Bad news for scampi lovers: meeting the world’s demand for shrimp is doing some serious damage to the ocean (and our health). Here are five little-known reasons to take shrimp recipes out of the dinner rotation.

In his new book, “The Perfect Protein”, Andy Sharpless makes some very compelling arguments for why we should all rethink our favorite shrimp recipes. Sharpless is CEO of Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation group, so he knows a thing or two about what our insatiable appetite for seafood is doing to the planet.

Americans eat more shrimp than any other type of seafood by weight. According to Sharpless, being very careful about how we source shrimp can go a long way toward protecting the oceans. The sad reality is neither fishing nor farming is a truly sustainable way to produce shrimp. Read on for some more compelling reasons to wean yourself off shrimp.

5 Reasons To Kick Your Shrimp Recipes To The Curb

1. Most shrimp consumed in the United States comes from farms in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand. These operations grow shrimp in shallow pools that form the perfect haven for bacteria and viruses. Even scarier? Only two percent of all imported seafood is tested by the Food and Drug Administration.

2. To combat the pathogens that see shrimp pools as breeding grounds, shrimp farmers often dump high levels of antibiotics and pesticides into the water–some of which are banned for use in the U.S. and other countries. You demand organic produce, but how often do you search for organic seafood? Kind of defeats the purpose, right?

3. In order to make room for shrimp operations, farmers often rip out mangrove forests, which is terrible for the environment. “Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that mangrove forests absorb and trap more climate-changing carbon dioxide than any other ecosystem on the planet, including rainforests. Mangroves also serve as nursery areas for other ocean creatures, and they help keep coasts secure by reducing flooding during storms,” reports Prevention.com.

4. Tearing up precious mangrove forests is bad enough, but that’s not the worst part: When shrimp farming pools become too old or contaminated for use, farmers just move on to a new area and repeat the process. The former mangrove forest is now a polluted wasteland, leaching dangerous chemicals into the water supply.

5. I know what you’re thinking. “I only every buy wild-caught seafood, so my shrimp recipes are safe.” Think again. Wild shrimp are caught with fine-meshed trawl nets pulled through the water behind a boat. The only problem is that they nets catch a lot of other stuff besides shrimp. “Most fish are damaged from being in the net, and many are discarded—dead or dying—overboard,” Sharpless points out. “Nets routinely pull up 9,000 endangered or threatened sea turtles annually, in addition to sharks, red snappers, and other animals.”

Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Shrimp

Giving up shrimp won’t be easy, but there are some more responsible seafood choices that can help. According to Sharpless, sardines and anchovies, mussels, Alaskan salmon, domestic clams, and farmed oysters are more sustainable selections that are also safer for your health.

Related on Ecosalon:

Back Away From The Tuna, Shrimp, and Salmon

Make The Right Fish Pick With Seafood Watch App

Sorry Charlie: Loving Tuna To Death

Image: wwarby

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Testing out new foods and traditions in the Lofoten Islands. 

I was once a vegetarian.

For years, I didn’t eat meat. I cut it out for environmental reasons. I didn’t support the energy that was going into each burger, steak and chop, that I had been consuming, so I decided to stop eating it completely.

It wasn’t until 2007 when I took a trip to Australia that I made the choice to introduce it back into my diet. I was staying on farms and decided that since I was a guest in these homes, I would eat anything that was put in front of me. And I’m glad I did. I didn’t want to miss out on any experience that came my way.

Recently I have found myself in a similar situation, working for several weeks in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. Before I came, I knew that I would be up to my ears with fish, something that has brought me much joy. From talking with local fisherman to trying my hand at the sport – without much luck, sadly – my interest has been peaked.

I have landed in the heart of the cod industry.

