxygen levels have not garnered as much attention. But they spell bad news for fish.

Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have dropped over 2% between 1960 and 2010 and are expected to decline up to 7% over the next century. There are places in the northeast Pacific that have lost more than 15% of their oxygen. There are a growing number of “oxygen minimum zones” where big fish cannot survive but jellyfish can.

Oceans are losing oxygen for several reasons. First, warmer water can hold less dissolved gas than colder water. (This is why warm soda is flatter than cold soda.) Deeper in the ocean, oxygen levels are governed by currents that mix oxygen-rich surface water from above. Melting ice in the warming polar regions add fresh, less-dense water that resists downward mixing in key regions. Finally, increasing amounts of ocean bacteria in warming waters gobble up oxygen creating dead zones in the ocean.

In many places, fish species that cannot cope with lower oxygen levels are migrating from their usual homes, resulting in a decline in species diversity. Our future oceans – warmer and oxygen-deprived – will not only hold fewer kinds of fish, but also smaller fish and even more greenhouse-gas producing bacteria.

Climate change is bad news for fish and for the more than 3 billion people in the world who depend on seafood as a significant source of protein.

**********

Web Links

As Ocean Oxygen Levels Dip, Fish Face an Uncertain Future

Photo, posted January 10, 2022, courtesy of Willy Goldsmith via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Lab-Grown Meat Is Legal | Earth Wise

December 19, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We’ve heard more and more about laboratory meat. Other names for it are cultured meat, cultivated meat, or test tube meat. Whatever name ends up sticking, the idea is to take living cells from animals and grow them in a controlled laboratory environment to produce a meat product that doesn’t involve the slaughter of any animals. Supporters say cultured meat is more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional livestock. Livestock agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, uses vast amounts of land, and consumes much of the world’s fresh water.

Years ago, we reported on a company called Memphis Meats, which was one of a number of companies developing techniques for harvesting cells from animal tissues and using them to grow edible flesh in bioreactors.

Recently, that company – now called Upside Foods – has become the first company to receive FDA approval declaring their meat product to be safe for human consumption. The USDA still needs to give its approval and it may be a little while longer before Upside’s first chicken products will end up in supermarkets. There are more than 150 cultivated meat companies around the world backed by billions of dollars in investments. The FDA is in ongoing discussions with multiple firms in the business.

Upside Foods, based in the San Francisco Bay area, is planning to market chicken, beef meatballs, and duck in the near future. Other companies are working on seafood products. Up until now, Singapore has been the only country in which lab-grown meat products are legally sold to consumers. With this landmark FDA ruling, that is all about to change.

**********

Web Links

US declares lab-grown meat safe to eat in ‘groundbreaking’ move

Photo, posted April 15, 2008, courtesy of Andrew Otto via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tracking Small-Scale Fishers | Earth Wise

October 4, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

About half of all global seafood is caught by artisanal fishers. These are individuals who operate on a small scale – often on a subsistence level – and typically fish only a short distance from shore. Over 85% of the estimated 2.5 million motorized fishing vessels in the world are less than 12 meters in length. Compared with large-scale commercial fishing operations, these enterprises are very small. However, they are essential to the food security and livelihoods of their communities. Because of their sheer numbers, artisanal fishers are an important sector to monitor, manage, and advocate for. They may be small-scale, but their importance and impact are huge.

Large ships make use of vessel tracking systems, which were originally conceived to prevent maritime collisions. Over time, VTS technology has become useful for other purposes including monitoring fishing activity in sensitive marine areas and looking out for forced labor on the high seas.

Among small fishing vessels, only an estimated 0.4% are equipped with VTS technology. So, a massive number of vessels accounting for a big part of the global catch cannot be monitored.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara surveyed hundreds of artisanal fishers in Indonesia and Mexico to see if they were willing to pay to participate in a VTS program, or participate for free, or be paid to participate. Having the equipment would provide multiple benefits to the fishers including increased safety and better fisheries management. Two-thirds of the survey participants said they were willing to pay for the technology. The study is the first effort to explore the potential for encouraging wide adoption of VTS technology among artisanal fishers.

