Will the worlds taste for sushi kill the oceans?

American_Jihad · Aug 2, 2012

Will the worlds taste for sushi kill the oceans?

As the taste for raw fish spreads to India, China and Eastern Europe, the "sustainable sushi" movement emerges

Wednesday, Aug 1, 2012 04:45 PM EDT
By Andrew O'Hehir

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Unlike most issue-oriented documentaries about the abundant idiocy of the human species and the imminent demise of our planet, Mark S. Halls Sushi: The Global Catch offers foodies and sushi buffs a refreshing palate-cleanser before the parade of experts and the dire news reports. (A YouTube trailer for the film is posted below.) In addition to interviewing Japanese fishermen, fish traders and high-end sushi chefs upholding a centuries-old tradition, Hall travels to a football game in suburban Texas and the Polish city of Lodz to demonstrate the global explosion of what was once (at least outside Tokyo) an eccentric and/or ethnic specialty cuisine. We learn about the stroke of entrepreneurial evil genius that is Sushi Popper, pre-sliced sushi rolls served in a Pringles-type can with a push-up apparatus. (The cucumber roll looks great, but the so-called California Roll contains a panoply of truly frightening ingredients.)

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Will the world’s taste for sushi kill the oceans? - Salon.com

Mr. H. · Aug 2, 2012

I thought good sushi had no taste. That's why they go dippin' inna spicy shit.

waltky · Aug 24, 2012

Cures for diseases may lay beneath the waves...

Scientists Say World's Oceans Hold Great Medical Promise
August 24, 2012 - Humans have turned to nature for medicines since ancient times. And modern scientists have searched the worlds rainforests for new medicinal compounds. The earths oceans may be an even better source, though, and at least 26 drugs that come from marine organisms are currently on the market or in development. A generation of innovative chemists hopes to boost this number.

Chemist Mande Holford has an unusual partner in her hunt for new medicines: a fierce marine snail that eats fish. Her study of the creature, she said, is not entirely scientific. I fell in love with snails because their shells are gorgeous, said Holford. Their tongue-like proboscides, on the other hand, are deadly. They inject prey with venom thats made of poisonous chains of amino acids, called peptides. I like to say that the snails produce a cluster bomb. Inside [their] venom, you have between 50 to 250 peptides," said Holford. "All target something major in the nervous system. One thing that they hit is a pain signal. When they silence the pain signal, the prey doesnt go into fight or flight mode.

Marine research yields major medicines

So the fish stays calmer than it naturally would, even as its being eaten. Chemists already have had one major success repurposing the snails peptides - a drug called Prialt eases pain for HIV and cancer patients. On your neurons, you have these 'gates' that allow things to pass from one side to the other. The gate that controls chronic pain, theyve found a way to shut it down using one of the peptides, said said Holford.

Holford may have been drawn to study snails by their beauty. She represents a broader trend, however, toward marine research. Weve found some absolutely fascinating chemistry, said David Newman, who directs the Natural Products Branch of the U.S. National Cancer Institute. After years of collecting organisms on land, his team now collects only marine life, like sponges or corals. He explains that because these organisms cant move, they rely on chemical warfare. I have been known to say that weapons of mass destruction are alive and well on the coral reef, if you happen to be a fellow sponge whos trying to encroach, or youre a starfish thats trying to eat the sponge. These are extremely toxic agents because of the dilution effect of seawater, said Newman. For an organization looking to kill cancerous cells, such potent chemicals are an attractive weapon.

Deep ocean mud loaded with cells

And far below coral reefs, some nine kilometers deep, lies what may be an even more promising source - mud. Close to 70 percent of the surface of the earth is really deep ocean mud, said William Fenical, who directs the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Scripps Institute for Oceanography in California. His team focuses on microorganisms living on the sea floor. These muds contain about one billion cells in the volume of a sugar cube, said Fenical.

For comparison, thats one million times the organic matter youre likely to find in a similar amount of soil on land. Its the sheer diversity of this microbial soup that excites Fenical. For the last 50 years, microorganisms that occur on land have been exploited for the production of antibiotics, cancer drugs, and cholesterol lowering drugs. What we believe is that the ocean is a completely new resource for such microbial products, he said. Fenicals team already has two drugs in development. He said he sees no end to prospects for ocean-based medicines.

Source
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martybegan · Aug 24, 2012

American_Jihad said: ↑

Will the worlds taste for sushi kill the oceans?

As the taste for raw fish spreads to India, China and Eastern Europe, the "sustainable sushi" movement emerges

Wednesday, Aug 1, 2012 04:45 PM EDT
By Andrew O'Hehir

---

Unlike most issue-oriented documentaries about the abundant idiocy of the human species and the imminent demise of our planet, Mark S. Halls Sushi: The Global Catch offers foodies and sushi buffs a refreshing palate-cleanser before the parade of experts and the dire news reports. (A YouTube trailer for the film is posted below.) In addition to interviewing Japanese fishermen, fish traders and high-end sushi chefs upholding a centuries-old tradition, Hall travels to a football game in suburban Texas and the Polish city of Lodz to demonstrate the global explosion of what was once (at least outside Tokyo) an eccentric and/or ethnic specialty cuisine. We learn about the stroke of entrepreneurial evil genius that is Sushi Popper, pre-sliced sushi rolls served in a Pringles-type can with a push-up apparatus. (The cucumber roll looks great, but the so-called California Roll contains a panoply of truly frightening ingredients.)