The Lofoten Islands supply the world with cod, and you can feel it. Lofoten is an archipelago that is surrounded by the Norwegian Sea to the north, and the Vestfjorden fjord to the south. The small chain of islands stretches a mere 200 kilometers in length, and is the home for cod migrating down from the Barents Sea when they are 5 or 6 years old. It is the largest population of cod in the world. There are roughly 1500 boats based in Lofoten, pulling in up to 1000 kilograms of cod a day with a single hook. Nets and trawling are prohibited here in an effort to protect the highly valuable population. The winter catch is dried and exported to North America, Europe, parts of Africa, everywhere. Your daily spoonful of fish oil, that’s coming from here.

Every harbor is home to countless fishing boats. Driving the coastal roads, there are fish drying racks as far as the eye can see. As for menus, well they’re full of seafood prepared in more ways than Bubba could list out – fillets, steaks, stews, you name it. Dried cod has become one of my favorites. Similar to jerky, it’s the perfect protein boost in the middle of climbing one of the many spectacular mountains here that jump out of the sea.

“Ooo Sarah! Cod tongues. This is a real specialty up here. Let’s get a plate,” said my friend Kristin when we stopped into a restaurant in Reine. I was surprised when my reaction was not nausea, but rather an excited, “Oh Kristin, yes! We have to try!”

This particular dish speaks to the industry being so ingrained in the tradition and history of Lofoten. In the spring time, I’m told that you’ll find local children walking the docks asking fishermen for the heads of the cod. They’re the ones who cut out the tongues and sell to markets, restaurants, and individuals. This is how they first learn the fishing business, while still making a little money for themselves.

Cod tongues cut out by children? I can deal with that, but I was really thrown by the whale meat. It’s the season for it, you know, so it’s being thrown on every grill between Solvær and Værøy. When I first noticed it, I was bewildered. My friend Kristin picked up on my astonishment, and simply said, “Well you Americans. You’re all into your Free Willy stuff.” But this wasn’t about Keiko. I told her that we simply didn’t kill whales and eat them. Never. More and more people continued to sum this up to the children’s movie we all know and love. I kept defending our case for not eating whale as being about animal rights, talked with them about endangered species, all of that stuff. I just didn’t feel right about killing such an animal.

Norway Landscape Reel from Sarah Menzies on Vimeo.

After much conversation, I learned that in this region, it’s a species that is in abundance up here, and the regulations are strict. Deer and elk were compared to whale meat. I was also told about the role that the whale plays in the history of Norway, and the low quotas of meat caught annually that are barely being met each year. Still, something feels off about it. And you can feel the dilemma here. At the mention of whale, feathers are ruffled. Either people are strongly for it, or just as strongly against it. I’ve decided to not bring the matter up for fear of offending my present company.

This has forced me to think a lot about food choices. What are we eating in America that stirs up the same kind of controversy? Some could argue that clear cutting in the name of a Big Mac is just as offensive, and certainly more harmful, environmentally speaking. Seeing boats come into a harbor with the daily catch of whale meat gets me thinking about the low environmental impact. Did the whale live a free and happy life before meeting its end? I hope so.

Images: Sarah Menzies, Kristin Folsland Olsen

The post The Local Experience: Cod Tongue and Whale Steak in Norway appeared first on EcoSalon.

10 ways to ensure the fish you are eating is sustainably caught and healthy.

One of the most confusing oceans to navigate is that of seafood. First there’s the question of mercury and other contaminants. How do you avoid those? Then comes the issue of a reliable source. Where breeds the healthiest fish, and sustainably so at that? Lastly, and equally as important, how’s the fish supposed to look, feel and smell? All these considerations are quite overwhelming and often end with a frustrating shrug and sigh.

With so much to consider, it can be tricky to get your buck’s worth in terms of your health and the environment. Luckily, we’ve done the research and have put together ten ways you can ensure you are eating the most sustainable fish the world has to offer.

