Huge salmon runs bring cash bonanza for U.S. and Canadian fishermen
The biggest sockeye run in nearly a century — 25 million fish — is headed back to British Columbia's Fraser River and its tributaries. It's a bonanza for American and Canadian fishermen, who are more used to squabbling over how to divide up a declining resource.
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff report
Boom and bust on the Fraser River
The number of sockeye salmon returning to the British Columbia river and tributaries.
1913-40 million
2009-Less than 2 million
2010-25 million
In 40 years of dropping nets into Washington waters, Ray Forsman has never experienced fishing like this past week.
He headed off early in the morning to the fishing grounds, and in two brief sets of his purse-seine net, filled up his boat with 70,000 pounds of sockeye. The fish, yielding ruby-red fillets, were worth more than $100,000.
A couple of days later, he quickly filled up his boat once again.
"I have been so engrossed in getting this job done that it hasn't all sunk in," said Forsman, 68, a commercial fisherman with the Suquamish Tribe near Kingston. "This is history. Just overwhelming emotions."
These fish are part of the biggest sockeye run in nearly a century to head back to British Columbia's Fraser River and its tributaries. An estimated 25 million fish have returned, more than double preseason forecasts.
The runs are yielding an unexpected bonanza for U.S. and Canadian commercial fishermen who are more used to feuding over dwindling shares of a declining resource.
"When something goes wrong in nature, we always blame each other about who caught too much," Forsman said. "This time, nature made sure there is enough for everybody."
The harvest may exceed 11 million salmon. Under international agreement, U.S. tribal and nontribal fleets that catch some of the fish as they pass through American waters are expected to get about 1.9 million of those fish.
Over the past decade, Fraser River runs have been more bust than boom. Last year was especially painful. Fewer than 2 million fish showed up, a fraction of the predicted run of more than 10 million, and the fishing grounds were closed.
Other years also yielded paltry catches and prompted some fishermen to abandon the harvest.
"Three years ago, I had 21 fish for the season," said Skip Anderson of Bellingham.
This year's U.S. fleet includes about 250 smaller gill-net vessels and 34 of the larger purse-seine vessels that lay out a net and then — with the aid of a skiff — cinch it up tight like a purse.
Much of this fleet is working the west side of San Juan Island, where fishing has sometimes been phenomenal for sockeye that average nearly six pounds apiece. The fish fetched from about $1.20 to $1.80 a pound.
Stan Nelson, a commercial purse seiner from Bellingham, said he edged up close to the kelp and rocks where the salmon bunched up. His crew set the net and pulled in a personal record of more than 100,000 pounds of sockeye.
"It's such a significant moment in my life to see this kind of abundance," said Nelson. "It's pretty humbling."
In recent years, there have been a few bright spots in Washington commercial salmon harvest. But these have not been enough to offset a long-term downturn that has resulted in a big reduction in processing capacity. So this year, those processors that remain are having a tough time keeping up with the sockeye volumes.
"So far, we have not had to turn a single pound of fish away, but I can tell you it's been a herculean effort to get that done," said John Garner, an executive at Trident Seafoods, which operates a Bellingham plant that is taking some of the fish.
If the Bellingham plant can't keep up with the volume, Trident may ship some fish north to Alaska for processing. "But it's fun to have problems like this. We'll take these problems over having no fish any day," he said.
Some of the Fraser River fish are showing up in local supermarkets, such as Costco, which is running a special to promote fresh sockeye fillets. But with a lot of other wild salmon from Alaska now on the market, some of the sockeye will be frozen or possibly canned.
The Fraser River harvest is regulated through the Pacific Salmon Commission, which includes U.S. and Canadian representatives.
Biologists caution that this year's run does not signal a sustained upswing of sockeye populations returning to the Fraser River watershed.
Although the Fraser's main stem is free of the dams that impede salmon runs on other rivers such as the Columbia, sockeye production still has had dramatic ups and downs. The biggest run on record is an estimated 40 million sockeye that returned in 1913.
The fish now returning to the Fraser were hatched from a strong 2006 run of wild fish that returned to the Fraser. These fish spent a year in freshwater and then headed out to sea, where they appeared to have found excellent feed that increased their survival rates.
