EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
US Sets 2012 Catch Limits for All Managed Fish Species
Wash Post, 01/09/2012"In an effort to sustain commercial and recreational fishing for the next several decades, the United States this year will become the first country to impose catch limits for every species it manages, from Alaskan pollock to Caribbean queen conch."
"SALMON: Battle for Bristol Bay, a Resource Struggle for the Ages"
Greenwire, 12/22/2011Can southwest Alaska make money from its rich mineral deposits without destroying the Bristol Bay fishery that is currently an economic mainstay?
"Giving Shad a 30-Year Chance"
Green/NYT, 11/22/2011"State and federal wildlife officials have a rare opportunity to stem the decline of American shad on the Susquehanna River, a Chesapeake Bay tributary crucial to annual spawning runs."
"Menhaden Harvest Limit Sharply Cut By Fisheries Commission"
Wash Post, 11/11/2011"Concerned that overfishing is destroying the ability of menhaden to reproduce, the commission that manages the Atlantic coast fishery voted Wednesday to sharply reduce the catch of the fish."
Federal Judge Backs Rules That Limit Pesticide Use Near Salmon Habitat
Portland Oregonian, 11/01/2011"A federal judge [Monday] upheld new rules designed to protect West Coast salmon and steelhead from three widely used farm pesticides."
"2 Fisheries Collapsed Unnoticed, Study Says"
Green/NYT, 10/26/2011"Two popular Southern California fisheries have collapsed right under the noses of management agencies that had inadequate data, a new study suggests."
Japanese Plate Tells You If Your Sushi Is Radioactive
London Daily Mail, 10/26/2011"The Fukushima Plate is tableware with its own built-in safety mechanism. Underneath the plate is a radiation meter that logs whether your sushi has absorbed too much seaborne radiation from the Fukushima disaster earlier this year."
Report: Countries Catch Way More Bluefin Tuna Than They're Supposed To
Mother Jones, 10/24/2011"Countries around the world are selling more than twice as much Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna than international standards allow, according to a new report from the Pew Environment Group. The report, released earlier this week, compares the recorded volume of Atlantic bluefin tuna caught and traded in the Mediterranean Sea and northeastern Atlantic Ocean with catch quotas set by the intergovernmental body responsible for regulating the fish's trade."
"Shark Massacre Reported in Colombian Waters"
Guardian, 10/20/2011"Colombian environmental authorities have reported a huge shark massacre in the Malpelo wildlife sanctuary in Colombia's Pacific waters, where as many as 2,000 hammerhead, Galápagos and silky sharks may have been slaughtered for their fins."
Sibylla Brodzinsky reports for the Guardian October 19, 2011.
"Salmon-Killing Virus Seen for 1st Time in Wild on the Pacific Coast"
Green/NYT, 10/18/2011"A lethal and highly contagious marine virus has been detected for the first time in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, researchers in British Columbia said on Monday, stirring concern that it could spread there, as it has in Chile, Scotland and elsewhere.
Farms hit by the virus, infectious salmon anemia, have lost 70 percent or more of their fish in recent decades. But until now, the virus, which does not affect humans, had never been confirmed on the West Coast of North America.
"Study: FDA Seafood Standards Flawed"
USA TODAY, 10/14/2011"In wake of last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a new study from an environmental watchdog group contends that current federal standards underestimate the risk to pregnant women and children of cancer-causing contaminants that can accumulate in seafood from such spills."
"Industry, Enviros Gird for U.N. Battle Over Deep-Sea Trawling"
Greenwire, 10/13/2011"UNITED NATIONS -- Conservationists and the international fishing industry are gearing up for another showdown over the fishing method known as bottom trawling next month, when U.N. officials return to what has probably been the most intensely debated fisheries issue to feature here over the last decade."
"Gulf Shrimp Are Scarce This Season; Answers, Too"
NY Times, 10/11/2011"LAFITTE, La. — The dock at Bundy’s Seafood is quiet, the trucks are empty and a crew a fraction of the normal size sits around a table waiting for something to do. But the most telling indicator that something is wrong is the smell. It smells perfectly fine."
"California Bans Possession, Sale of Shark Fins"
ENS, 10/10/2011"SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Governor Jerry Brown [Friday] signed legislation to ban the possession and sale of shark fins in California, saying shark finning for culinary purposes has led to substantial declines in shark populations worldwide."
"Gulf Fish Hammered by BP Oil"
Mother Jones, 09/27/2011"Even minuscule amounts of BP's crude oil has affected fish in profound ways in the Gulf of Mexico—even when oil in the water was nondetectable. This according to a paper in early view in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science)."

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