Fish & Fisheries

"A federal effort to ban the sale of raw oysters harvested during the warm months along the Gulf Coast has kicked up a hurricane of opposition from oystermen and members of Congress and threatened to derail a signature food-safety initiative by the Obama administration."

"At an emotional meeting, a state panel imposes the landmark restrictions to help restore species, catches of which have dropped up to 95%. The plan was forged out of contentious negotiations."

"An international fisheries group set up to protect Atlantic tuna has done the opposite and driven one species of the fish, the bluefin, to the edge of extinction, environmentalists said Thursday."

"Federal officials plan to ban sales of raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico unless the shellfish are treated to destroy potentially deadly bacteria -- a requirement that opponents say could deprive diners of a delicacy cherished for generations."

"The latest mass escape from a British Columbia fish farm has led to renewed calls from the New Democratic Party to change how the farms are run."
 

A trawl survey that has been conducted weekly for some 50 years in Narragansett Bay is finding profound changes in the composition of sea life there. Biologically, the news is bad. Despite huge investments in cleaning up the Bay, climate change seems to be the villain.

"Cod is slipping closer to disappearing from key European fishing grounds, officials warned Friday, saying that only steep catch cuts will prevent the disappearance of a species prized for centuries for its flaky white flesh."

"The Obama administration’s new plan to show that salmon and hydroelectric dams can coexist along the Columbia and Snake Rivers is not all that different from the Bush administration’s old plan, according to critics who want a federal judge to rule against it."

Federal water managers open valves this week for an ambitious effort to restore salmon from the San Joaquin River.