Do Your Homework

Before going to the grocery store, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch for a comprehensive guide to ocean-friendly seafood. According to the organization’s Communications Director Ken Peterson, “Seafood Watch is far and away the source used by consumers and major seafood buyers in North America to shape their seafood buying decisions in ways that promote healthy fisheries and healthy oceans.” The site outlines each fish’s market name, where it is caught and  how it is caught, indicating which variation of a particular fish is the “Best Choice,” a “Good Alternative,” or one to “Avoid.”

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Choose seafood that is not only good for you, but also good for the environment. Monterey Bay Aquarium has created a “Super Green” list including seafood with the highest levels of omega-3s and the lowest levels of contaminants as well as a summary of the “Best Choice” ranked fish on the organization’s Seafood Watch. These recommendations apply to women of childbearing age, men and children, so they can be trusted to take everyone into account.

Know How Fish is Caught

Select fish that is caught using methods with lower environmental impact such as hand-lining or potting. The Marine Conservation Society explains the various fish-catching methods and why some are better than others.

Carry a Pocket Guide

Most of us don’t have the time to research when making an impromptu stop at the fish market, so being equipped with a fish list is a way to ensure you always make the most well-informed decision come check-out time. The Environmental Defense Fund has put together the easy-to navigate Pocket Seafood Selector and Pocket Sushi Selector to give you a helping hand.

Choose a Reliable Market

Keep tabs on your local grocery stores and inquire how often each receives its seafood shipments and what the regular turnover is. The higher the rate of seafood turnaround, the more likely the fish you buy is as fresh as can be.

Don’t Buy Fishy Fish

Given that we associate the “fishy” smell with something that has gone putrid, under no circumstances should you purchase fish that smells nasty, acidic, or pungent. Fresh fish has the scent of clean water with a slightly briny or cucumber overtone.

Look Skin Deep and Beyond

On the outside, look at the fish and confirm that it is clean and metallic as opposed to dull or discolored. The eyes should be bright and clear and the gills should bear a vibrant red tone – fish that has gone old bears gills with a faded brick color. On the inside, make sure that if there is liquid on the meat, that it is clear instead of milky. Rotting fish will have milky flesh. Don’t forget to press against the flesh of the fish – if an indentation appears and stays, the fish has gone bad.

Ask Questions

When perusing the seafood section of your grocery store or market, take your assumptions with a grain of salt. Engage in conversation with a salesperson, asking questions that aren’t answered by packaging or labeling, and get the scoop on some of the details that aren’t so readily available. It’s rare to be offered information about how fish is caught, so ask for it! Developing a relationship with seafood personnel is also a great way to get the most comprehensive information time and time again.

Rotate Your Fish

Try to venture outside your repertoire of, say, three types of fish and try your hand at making dishes with other fish deemed the healthiest and most environmentally friendly by the “Super Green” list. Eat sustainably across the board, not just with one type.

Spread the Word

Tell your friends and family about seafood sustainability and encourage them to apply these tips to their culinary seafood escapades. The best way to share, you ask? Why, only whilst devouring seared salmon over lentils.

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: tarotastic

The post Pescatarian: 10 Ways to Make Sure You’re Eating the Most Sustainable Fish appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnA book about oysters teaches the real meaning of farm-to-table.

A month ago, a good friend put a copy of Shucked into my hands and said, “You have to read this.”

I looked at the cover. A watercolor painting of an oyster and a fork paired with the title of Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm was intriguing.

“It’s about a woman food writer that decides to trade her city life for working on an oyster farm.”

While I have never expressed the specific interest in working on an oyster farm, I saw where she was coming from. Having grown up in the country, I have my personal organic farm and vineyard dreams, the kind of place where you can get your hands dirty and find a new appreciation for the food and drink that ends up in front of you every evening. A personal narrative about what farm-to-table really means was therefore right up my alley. What I didn’t realize before diving into the pages of Shucked was how much I would fall in love with oysters in the process.

Odd as it might seem to fall in love with a food via a book, author Erin Byers Murray opened up an entirely new world to me, one that involved saltwater, hard work, rain boots and oyster recipes.