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Will the worlds taste for sushi kill the oceans? - Salon.com
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The need to develop deep sea aquaculture may be nessasary sooner or later. Once a given group owns the fish/fishery in question they are more apt to keep it healthy, as opposed to wild fishing, where the first come first serve nature tends to bring competition and a general ignorance of sustainable fishing methods.

Usually I hate using the word sustainable in front of anything, but in the case of fishery management, it is a very apt term. The key it to get the fishermen invovled, and as always, prevent people who oppose fishing entirely from getting into the process (PETA people, I'm looking at you.)

waltky · Sep 30, 2012

Granny been wonderin' why the fishin's been lousy lately...

Climate change 'may shrink fish'
30 September 2012 - Fish body size is related to the water's temperature and oxygen levels, says the team

Fish species are expected to shrink in size by up to 24% because of global warming, say scientists. Researchers modelled the impact of rising temperatures on more than 600 species between 2001 and 2050. Warmer waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels and significantly reduce fish body weight. The scientists argue that failure to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a greater impact on marine ecosystems than previously thought.

Previous research has suggested that changing ocean temperatures would impact both the distribution and the reproductive abilities of many species of fish. This new work suggests that fish size would also be heavily impacted. The researchers built a model to see how fish would react to lower levels of oxygen in the water. They used data from one of the higher emissions scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Warming the fish

Although this data projects relatively small changes in temperatures at the bottom of the oceans, the resulting impacts on fish body size are "unexpectedly large" according to the paper. As ocean temperatures increase, so do the body temperatures of fish. But, according to lead author, Dr William Cheung, from the University of British Columbia, the level of oxygen in the water is key. "Rising temperatures directly increase the metabolic rate of the fish's body function," he told BBC News. "This leads to an increase in oxygen demand for normal body activities. So the fish will run out of oxygen for growth at a smaller body size."

The research team also used its model to predict fish movements as a result of warming waters. The group believes that most fish populations will move towards the Earth's poles at a rate of up to 36km per decade. "So in, say, the North Sea," says Dr Cheung, "one would expect to see more smaller-body fish from tropical waters in the future."

Conservative model
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waltky · Oct 3, 2012

Climate change killin' the Great Barrier Reef...

Great Barrier Reef coral halved in 27 years: study
Wed, Oct 03, 2012 - NATURE AND MAN:The damage is being done at such frequent intervals that the coral does not have enough time to recover from each trauma, researchers said

Australias Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years due to storms, predatory starfish and bleaching linked to climate change, a study released yesterday found. The research by scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS) and the University of Wollongong warned that coral cover on the heritage-listed reef the worlds largest could halve again by 2022 if trends continued. Intense tropical cyclones 34 in total since 1985 were responsible for much of the damage, accounting for 48 percent, with outbreaks of the coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish linked to 42 percent. Two severe coral bleaching events in 1998 and 2002 due to ocean warming also had major detrimental impacts on the central and northern parts of the reef, the study found, putting the impact at 10 percent.

Two-thirds of the loss had occurred since 1998, with the rate of decline increasing substantially and only three of the 214 individual reefs surveyed across the sprawling 345,000km2 site escaping any impact. This loss of over half of initial cover is of great concern, signifying habitat loss for the tens of thousands of species associated with tropical coral reefs, the study said. Author Hugh Sweatman said the findings, which were drawn from the worlds largest ever reef monitoring project involving 2,258 surveys over 27 years, showed that coral could recover from such trauma. But recovery takes 10-20 years. At present, the intervals between the disturbances are generally too short for full recovery and thats causing the long-term losses, Sweatman said.

The study said cyclone intensities were increasing as the worlds oceans warmed and bleaching deaths would almost certainly increase as a result of climate changes. The recent frequency and intensity of mass coral bleaching are of major concern, and are directly attributable to rising atmospheric greenhouse gases, it said. Mitigation of global warming and ocean acidification is essential for the future of the great barrier reef. AIMS chief John Gunn said it was difficult to stop the storms and bleaching, but researchers could focus their short-term efforts on the large, poisonous and spiny starfish, which feasts on coral polyps and can devastate reef cover. The study said improving water quality was key to controlling starfish outbreaks, with increased agricultural run-off such as fertilizer along the reef coast causing algal blooms that starfish larvae feed on. We cant stop the storms but perhaps we can stop the starfish, Gunn said. If we can, then the reef will have more opportunity to adapt to the challenges of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification.

He said researchers would try to better predict and reduce the periodic population explosions of the starfish and explore whether direct intervention methods could be useful. According to the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, coral cover would be able to rejuvenate by 0.89 percent every year without the starfish. So even with losses due to cyclones and bleaching there should be slow recovery, Gunn said. UNESCO warned it was considering listing the reef as a heritage site in danger earlier this year due to the unprecedented gas and coal mining boom in northern Australia and increasing coastal development.

Great Barrier Reef coral halved in 27 years: study - Taipei Times
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