But biologists expect that Fraser returns for the next few years will be much smaller. So 2010 may stand out as a blip — albeit, a glorious one — in the turbulent history of the Fraser River sockeye runs.
"It's a wonderful experience," Forsman said. "I hope to see it again."
Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The New Haiti?
Every one should be aware of the state of the environment on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola - and more specifically the differences between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Haiti's environment has been stripped of vegetation (just look at any NASA aerial photo of Hispaniola) and the coral reefs suffocated by the resulting runoff of sediment into the ocean surrounding the Haitian territory. Much has been lost and the environment that, with proper management could have supported the population, has suffered a catastrophic collapse. The demise of this Island environment and specifically Haiti, can be attributed to the French Government abandoning their Island colonial territory and leaving it to a corrupt group of thugs.
The news now is that the Island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean - also once a French colony - is heading down the same path as Haiti. Look at a NASA photo, read the articles in NatGeo and know that at the current rate of progress, our Mother Earth will lose and allow the destruction of another critical habitat. I believe the French people need to be held accountable.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/09/madagascar/draper-text
The news now is that the Island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean - also once a French colony - is heading down the same path as Haiti. Look at a NASA photo, read the articles in NatGeo and know that at the current rate of progress, our Mother Earth will lose and allow the destruction of another critical habitat. I believe the French people need to be held accountable.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/09/madagascar/draper-text
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Oil Industy's problems are just beginning!
STOCKHOLM (AP) — An island of ice more than four times the size of Manhattan is drifting across the Arctic Ocean after breaking off from a glacier in Greenland.
Potentially in the path of this unstoppable giant are oil platforms and shipping lanes — and any collision could do untold damage. In a worst case scenario, large chunks could reach the heavily trafficked waters where another Greenland iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912.
It's been a summer of near biblical climatic havoc across the planet, with wildfires, heat and smog in Russia and killer floods in Asia. But the moment the Petermann glacier cracked last week — creating the biggest Arctic ice island in half a century — may symbolize a warming world like no other.
"It's so big that you can't prevent it from drifting. You can't stop it," said Jon-Ove Methlie Hagen, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo.
Few images can capture the world's climate fears like a 100-square- mile (260-sqare-kilometer) chunk of ice breaking off Greenland's vast ice sheet, a reservoir of freshwater that if it collapsed would raise global sea levels by a devastating 20 feet (6 meters).
The world's newest ice island already is being used as a powerful emblem in the global warming debate, with U.S. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts suggesting it could serve as a home for climate change skeptics.
Researchers are in a scramble to plot the trajectory of the floating ice shelf, which is moving toward the Nares Strait separating Greenland's northwestern coast and Canada's Ellsemere Island.
If it makes it into the strait before the winter freeze — due to start next month — it would likely be carried south by ocean currents, hugging Canada's east coast until it enters waters busy with oil activities and shipping off Newfoundland.
"That's where it starts to become dangerous," said Mark Drinkwater, of the European Space Agency.
The Canadian Ice Service estimates the journey will take one to two years. It's likely to break up as it bumps into other icebergs and jagged islands. The fragments would be further ground down by winds and waves and would start to melt as they move into warmer waters.
"But the fragments may still be quite large," warned Trudy Wohlleben, a Canadian ice forecaster, who first spotted the massive chunk of ice on satellite images last Thursday.
The chunks of ice could be large enough to threaten Canada's offshore platforms in the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, said Wohlleben.
And, while it's possible to redirect smaller icebergs, by towing them or spraying them with water cannons, "I don't think they could do that with an iceberg this large," she said. "They would have to physically move the rig."
Moving an offshore platform is time-consuming and expensive — and very complicated in cases where they are fixed to the ocean floor.
While Greenland's glaciers break off thousands of icebergs into Arctic waters every year, scientists say this ice island is the biggest in the northern hemisphere since 1962.
It contains enough freshwater to keep the Hudson River flowing for more than two years, said Andreas Muenchow of the University of Delaware.
The drifting ice sheet is likely to remain at the heart of the global warming discussion during its journey.