A few months ago, I had scribbled in my worn Moleskine notebook that finds itself along on most food adventures, “Oysters are the new bread.” It was a comment induced by a weekend of overindulgence of seafood, but working my way through Shucked, I again realized that oysters were everywhere.

My brain full of words like bivalve and oyster farm, my eyes and ears sought out any mention of the seafood. Byers Murray’s descriptive personal narrative and informative approach to describing life at Island Creek Oysters made me feel like I too was working on an oyster farm, or at least had an intimate understanding of the industry and the food she and so many others were working hard to harvest.

Which is how I ended up at The Walrus and The Carpenter.

The oyster bar in Ballard, just north of downtown Seattle, Washington, had been recommended by two food enthusiasts: a food photographer that worked with a friend of mine, and a charismatic wine connoisseur at McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants, who on a chance encounter with their Saturday afternoon wine tasting, had launched into a long conversation on wine, food and beyond. “So, are you a food writer?” he asked. (Is it that obvious?) A mere nod got me a list of eight places to visit, all scribbled on the back of his business card. The Walrus and The Carpenter had a star next to it and the name of a server we were supposed to track down.

After a two hour wait, which no one at the oyster bar seemed to mind, we were seated on stools at the bar, watching as a man with a bright red beard that went all the way down to his collar line pulled oysters from various buckets full of ice and shucked quicker than I can type. A menu full of local seafood, the “least” local of the oysters coming from British Columbia, only a few hours north, our server pointed us in the right direction of some of the stronger tasting oysters. Always trust your server. Soon we were in the midst of shells from Effingham and Dabob Bay, and I had a newfound love for this bivalve shellfish.

I am not alone in oyster love, however. As it turns out, they really are everywhere.

“[Oysters are] actually making a comeback – they were this hugely popular a century ago but then oyster populations around the country were depleted or completely wiped out by over consumption, pollution, and other factors. But there’s been a real effort to rebuild wild stocks around the country along with a huge rise in popularity of oyster farming on both coasts. Essentially, there are more oysters on the market than there have been in decades and restauranteurs are finding them to be a popular menu addition. I’ve been to a few sports bars that now boast raw bar menus – it’s pretty incredible to see one food product cross over so many different tastes and styles,” says Byers Murray.

Oysters aren’t just a fancy delicious component of a dinner party, they’re also a key part of our ecosystem. When I asked Byers Murray what she thought the single most impressive thing about an oyster is, she responded with, “oysters can filter up to 40 gallons of water a day – imagine what that can do help clean up our waterways.”

Oysters may have struck such a personal chord because they play the key role in my home state’s economy. According to Geoff Menzies, Manager of the Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm, a project by the Puget Sound Restoration Fund to “engage community members in the actual act of growing oysters and getting muddy,” Washington State is actually the leading producer of farmed bivalve shellfish in the U.S., producing 61 million pounds of oysters in 2011 which accounts for $58 million. Menzies cites Rowan Jacobsen’s book A Geography of Oysters when he says, “No city is as oyster-mad as Seattle.” It’s like I was born to fall in love with them.

Looking at the efforts in the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast, it is clear that there is a significant effort to rebuild wild stocks, which is good for both the environment and our health. Oysters are low in saturated fat, contain Omega 3 fatty acids, and as Menzies points out, are “especially good sources of high-quality protein, minerals: Iron, zinc and copper, and Vitamin B12.”

Oysters also have a positive communal effect. “When a community is located next to a bay which supports commercial  oyster harvest, they benefit from all of the efforts of that business or nonprofit to restore and to keep marine waters clean. Oyster farmers need clean marine water in order to survive. Everybody benefits. They often lead the charge to reduce bacterial contamination from livestock farms and septic systems, which are often the leading sources of pollution that close shellfish beds,” says Menzies.