**********

Web Links

Tracking Small-Scale Fishers

Photo, posted November 30, 2014, courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Humans And Microplastics | Earth Wise

April 13, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

While plastic comes in all different shapes and sizes, those that are less than five millimeters in length are called microplastics. Primary sources of microplastics include microfibers from clothing, microbeads, and plastic pellets (known as nurdles). Secondary sources of microplastics come from larger plastic debris, like bottles and bags, that degrades into smaller bits over time.

Microplastic pollution can be found everywhere on earth, from the top of the tallest mountains to the bottom of the deepest oceans. Microplastics are in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

According to research recently published in the journal Exposure & Health, humans ingest an average of five grams of plastic particles per week. This is roughly equivalent to the weight of a credit card. The plastic particles are trafficked in via food, such as seafood and salt in particular, as well as water. In fact, those who rely on plastic bottled water for their drinking needs ingest an additional 1,700 plastic particles each week.

Microplastics have also been detected in human blood for the first time. According to new research recently published in the journal Environment International, scientists detected microplastics in nearly 80% of the people they tested.

Half of the blood samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used for drinking bottles. One third of the blood samples contained polystyrene plastic, which is often used for food packaging. One quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene plastic, which is used to make things like shopping bags and detergent bottles.

With plastic production predicted to double by 2040, more research is urgently needed to understand how ingesting microplastics affects human health.

**********

Web Links

Health risk due to micro- and nanoplastics in food

Microplastics found in human blood for first time

Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood

Photo, posted November 3, 2012, courtesy of Laura via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Cell-Based Meat And Seafood | Earth Wise

February 8, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We have heard about laboratory meat for a number of years, generally in terms of something that may happen at some point in the indeterminate future. But at least for a couple of California companies, that future is now.

These high-tech companies are producing products – real meat and seafood – that are originally cultured from animal cells but are made without the actual animal.

San Francisco-based Eat Just makes chicken nuggets that have recently gained regulatory approval in Singapore and are now available to order at a downtown restaurant. San Diego’s BlueNalu creates cell-based seafood fillets including yellowtail, mahi-mahi, red snapper, and tuna.

The companies use stem cells obtained from actual animals and cultivate them in steel tanks with the same nutrients that living animals consume. The original cell donor is not sacrificed. The harvested cells multiply and are eventually shaped to form meat or fish that cooks, looks, and tastes just like its natural counterpart.

The “mouth feel” of conventional meat or fish can be mimicked by recreating the same proportions of muscle, fat, and connective tissue in the cell-based product. Eat Just says their product cooks, looks, and tastes like chicken because it is chicken. BlueNalu says their product has all the same characteristics as fish because it is fish.

These products have major environmental, safety, and ethical advantages. The big question is whether people will eat them. Is there an “ick factor” to overcome? Ultimately, the key thing is how they taste. If they pass muster on that score and cell-based meats and seafood are scaled up and accepted, we can have the nutritional and sensory advantages of meat proteins without the environmental, ethical and safety disadvantages.

**********

Web Links

Can We Enjoy Meat and Seafood and Save the Planet?

Photo, posted February 1, 2012, courtesy of Andrea Parrish-Geyer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Costs Of Mislabeled Seafood | Earth Wise

January 27, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Seafood is the world’s most highly traded food commodity and reports of seafood mislabeling have become increasingly common over time. A new study by Arizona State University looked at the environmental effects of mislabeled seafood.

What is mislabeled seafood? Sometimes the snapper you were served was really Pacific Ocean Perch. Maybe grouper was really whitefin weakfish. Many times white leg shrimp are actually giant tiger prawns.