While experts say it's difficult to directly tie the giant ice island to climate change because there are so many factors that affect glaciers in the area, the unusual event coincides with worrisome signs of warming in the Arctic.
Since 1970, temperatures have risen more than 4.5 degrees (2.5 degrees C) in much of the Arctic — much faster than the global average. In June the Arctic sea ice cover was at the lowest level for that month since records began in 1979, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The retreat of Greenland's glaciers, which has accelerated in recent years, is one of the least understood pieces of the climate puzzle.
A team of climate scientists who visited the Petermann glacier last year, expecting it to crack then, is now planning another trip within weeks.
"We did leave behind a couple of time-lapse cameras and 11 GPS (devices). Now we are scrambling to get up there and recover the data," said Jason Box, an expert on Greenland glaciers from the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University.
Box and two British researchers traveled to the glacier last year with Greenpeace activists who offered space aboard their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, to scientists studying climate change.
They were hoping to capture the event with cameras rolling, which would have been a powerful image just months before the Copenhagen climate talks that failed to produce a binding treaty to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions.
"It would have been nice if it had broken off last year," said Melanie Duchin, who led that Greenpeace expedition. "I mean ice melting, it doesn't get any simpler than that."
Still, she finds it ironic that the Petermann breakup coincides with another catastrophe linked to fossil fuels. The Arctic Sunrise is now in the Gulf of Mexico, surveying the massive oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
___
Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
Potentially in the path of this unstoppable giant are oil platforms and shipping lanes — and any collision could do untold damage. In a worst case scenario, large chunks could reach the heavily trafficked waters where another Greenland iceberg sank the Titanic in 1912.
It's been a summer of near biblical climatic havoc across the planet, with wildfires, heat and smog in Russia and killer floods in Asia. But the moment the Petermann glacier cracked last week — creating the biggest Arctic ice island in half a century — may symbolize a warming world like no other.
"It's so big that you can't prevent it from drifting. You can't stop it," said Jon-Ove Methlie Hagen, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo.
Few images can capture the world's climate fears like a 100-square- mile (260-sqare-kilometer) chunk of ice breaking off Greenland's vast ice sheet, a reservoir of freshwater that if it collapsed would raise global sea levels by a devastating 20 feet (6 meters).
The world's newest ice island already is being used as a powerful emblem in the global warming debate, with U.S. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts suggesting it could serve as a home for climate change skeptics.
Researchers are in a scramble to plot the trajectory of the floating ice shelf, which is moving toward the Nares Strait separating Greenland's northwestern coast and Canada's Ellsemere Island.
If it makes it into the strait before the winter freeze — due to start next month — it would likely be carried south by ocean currents, hugging Canada's east coast until it enters waters busy with oil activities and shipping off Newfoundland.
"That's where it starts to become dangerous," said Mark Drinkwater, of the European Space Agency.
The Canadian Ice Service estimates the journey will take one to two years. It's likely to break up as it bumps into other icebergs and jagged islands. The fragments would be further ground down by winds and waves and would start to melt as they move into warmer waters.
"But the fragments may still be quite large," warned Trudy Wohlleben, a Canadian ice forecaster, who first spotted the massive chunk of ice on satellite images last Thursday.
The chunks of ice could be large enough to threaten Canada's offshore platforms in the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, said Wohlleben.
And, while it's possible to redirect smaller icebergs, by towing them or spraying them with water cannons, "I don't think they could do that with an iceberg this large," she said. "They would have to physically move the rig."
Moving an offshore platform is time-consuming and expensive — and very complicated in cases where they are fixed to the ocean floor.
While Greenland's glaciers break off thousands of icebergs into Arctic waters every year, scientists say this ice island is the biggest in the northern hemisphere since 1962.
It contains enough freshwater to keep the Hudson River flowing for more than two years, said Andreas Muenchow of the University of Delaware.
The drifting ice sheet is likely to remain at the heart of the global warming discussion during its journey.
While experts say it's difficult to directly tie the giant ice island to climate change because there are so many factors that affect glaciers in the area, the unusual event coincides with worrisome signs of warming in the Arctic.