Take a step back, and oysters are a good reminder of all of the elements of the food system that are essential to keeping us and our communities alive. Byers Murray says that if there is one lesson she can take away from Island Creek it’s “that there is an enormous amount of human effort and energy that goes into our food supply and we should do everything we can to appreciate and support that effort.”

Ensuring that we are well educated about that supply chain is the game changer when it comes to food politics. “I think we need more transparency in the food system overall. The media has really picked up its game in terms of reporting what’s happening behind the curtain at some of these massive food producers. But so much more can be done at a more basic level, such as in our education system, to bring awareness to what we’re eating and where it comes from,” says Byers Murray.

Keeping all of this in mind, I savored my oysters at The Walrus and The Carpenter, with a new appreciation of what, for so long in my mind, had just been another shellfish. But as is clear with good food, everything we eat has a story. Nothing on our plates can be paired with the word “just.”

A place of production, people to produce it, a system for getting it to a restaurant or a store and lastly the people that prepare it for us, or the preparation that happens in our very own kitchens; that entire system happens with every single thing that we eat. Every. Single. Time. Discovering that story is part of enjoying and appreciating what we’re eating, and putting us on a path to better food and food system.
Erin Byer’s Murray Drink and Oyster Preparation Recommendations

• Drink: It depends on the oyster but for an East Coast oyster like an Island Creek, I’d go with an ice cold Pilsner or a glass of mineral-ly white wine.
• Preparation: One of my favorite methods is throwing them on the grill until they pop open. You quickly pull the tops off, then add a pat of butter and a dash of Mexican hot sauce, like Cholula. Let the butter melt just slightly and serve.

Want to win a copy of Shucked?! We’re giving one away! To enter to win, leave a comment below telling us why you’re committed to local food. 

Image: samantha celera, The Walrus and the Carpenter, Geoff Menzies, Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: The Wide and Wonderful World of Oysters appeared first on EcoSalon.

At one time fish was my go-to food choice when I was feeling worried about supporting the corporate meat industry. Hey, it made sense. Not only was I “voting with my fork” by not supporting large-scale beef producers, like say Tyson Foods, I was also eating healthier, benefiting from such heart-friendly nutrients as Omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have shown societies who eat more fish have fewer health problems, right?

True, eating fish makes for healthier living. Or at least it used to be. This may no longer be the case given the barrage of recent reports about toxins in fish. While it may not exactly be “new” news – pregnant women have long been urged to avoid fish due to worries about high mercury levels – the din of new reports seem to be echoing the high toxic levels themselves.

A recent article reported on stratospheric toxin levels in whales, and not just mercury. Cadmium, aluminum, lead, silver, titanium, and chromium were found in dangerous levels and all purportedly entered the food chain due to human related activities. Another report focused on seawater and its natural ability to retain mercury in its more toxic form.

In an earlier post I wrote about over-fishing and the idea of eating fewer fish in order to play a part in promoting the end of such practices as a consumer. As it is, you may not even want to eat the fish – period exclamation point!

Image: hoyasmeg

The post The New Green Is Blue: How Blue Is the Ocean? And More Thoughts on Eating Fish appeared first on EcoSalon.

I love fish. Poached salmon. Bouillabaisse. Absolutely sublime sushi. How can I say no to seafood? And why would I?

Sylvia Earle, an awe-inspiring scientist and oceanographer who has studied the ocean for over 50 years, helped change my perspective in her most recent book, The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One. She covers a lot of ocean ground, but one particular bit stuck in my craw with regard to over-fishing.

“Ninety percent of many fish common [in the past half century] are now gone, consumed by eager diners unaware that in their lifetime they might witness the disappearance of some of their favorite wild-caught fare, from tuna and swordfish to lobsters and crabs.”

