Oppose increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that endangers sea turtles by 5/18

If you have not already, please submit your opposition online to increased Hawaii swordfish longline fishing that harms sea turtles by May 18 by clicking: http://ow.ly/58tg

Federal regulations are proposed that would increase the longline fishery for swordfish in Hawai'i. This unnecessary increasing in catching toxic swordfish will further threaten endangered leatherback sea turtles,whose Pacific populations collapsed to less than 10 percent during the 1980s and 1990s, and loggerhead sea turtles.

Please tell the federal government that even a few injured or killed leatherbacks and loggerhead sea turtles is too many when these populations are so endangered. The current plan could triple the number of deaths if it is not stopped and further risk sea turtle extinction in the Pacific.

Swordfish is known to contain high levels methylmercury (a neurotoxin that should be avoided) and other contaminants because they bioaccumulate ocean toxins brought up the food chain. Some restaurants will not even serve swordfish anymore because of tumors in the tissue and concerns about its health effects. The question is why risk harming critically endangered sea turtles to put poison on your plate?

Please act by May 18 with your comments to tell the federal government to that we cannot risk sea turtles for increased swordfish catches. Swordfish, along with many top ocean predators, have also declined dramatically and should be protected from overfishing, too.

Thank you for your support of sustainable oceans!

Please also join us in our 10 for Turtles Campaign! In honor of World Turtle Day on May 23, we are asking Twitter users to donate $10 or any amount to help Honu.Org in our advocacy efforts.

Simply go to http://www.honu.org, then click on the link at the top for a quick and secure donation. Please follow us on Twitter while you are at it: http://twitter.com/honu to get our updates.

Thank you again! Mahalo!

Plastic pollution on your seafood plate

ABC Report: Plastic pollution entering the food chain as fish gobble up the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean

Increasingly, fish are being discovered with toxic plastic in their stomachs as researchers investigate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastics attract other chemical pollutants that are getting into the food chain. We were already concerned about mercury and other contaminants in bigger fish, but even smaller fish are mistaking plastic for food. With more plastic than plankton in some parts of the ocean, our oceans are increasingly unhealthy. Pick your seafood wisely and avoid the most polluted and unsustainable fish.

Remember to show your love for the ocean and use less plastic! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=42931894006

USDA kicks canned tuna from WIC

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) drops toxic albacore tuna from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), but refuses to drop “light tuna” despite mercury risks.

Albacore tuna is high in toxic methylmercury, which can cause women and children brain and nervous system damage. Albacore tuna averages 0.383 parts per million (ppm) of mercury. In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised women and children to limit their consumption albacore tuna because of the risks. In California, the seafood mercury advises women and children to also avoid tuna commonly served as sushi, ahi, or tuna steaks. Fortunately, albacore tuna will no longer put low-income families at risk when they receive food through the WIC program.

There is an addition positive outcome after health advocacy campaigns contacted the USDA regarding this rule: After three decades, low-income women and children will no longer be forced to pick only tuna when looking for healthy canned seafood options. Now, the USDA can chose from salmon, sardines, and mackerel as low-mercury seafood options – getting the benefits of seafood without the risks associated with mercury in albacore tuna.

You can read the new rule online:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/regspublished/foodpackages-interimrule.htm

Despite the USDA’s wise decision to drop albacore, the USDA will continue to offer “light tuna” to mothers who breastfeed. Canned light tuna averages 0.118 ppm of mercury, which is nearly 10 times more mercury than sardines (0.016 ppm) and more than canned salmon, which contains no detectable levels of mercury. This is an unnecessary risk for low-income mothers and their nursing children when alternatives exist that carry little or no risk.

The USDA program will continue to put WIC recipient families at risk as long as canned light tuna is kept as an option. The failing tuna industry should not be subsidized at the expense of women and children in the US. Avoid buying canned tuna and speak out against this portion of the interim rule for WIC food packages.

TAKE ACTION:

Please submit your comments today to ask the USDA to remove light tuna from the WIC program and to support the inclusion of other no-mercury or low-mercury canned fish options for low-income women who are breastfeeding. Please submit your comments before the rule goes into effect on February 8, 2008.

Instructions:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov, select ‘‘Food and Nutrition Service,’’ from the agency drop-down menu, then click ‘‘Submit.’’ In the Docket ID column, select FNS–2006–0037 to submit or view public comments and to view supporting and related materials available electronically.

Radio Interview about Mercury in Fish

While working at GotMercury.Org, I did an interview with the great people at the National Radio Project about mercury in seafood with a focus on mercury in San Francisco Bay, the lawsuits under Proposition 65, and the WIC program that gives breastfeeding women canned mercury despite the risks.

You can listen to the entire program online at:
http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2007/1207.html

Let me know what you think!

OceanHealth.Org posts to Yelp! Reviewing businesses for ocean-friendly, healthy seafood options.

A fun resource for finding reviews for just about anything these days is Yelp. One thing that was noticeably lacking things on Yelp was reviews that took into account the impact the restaurants and other businesses that sell seafood are having on your health and on the health of our oceans.

Now OceanHealth.Org has begun reviewing San Francisco Bay Area restaurants and other businesses to rate how ocean-friendly and healthy they are.

Check out the OceanHealth.Org profile on Yelp and become a friend so that restaurants know that you care about your health and the health of our dwindling ocean resources.

http://oceanhealth.yelp.com

Please join the OceanHealth.Org effort by reviewing your restaurants, supermarkets, and other seafood businesses. Become a friend to OceanHealth.Org online to show your support for sustainable, healthy seafood.

Be sure to become a friend to OceanHealth.Org here on blogger, too! Subscribe for future uptdates about what you can do for ocean conservation and public health protection!

Thank you for your help! The future of the ocean is blue with you.


PS - OceanHealth.Org is also on MySpace.Com: http://myspace.com/oceanhealth