Approximately 190,000 to 250,000 tons of mislabeled seafood are sold in the U.S. each year, or 3.4 to 4.3% of consumed seafood. Previous studies focused on the economic aspects of getting cheaper fish when paying for more expensive fish. The new research looks at the environmental costs associated with mislabeled seafood.

Substituted seafood is 28% more likely to be imported from other countries, which may have weaker environmental laws than the U.S. In the United States, fishery management is pretty good. There is strong monitoring and enforcement to support limits on fishing. Metrics like fish abundance, fishing mortality, bycatch, and discards are all monitored. In many other places, this is not the case.

To really evaluate the overall effects of seafood mislabeling, one has to take into account both the rates of substitution and the levels of consumption.

Consuming fish from a well-managed fishery should not have a negative impact in terms of the population now or in the future. But even inadvertently consuming fish from poorly managed fisheries in not sustainable. It is good to get your seafood from a trusted source.

**********

Web Links

ASU Study Looks At The Environmental Effects Of Purchasing, Consuming Mislabeled Fish

Photo, posted August 1, 2014, courtesy of Ralph Daily via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Finding Plastic In Seafood | Earth Wise

September 15, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK and the University of Queensland in Australia have developed a new method for identifying and measuring the presence of five different types of plastic in seafood.

The researchers purchased oysters, prawns, squid, crabs, and sardines from a market in Australia and analyzed them using the new technique. They found plastic in every single sample.

Their findings showed that the amount of plastics present varies greatly among species and differs between individuals of the same species. The measured plastic levels were 0.04 mg per gram of seafood in squid, 0.07 mg in prawns, 0.1 mg in oysters, 0.3 mg in crabs, and 2.9 mg in sardines.

All the plastics are types commonly used in plastic packaging and synthetic textiles and are increasingly found in marine litter: polystyrene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, and polymethyl methacrylate.

The new method treats the seafood tissues with chemicals that dissolve the plastics present within them. The resulting solution is then analyzed using a highly sensitive technique called Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry which both identifies and quantifies the plastics.

Microplastics are an increasing source of pollution for much of the planet, including the oceans where they are eaten by all types of marine creatures ranging from planktonic organisms to large mammals. Microplastics enter our diet not only from seafood, but also from bottled water, sea salt, beer, and honey, as well as from dust that settles on our food.

**********

Web Links

Seafood study finds plastic in all samples

Photo, posted June 23, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Blue Acceleration | Earth Wise

February 24, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The oil and gas sector is the largest ocean industry. It’s responsible for about one third of the value of the ocean economy. Sand and gravel, destined for the construction industry, are the most mined minerals in the ocean. And during the past 50 years, approximately 16,000 desalination plants have popped up around the world to help supply people with an increasingly scarce commodity: freshwater.

As a result of these and other human pressures, the world’s oceans have suffered a lot over time. But according to a comprehensive new analysis on the state of the ocean, human pressure on the world’s oceans, driven by a combination of technological progress and declining land-based resources, sharply accelerated at the start of the 21st century. Scientists have dubbed this dramatic increase, which shows no signs of slowing down, the “Blue Acceleration.”

A research team from Stockholm University analyzed 50 years of data from aquaculture, bioprospecting, shipping, drilling, deep-sea mining, and more. Their findings were recently published in the journal One Earth.

While claiming ocean resources and space is not new, lead author Jean-Baptiste Jouffray from the Stockholm Resilience Centre says “the extent, intensity, and diversity of today’s aspirations are unprecedented.”

The researchers also highlight how not all human impacts on the ocean are negative. For example, offshore wind farm technology has reached commercial viability allowing the world to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

But how can the Blue Acceleration be slowed? Since only a handful of multinational companies dominate sectors like the seafood industry, oil and gas exploitation, and bioprospecting, one idea is to have banks and other investors adopt more stringent sustainability criteria for making ocean investments.