Since 1970, temperatures have risen more than 4.5 degrees (2.5 degrees C) in much of the Arctic — much faster than the global average. In June the Arctic sea ice cover was at the lowest level for that month since records began in 1979, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The retreat of Greenland's glaciers, which has accelerated in recent years, is one of the least understood pieces of the climate puzzle.
A team of climate scientists who visited the Petermann glacier last year, expecting it to crack then, is now planning another trip within weeks.
"We did leave behind a couple of time-lapse cameras and 11 GPS (devices). Now we are scrambling to get up there and recover the data," said Jason Box, an expert on Greenland glaciers from the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University.
Box and two British researchers traveled to the glacier last year with Greenpeace activists who offered space aboard their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, to scientists studying climate change.
They were hoping to capture the event with cameras rolling, which would have been a powerful image just months before the Copenhagen climate talks that failed to produce a binding treaty to reduce heat-trapping gas emissions.
"It would have been nice if it had broken off last year," said Melanie Duchin, who led that Greenpeace expedition. "I mean ice melting, it doesn't get any simpler than that."
Still, she finds it ironic that the Petermann breakup coincides with another catastrophe linked to fossil fuels. The Arctic Sunrise is now in the Gulf of Mexico, surveying the massive oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
___
Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
Children Writing About the Ocean.
1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)
2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)
3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (, age 7)
4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)
5) - A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8)
6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)
7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7)
8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)
9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is a always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)
10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7)
11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6)
12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water.. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)
13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water shot right up her big fat ass.. (Julie, age 7)
14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)
15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)
(If you didn't chuckle at one of these, you need to find a better sense of humor.)
2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)
3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (, age 7)
4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)
5) - A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8)
6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)
7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7)
8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)
9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is a always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)
10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7)
11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6)
12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water.. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)
13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water shot right up her big fat ass.. (Julie, age 7)
14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)
15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)
(If you didn't chuckle at one of these, you need to find a better sense of humor.)
Phytoplankton in a BIG decline!
WASHINGTON — Despite their tiny size, plant plankton found in the world's oceans are crucial to much of life on Earth. They are the foundation of the bountiful marine food web, produce half the world's oxygen and suck up harmful carbon dioxide.
And they are declining sharply.
Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming, which makes it hard for the plant plankton to get vital nutrients, researchers say.
The numbers are both staggering and disturbing, say the Canadian scientists who did the study and a top U.S. government scientist.
"It's concerning because phytoplankton is the basic currency for everything going on in the ocean," said Dalhousie University biology professor Boris Worm, a study co-author. "It's almost like a recession ... that has been going on for decades."
A half-million datapoints dating to 1899 show that plant plankton levels in nearly all of the world's oceans started to drop in the 1950s. The biggest changes are in the Arctic, southern and equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans. Only the Indian Ocean is not showing a decline. The study's authors said it's too early to say that plant plankton is on the verge of vanishing.
Virginia Burkett, the chief climate change scientist for U.S. Geological Survey, said the plankton numbers are worrisome and show problems that can't be seen just by watching bigger more charismatic species such as dolphins or whales.
"These tiny species are indicating that large-scale changes in the ocean are affecting the primary productivity of the planet," said Burkett, who wasn't involved in the study.
When plant plankton plummet — as they do during El Niño climate cycles — sea birds and marine mammals starve and die in huge numbers, experts said.
"Phytoplankton ultimately affects all of us in our daily lives," said lead author Daniel Boyce, also of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "Much of the oxygen in our atmosphere today was produced by phytoplankton or phytoplankton precursors over the past 2 billion years."
Plant plankton help keep Earth cool. They take carbon dioxide — the key greenhouse gas — out of the air to keep the world from getting warmer, Boyce said.
Read more: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201008010312/GREEN/8010317#ixzz0woUJWoej
And they are declining sharply.
Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming, which makes it hard for the plant plankton to get vital nutrients, researchers say.
The numbers are both staggering and disturbing, say the Canadian scientists who did the study and a top U.S. government scientist.
"It's concerning because phytoplankton is the basic currency for everything going on in the ocean," said Dalhousie University biology professor Boris Worm, a study co-author. "It's almost like a recession ... that has been going on for decades."