Slow Food in San Francisco has instituted Meatless Mondays. I began to wonder what we could do for fish. I thought of Fishless Fridays, but that suggests we’re eating fish all the other days of the week. Fish Friday comes to mind, but I believe that’s a Catholic tradition. Maybe it could be more like one day a month, a celebratory day called First Fish Friday, the only day of the month we allow ourselves a special treat from the sea.

It may seem extreme. But what’s more extreme? Reducing personal intake of an endangered food source, or gobbling it down as fast as you can while you watch it disappear? As Earle quoted John C. Sawhill: “In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.”

Image: Nicola Zingarelli

The post Be at One with the Ocean: Contemplations on Eating Fish and Fishless Fridays appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s not necessarily somewhere you want to hang out in winter. But you couldn’t pick a more pleasant seaside town in summer than Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with its gorgeous Colonial and Federal style houses and colorful brick buildings lining the harbor. Half the fun of visiting is eating fresh seafood at a restaurant along the Piscataqua River (if you can splurge, try the Wellington Room). Then there’s the added bonus of being able to look across the water and see Maine. Sure, it’s just the town of Kittery you’re staring at and not Winslow Homer’s cliffs, but still. Maine! Wandering the shoreline of two states in this particular cove, you feel like you’re getting two snapshots of historic coastal New England for the price of one.

If you do make the few minutes’ drive across the Memorial Bridge to Kittery, you’ll realize that, unfortunately, most people are making a beeline for the town’s gigantic outlet malls. We say skip those and head straight for the historic sites, like the small museum at Fort McClary, the Lady Pepperell House and other historic buildings in Kittery Point.

For museums on the Portsmouth side, check out cool paintings and photos of New England seaside life at the Strawbery Banke Museum or period furniture at the Moffatt-Ladd House & Garden. If you’re still hungry at the end of the day, you must stop by Bob’s Clam Hut, the quintessential New England seafood shack where you can get whole clams, clam fritters, clam burgers and clam cakes. Perhaps not the healthiest pick, but Bob’s, which showed up recently on The Food Network, is a member of the Green Alliance, a Portsmouth-based environmental group. Bring your own silverware to Bob’s and they’ll donate $2 to green causes.

Image: InAweofGod’sCreation

The post Going Coastal appeared first on EcoSalon.

As we head into summer, you’ve got clambakes, grilled mahi-mahi, and all sorts of other seafood delectables to look forward to. The next time you’ve got a taste for fish, I suggest consulting the free iPhone app Seafood Watch to make sure you’re making responsible dining choices.

The app features a couple of different ways to access the information in its database. If your heart is set on eating a particular kind of fish, you can search it by name and get its status since Seafood Watch lets you know if you’re making a good buying decision and wave you off eating fish that’s overfished or high in toxins.

If you’re open to what types of fish to buy at the store or at a restaurant, check out the apps regional guide that leads you to the most responsibly acquired fish in your area. Got a hankering for sushi? Seafood Watch’s sushi guide lists fish by Japanese and common market name.

Thoughtfully put together by Monterey Bay (CA) Aquarium, Seafood Watch is updated regularly and plans are in the works for new features to be added. Don’t have an iPhone? No sweat. You can access the app’s mobile site, from any cell phone with an Internet connection. And for access to the same information offline, download any of the eight free PDF files that tickle your fancy.

The post Sustainable? Toxic? Make the Right Fish Pick with the Seafood Watch App appeared first on EcoSalon.

As millions of gallons of sticky black crude continue to gush out of a pipe in the Gulf of Mexico, we’re hearing a lot about how adorable animals like sea turtles, otters and dolphins are going to be affected. But while we love the cute animals, we don’t want to overlook the so-called redheaded step-children of the animal realm, either. They need just as much help as the fluffy furry ones, if not more because, according to a recent study, ugly animals are more likely to go extinct.

Manatees

There’s a reason that manatees are called sea cows – they sort of resemble what the remains of a drowned cow might look like after a week or so. These bloated, bulbous animals may not be beauty queens, but they definitely deserve our attention and protection. Scientists don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when manatees start swimming through the oil, but they’re going to find out all too soon; a group of seven animals was spotted swimming along the coast of Destin, Florida.

