The decline in the Atlantic menhaden population over the past few decades is staggering: An 88 percent drop in numbers between 1979 and 2009. The population that once measured close to 200 billion is down to less than 200 billion. The fish that some believe to be the most important in the sea is on the verge of collapse. The main culprit? Commercial harvesting.
Recreational anglers up and down the Atlantic seaboard have noticed the increased absence of this essential cog in the food chain. The groups that represent those anglers are joining together to do something about it. A total of 34 organizations, from local chapters of the Coastal Conservation Association to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to Bass Pro Shops–click here for the full list–have signed on to form a grass-roots conservation campaign called The Menhaden Coalition.
Jerry Benson, the Vice President of CCA Virginia, is one of main people responsible for organizing this coalition. His home State still allows commercial harvest of menhaden for reduction in the Chesapeake Bay–the main nursery for striped bass–to the tune of 240 million pounds a year. Where does the commercial harvest go? Into Omega-3 protein for fish oil capsules, and into farmed fish and livestock feed. And fertilizer.
Benson has been fighting to get Virginia to change its menhaden management policies, and hopes this coalition–formed in January 2010–will have an impact up and down the coast.
“We have organizations from New Jersey to North Carolina involved,” he said over the phone. The ultimate goal is to work with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to set restrictions of commercial menhaden harvesting to more sustainable levels to allow the population to recover.
We hope they can make an impact. Otherwise, this graph will continue its downward slope.
From Noah to the sinking of the whaleship Essex to The Perfect Storm, maritime disaster stories have kept audiences riveted in accounts recorded on the written page. But in the Youtube and reality TV era, and particularly with the immense popularity of Deadliest Catch, the written word has some stiff competition. It is against these outlets that Kalee Thompson’s new book Deadliest Seamust hold up. And it does. In a fast-paced 289 pages, Deadliest Sea delivers the goods its readers will crave.
Thompson originally wrote about the Coast Guard rescue operation launched for the crew of the fishing boat Alaska Ranger for an article in Popular Mechanics. From there she had the foundations for this book. Thanks to Thompson’s heavy-duty reporting, Deadliest Sea offers a depth of background and information that would be impossible to reproduce in a video or television format. The book brings together the backgrounds of both the Alaska Ranger crew and their rescuers, and how they all intersect in a singular dire situation.
With all the reportorial detail, the book also has the requisite riveting moments that captivate even despite knowing the eventual outcome. A favorite passage:
Ryan’s mind was racing. He was pretty sure he’d heard the ship’s officers talking to the Warrior. The other FCA boat would be on its way, but would they have relayed the message to the Coast Guard? If they did, the Coasties would be coming all the way from Kodiak, Ryan thought. That was so far, hundreds of miles away. It was still dark. Would it be easier to spot him at night, or during the day? he wondered. Maybe at night. His strobe light was still flashing. He thought about how he’d look from the sky. Would they see the suit, the light? Jesus Christ, how long could he stay like this?
The waves were huge: twenty-footers, Ryan guessed. From the deck of the ship, seas this size wouldn’t be any sort of spectacle. It was a different story when you were submerged in the goddamn things. He couldn’t keep the freezing spray out of his nose and eyes, the only parts of his body that weren’t protected by the suit. What if no one was coming?”
It’s a scenario anyone who has taken even a day trip out of sight of land has contemplated, and all the details, and the ensuing Coast Guard rescue, come to life in this book.
The BP oil spill in the Gulf hasn’t come close to being contained. The company’s getting a slight reprieve from media scrutiny while LeBron James decides where he’s going to play basketball next year, but the oil is still flowing. We’re looking at mid-August for relief, according to this CNN report.
According to this USA Today report, BP will get more local boats involved, hiring them for cleanup duty. Right now the company has enlisted 8,500 boats from affected regions, presumably people who have lost their livelihood due to the contaminated seas.
The article goes into more detail on payment:
“…For example, vessels shorter than 30 feet get $1,200 for a 24-hour period, while those longer than 65 feet get $3,000. Crewmembers get $200 per eight-hour day for responding to the spill or receiving training.”
You can file your own “citizen scientist” reports on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster and contribute information about what’s really happening down there. All you have to do is download the free iPhone app called “MoGo,” short for Mobile Gulf Observatory, from scientists at UMass Amherst.
If you live in or are visiting the Gulf region and see affected wildlife or habitat, or any of the oil slick or tarballs, open the App and snap a picture in the appropriate category.
According to the Mogo website:
“Once you upload your photo, the locations of oiled and injured wildlife are pin-pointed with a GPS code generated by your iPhone™. You are then immediately connected to the Wildlife Hotline to report your observations so trained responders can be deployed to rescue oiled and injured animals, and to mobilize efforts to protect and restore vital habitats for fish and wildlife.”
As one captain said to the reporters, “This might be the last fishing I ever do in my lifetime.”
Meanwhile, BP is now capturing 15,000 barrels a day, while still leaking some. Which calls into question just how much oil spilled into the Gulf since this began.
Philippe Cousteau and an ABC news crew went diving in Hazmat suits to see what was going on below the surface. It’s an underwater look at what is already being called the worst oil disaster in US history.
Quote: “I think this has got to be one of the most horrible things I’ve seen underwater.”
Already, oil is visible in virtually all of Louisiana’s closed coastal waters. Yet its ultimate impact on the gulf fisheries will not be known for months at the earliest.”
As the BP Oil Disaster continues to wreak havoc on the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico, a lot of us are left with feelings of disgust giving way to frustrated helplessness. What can we do when an irresponsible company and a lax government agency bring forth a disaster of epic proportions?
Satellite Image of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.
To avert a natural disaster along the wetlands of the Louisiana coastline, the Coast Guard today started a controlled burn of the oil slick formed from the Gulf oil rig explosion.According to the Coast Guard News website:
Workboats will consolidate oil into a fire resistant boom approximately 500 feet long. This oil will then be towed to a more remote area, where it will be ignited and burned in a controlled manner. The plan calls for small, controlled burns of several thousand gallons of oil lasting approximately one hour each.
Since the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, an uncapped well has been pumping 42,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf, according to this CNN report. Hopefully, the controlled burn contains the impending natural disaster.
