Fish & Fisheries

"SAN FRANCISCO – For centuries, men like Larry Collins, a garrulous crab and sole fisherman, were free to harvest the seas. But sweeping across the globe is a system that slowly and steadily hands over a $400 billion ocean fishing industry to corporations. The system, called catch shares, in most cases favors large fishing fleets, a review of the systems operating across the United States shows."

"Ten years have gone by since one of the weirdest discoveries in the Chesapeake Bay region, on the south branch of the Potomac River — male smallmouth bass with lady parts, eggs in places where they absolutely should not be."

"Five species of sharks and two types of manta rays won new safeguards Monday, as delegates to a global wildlife summit voted to limit the trade of species that have been overharvested for decades."

Tens of thousands of fishermen and activists have written the Food and Drug Administration, which is considering approving genetically engineered salmon as food. They worry the giant fish could escape into the wild and interbreed with natural salmon.

"Protection measures have failed to stop around 100 million sharks being fished every year and a third of all shark species are now threatened with extinction, conservationists say."

"You're going to need a bigger fishbowl.

"If you order tuna at a D.C. restaurant, chances are half the time you’ll be getting another, less expensive fish in its place. But those odds are better than if you had wanted snapper. Testers nationwide found that 87 percent of the time, restaurants and grocery stores were selling something else under that label."

"What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies."

"During the Gold Rush, the San Francisco Bay’s native oyster habitat was all but wiped out due to overharvesting and hydraulic mining washing sediment onto the bay floor. But a Richmond-based nonprofit has plans to restore the shellfish’s lost habitat along the Point Pinole shoreline."

The labels meant to give consumers confidence in the sustainability of the seafood they buy may be deceptive.