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The
Menhaden Story - Overfishing of this small fish by a
Virginia Company endangers all Atlantic wildlife:
Seabirds, Whales, and game fish.
From: Paul
Guris <paulagics.com@gmail.com> May 14 05:37PM
-0400
This article is a must read for anybody interested in
our marine life on
the state of the overfishing of Menhaden on the Atlantic
Coast and its
impact on the ecosystem. Just one rendering plant is
using planes and
purse seines to harvest 250-500 million pounds a year,
more than any other
fish harvest on our coast. This is a major food source
for multiple
species of game fish, cetaceans, and seabirds. I have
seen Northern
Gannets massing on schools of young Menhaden multiple
times. The fat and
oil in a Menhaden make it the best food source for many
of these animals.
Read the whole article at:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/mayjune_2012/features/a_fish_story037074.php
One quote from the article puts it all into perspective:
*Harvested by the billions and then processed into
various industrial
products, menhaden are extruded into feed pellets that
make up the staple
food product for a booming global aquaculture market,
diluted into oil for
omega-3 health supplements, and sold in various meals
and liquids to
companies that make pet food, livestock feed,
fertilizer, and cosmetics. We
have all consumed menhaden one way or another. Pound for
pound, more
menhaden are pulled from the sea than any other fish
species in the
continental United States, and 80 percent of the
menhaden netted from the
Atlantic are the property of a single company.
28 %
of the World's Seabirds are threatened with extinction
The status of the world’s
seabirds has deteriorated rapidly over recent decades
and several species and many populations are now
perilously close to extinction. These are the findings
of a major new review published this week in the
scientific journal Bird Conservation International.
Read the whole article.
http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/03/new-review-reveals-worrying-declines-in-the-worlds-seabirds/
Honest By Catch
HonestByCatch was created out of the concern
surrounding the incidental capture of non-targeted
marine life in the industrial Atlantic herring midwater
trawl fishery.
Evidence shows these
oversized corporate operations dump hundreds of
thousands of dead and dying cod, haddock, river herring,
striped bass and marine mammals back into the sea.
Visit
www.honestbycatch.com to find out more about the
issue and how to get involved.
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Firends of Maine Seabird Islands - A new
organization to protect the breeding birds on the Maine
Offshore Islands.
www.maineseabirds.org |
Join them.
Breeding seabirds need all the protection they can get.
See the report of
Manx Shearwater breeding in 2009 on Matinicus Rock, Me
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SEANET
http://seanetters.wordpress.com/
The Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET)
is a citizen science program that brings together
interdisciplinary researchers and citizen scientists
in a long-term collaborative effort to identify and
mitigate threats to marine birds. |
SEANET volunteers conduct beached bird surveys in
order to identify and record information about bird
mortality along the east coast of the United States.
Data collected by hundreds of SEANET volunteers are used
to examine the spatial pattern of bird carcass
deposition and how it varies across time.
Web blog contains information
about identifying beached birds and even a beached bird
quiz.
Sharks
There are 15 species of sharks that may be seen in New
England waters. How many can you identify. To
improve your identification skills see
Captain Tom's Guide To New England Sharks
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