Marsh Rice Rat

Few animals are more reviled than rats, even though these animals are technically incredibly similar to the ones we think are so dang cute (think fuzzy bunnies). The semi-aquatic Marsh Rice Rat resembles its landlubber cousins with its grayish-brown fur and long naked tail, but its need to dive underwater to forage for food like plants, snails and subterranean fungus will put it at risk as the oil seeps into the marshes of Gulf states like Louisiana.

Gulf Sturgeon

The gulf sturgeon, a bizarre-looking relic of the dinosaur age, ended up on the Endangered Species list back in 1991 when its populations were nearly annihilated in the wild by centuries of demand for its meat and caviar. During the warmer months, Gulf Sturgeon spend their time in coastal rivers from Louisiana to Florida, but come cooler weather they’ll be back in the Gulf of Mexico, where they’re likely to face a battle for survival in the aftermath of the oil spill.

American Alligator

It’s got a spiky back, a powerful tail that could knock you to the ground in an instant and what seems like a sinister grin. But as imposing as the American Alligator may be to us, this animal is defenseless against the negative changes that are starting to occur in the marshes and wetlands that it calls home in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama.

Shrimp

Shrimping is big business in the Gulf of Mexico – or at least, it was. The fishing industry has been effectively shut down for obvious reasons, and even when the fisherman are allowed to start trawling again, consumers might not bite. While the oil may not have had a catastrophic effect on creepy-crawlies like shrimp that live along the sea floor on its own, BP’s toxic dispersants are actually spreading the contamination deeper into the water.

Oysters

Because each of these bumpy mollusks breathe 50 to 100 gallons of water a day, “the oyster is to Louisiana’s estuaries what the fabled canary was to coal mine safety,” according to NOLA.com. So water that has been contaminated both by oil and by toxic dispersants will be deadly to the intertidal oyster reefs that grow along and just inside the coast of Louisiana.  Ironically, the American Petroleum Institute once produced a video with a segment called “Lifeline to Oysters,” attempting to convince skeptical Gulf fishermen that oysters and offshore drilling get along just fine.

Smalltooth Sawfish

The critically endangered Smalltooth Sawfish has already seen its habitat shrink from a large portion of the Atlantic Ocean to a small area near the lower peninsula of Florida. But when the Loop Currrent, a strong flow of warm water in the Gulf, brings oil to the Florida Keys, this rare fish could be wiped out altogether.

Plankton

They’re literally at the bottom of the food chain in the sea, but that doesn’t mean that curious-looking zooplankton aren’t important – they serve as sustenance for small animals like snails, shrimp and jellyfish, including some endangered species.  These drifting organisms are just as much at risk from the oil spill as the larger animals whose suffering we can actually witness.

Images:Andrea Westmoreland, Wikimedia Commons (manatee, marsh rice rat, sturgeon, alligators, shrimp, oysters, smalltooth sawfish, plankton)

The post The 8 Ugliest Animals Threatened by the Oil Spill appeared first on EcoSalon.

Tired of hearing about global warming? I don’t think you’re alone. According to a Pew survey taken this fall, fewer Americans (35%) see global warming as a very serious problem (down from 44% in April 2008). Only 57% think there is solid evidence of warming (71% did in April 2008).

My hunch is that people are feeling fatigue from the daily dire environmental news and the fact that all the proposals on the table for CO2 emission reductions are nowhere near where we need to be to begin to halt (let alone reverse) environmental catastrophe. The U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says developed countries would have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid runaway climate change. Lots of people think that binding agreements for those targets are unlikely.

The climate disaster we’re told is coming is just too much to think about, perhaps. It’s much easier to convince ourselves that it’s really not as bad as we think, hence those numbers in the Pew survey. (Add to that the immediate pressures of a recession and it’s even less of a surprise.)