**********

Web Links

Human pressure on world’s ocean shows no sign of slowing

Photo, posted October 29, 2008, courtesy of Silke Baron via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

We’re Still Eating The Wrong Things

August 23, 2019 By EarthWise 1 Comment

A new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found that despite efforts to increase public awareness of health issues related to diet, the amount of processed meat consumed by Americans has remained unchanged in the past 18 years. Furthermore, our intake of fish and shellfish has not increased. One quarter of US adults are still eating more unprocessed read meat than the recommended level, and less than 15% meet the current guidelines for fish and shellfish consumption.

About the only positive note is that Americans are eating less beef and more chicken than they did 18 years ago and, in fact, for the first time, the consumption of poultry exceeds that of unprocessed red meat.

Accumulating evidence has linked excessive consumption of processed meat to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. The study’s authors speculate that public awareness of these linkages is not widespread enough to affect change and, in any case, factors other than health – social, cultural, and economic – have greater influence over Americans’ food choices. The top five consumed processed meats are luncheon meat, sausage, hot dogs, ham, and bacon.

The low consumption of fish and shellfish among U.S. adults could be due to high retail prices, lack of awareness of the health benefits, and concerns about mercury contamination in certain types of fish.

Future research is needed to identify barriers to reducing processed meat consumption and increased seafood consumption. Policies such as nutrition quality standards, excise taxes, health warning labels, and other interventions need to be explored.

**********

Web Links

Americans still eat too much processed meat and too little fish

Photo, posted January 28, 2014, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And Global Fisheries

April 12, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A Rutgers University-led study published in the journal Science has shown that climate change has taken a toll on many of the world’s fisheries and that over fishing has magnified the problem.

Seafood has become an increasingly important source of nourishment as the global population grows, especially in coastal, developing countries where it provides as much as half of the animal protein eaten. More than 50 million people worldwide work in the fisheries industry or subsist on fisheries.

Scientists at Rutgers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration studied the impact of ocean warming on 235 populations of 124 species in 38 ecological regions around the world. Species included fish, crustaceans such as shrimp, and mollusks such as scallops. They combined data on fisheries with ocean temperature maps to estimate temperature-driven changes in the sustainable catch over 8 decades. The data covered about one-third of the global catch.

According to the study, ocean warming has led to an estimated 4.1% drop in sustainable catches, on average around the world, for many species of fish and shellfish from 1930 to 2010. In five regions that include the East China Sea and the North Sea, the estimated decline was 15 to 35%.

The researchers recommend that fisheries managers eliminate over fishing, rebuild fisheries, and account for climate change in fisheries management decisions. Over fishing provides a one-two punch to fisheries facing warming waters. It not only makes fisheries more vulnerable to ocean warming but continued warming will also hinder efforts to rebuild over fished populations.

**********

Web Links

Climate Change Shrinks Many Fisheries Globally, Rutgers-Led Study Finds

Photo, posted April 23, 2011, courtesy of Derek Keats via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Reducing Slavery In Seafood

August 28, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The seafood industry is one of the largest employers in the world. But according to a 2016 report, the seafood industry also contains widespread forced labor. Forty seven seafood-producing countries were reported to utilize forced labor. The seafood hub countries of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Peru, and the Philippines were also reported to use a significant percentage of child labor.

Is Sustainable Seafood Really Sustainable?

December 5, 2017 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Tuna is perhaps the most popular seafood. We eat it out of a can, we splurge on high-end sushi, and we prepare it in many other ways. Some species of tuna are over-fished and some fishing methods are unsustainable. As concerned consumers, we would like to know what sort of tuna we are eating.

Whale Sharks

September 9, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea. They can grow more than 40 feet in length, weigh up to 47,000 lbs, and have a lifespan of about 70 years. They can be found cruising in the open waters of tropical oceans. But despite being enormous, whale sharks are no threat to humans. The docile beasts, which feed almost exclusively on plankton, have often been referred to as “gentle giants.”

[Read more…] about Whale Sharks