A half-million datapoints dating to 1899 show that plant plankton levels in nearly all of the world's oceans started to drop in the 1950s. The biggest changes are in the Arctic, southern and equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans. Only the Indian Ocean is not showing a decline. The study's authors said it's too early to say that plant plankton is on the verge of vanishing.
Virginia Burkett, the chief climate change scientist for U.S. Geological Survey, said the plankton numbers are worrisome and show problems that can't be seen just by watching bigger more charismatic species such as dolphins or whales.
"These tiny species are indicating that large-scale changes in the ocean are affecting the primary productivity of the planet," said Burkett, who wasn't involved in the study.
When plant plankton plummet — as they do during El Niño climate cycles — sea birds and marine mammals starve and die in huge numbers, experts said.
"Phytoplankton ultimately affects all of us in our daily lives," said lead author Daniel Boyce, also of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "Much of the oxygen in our atmosphere today was produced by phytoplankton or phytoplankton precursors over the past 2 billion years."
Plant plankton help keep Earth cool. They take carbon dioxide — the key greenhouse gas — out of the air to keep the world from getting warmer, Boyce said.
Read more: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201008010312/GREEN/8010317#ixzz0woUJWoej
Why are the penguins starving?
Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil, worrying scientists who are still investigating what's causing them to die.
About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium.
Most were Magellan penguins migrating north from Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in search of food in warmer waters.
Many are not finding it: Autopsies done on several birds revealed their stomachs were entirely empty — indicating they likely starved to death, Nascimento said.
Scientists are investigating whether strong currents and colder-than-normal waters have hurt populations of the species that make up the penguins' diet, or whether human activity may be playing a role.
"Overfishing may have made the fish and squid scarcer," Nascimento said.
Nascimento said it's common for penguins to swim north this time of year. Inevitably, some get lost along the way or die from hunger or exhaustion, and end up on the Brazilian coast far from home.
But not in such numbers — Nascimento said about 100 to 150 live penguins show up on the beach in an average year, and only 10 or so are dead.
"What worries us this year," he said, "is the absurdly high number of penguins that have appeared dead in a short period of time."
The Japanese are known to have exploited Third World country fishing resources...they did it in Africa and South America. Those places have been cleaned out. I know (from personal experience) that they DO it in the Islands of the Bahamas by donating fishing boats to locals and building fish houses (giant reefers)in return for a percentage of the catch and that these unscrupulous JAPANESE companies were instrumental in changing fishing regulations that limited visiting sportsfishermen's catches and dropping ALL limits for local fishermen.
The Japanese fishing industry is a major threat to life in the ocean and we are already down to 10% of the resources since 1960 ...question is "How do we stop this greedy wholesale destruction in the name of corporate profit within our worlds' oceans?
About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium.
Most were Magellan penguins migrating north from Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in search of food in warmer waters.
Many are not finding it: Autopsies done on several birds revealed their stomachs were entirely empty — indicating they likely starved to death, Nascimento said.
Scientists are investigating whether strong currents and colder-than-normal waters have hurt populations of the species that make up the penguins' diet, or whether human activity may be playing a role.
"Overfishing may have made the fish and squid scarcer," Nascimento said.
Nascimento said it's common for penguins to swim north this time of year. Inevitably, some get lost along the way or die from hunger or exhaustion, and end up on the Brazilian coast far from home.
But not in such numbers — Nascimento said about 100 to 150 live penguins show up on the beach in an average year, and only 10 or so are dead.
"What worries us this year," he said, "is the absurdly high number of penguins that have appeared dead in a short period of time."
The Japanese are known to have exploited Third World country fishing resources...they did it in Africa and South America. Those places have been cleaned out. I know (from personal experience) that they DO it in the Islands of the Bahamas by donating fishing boats to locals and building fish houses (giant reefers)in return for a percentage of the catch and that these unscrupulous JAPANESE companies were instrumental in changing fishing regulations that limited visiting sportsfishermen's catches and dropping ALL limits for local fishermen.
The Japanese fishing industry is a major threat to life in the ocean and we are already down to 10% of the resources since 1960 ...question is "How do we stop this greedy wholesale destruction in the name of corporate profit within our worlds' oceans?
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