But here’s another major reason we should stop burning dinosaurs:

This reason is even less disputed than global warming, and it is more rapidly approaching: Ocean Acidification. Scientists have only begun to uncover the full implications of ocean acidification for the past five years or so, and it’s only been in the news with any prominence this year. Most people still don’t know about it.

The oceans of the world act like a giant, watery carbon sponge, soaking up about one-fourth of all the carbon dioxide emitted by our fossil-fuel burning. As reported by The Guardian, that’s something like six million tons a day.

The carbon in the oceans causes the pH of the water to drop and the normally alkaline ocean becomes less so – in short, it becomes more acidic. Studies show that the pH of the world’s ocean has dropped about 0.1 pH units over the past several decades. If emissions continue at their present rate, scientists estimate that the pH will drop another 0.3 to 0.5 pH units by the year 2100.

What happens when the ocean pH decreases? It makes it more difficult for animals with hard outer shells like mollusks, corals, sea urchins and other tinier organisms to form their skeletal structures. It may also change the way these organisms breathe and reproduce. The chemical changes in sea water that accompany acidification can prevent their shells from forming and extremely altered water can actually eat away at already-formed shells.

This is a devastating situation for the entire food web. And I’m not just talking about oyster and scallop shortages. Higher predators like whales and salmon eat tiny shelled creatures called pteropods. If the pteropods can’t survive acidification, we can add starvation to the list of troubles that our fish stocks face, including overfishing, destructive fishing methods and good old-fashioned pollution.

All right, so it’s so long, fish – setting aside the ocean’s place in our ecosystem for a minute and thinking of it only as a source of food. We’ll still survive, right? We can just eat other things, but a great many people will not be so lucky. The very places where famine is already a problem are the places where people depend most heavily on seafood for their protein needs.

“Small island nations, already threatened by climate change via sea level rise, often depend entirely on seafood for their protein,” says Sarah Cooley, a Postdoctoral Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

According to some sources, more than 1.5 billion people depend on fish for 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein. Nearly 3.0 billion additional people depend on seafood for 15 percent their protein. In developing nations such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Ghana, people depend on fish for as much as 50 percent of total animal protein. These are the places that are already poised to be the most affected by the rising sea levels, drought and extreme weather patterns caused by climate change, so it’s likely that fish could become an even more important part of diets in these places as agricultural crop yields fall even further.

“Usually, the most vulnerable human communities are the ones that contributed least to climate change,” says Cooley. “This is true for ocean acidification also. Populations in tropical developing nations will swell in the next 50 years, but at the same time, ocean acidification plus global temperature rise will likely alter the coral reef ecosystems that provide subsistence fishermen with their dinners. Where will these people find their protein? This doesn’t even include the fact that as countries become wealthier, they eat more protein.”

Studies that predict increases in hunger due to overfishing do not even take into account the likely effects of ocean acidification because scientists are still determining how the problem will affect entire marine food chains. Other studies warn of devastating effects.

For the audio-visual learners among us, this 20 minute video narrated by Sigourney Weaver explains the whole process very well.

If the news alone weren’t troubling enough, you should also know that it’s impossible to reverse the existing acidification.

We must stop emitting so much CO2 now to avoid further damage.

The effects of acidification are already being seen. Knowing all we have at stake, it makes me sick to watch some of our lawmakers in action. Resisting climate change legislation over the worry that it will hurt coal state economies is completely irrelevant when we’re talking about the collapse of an entire ecosystem, possibly in our own lifetimes.

What can you do about it?

Pressure companies like Toyota to stop lobbying against clean energy and support those companies, like Apple Computers, that quit The Chamber of Commerce in protest of its retrograde climate legislation policies. When the final bill comes up for a vote, pressure your representatives to do the right thing. It may seem hopeless, but hopeless is not an option.

Image: Wonderlane

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