Fishermen Shoot Sea Lions in Battle Over Salmon

Former skeptic Josh Ozersky sees benefits to the earth

(NEWSER) - Not even a fish-loving foodie can justify the environmental cost of wild-caught salmon . "If I could, I would only eat wild," writes Josh Ozersky for Time. "But I can't in good conscience." Sure, farmed salmon's "taste is duller, the flesh flabbier, the finish forgettable." But "with wild populations getting wiped out by overfishing" and 90% of ocean life forms predicted to collapse by 2048, there is no other choice. More»

(NEWSER) - "A world of slime without human form": that was how Victor Hugo once described the Seine, the murky, polluted river that divides Paris in two. Yet recent efforts to clean up the river, from skimming the surface to pumping it with oxygen, have led to a resurgent fish population swimming through the French capital. You can even catch a salmon in the middle of town if you're lucky, though the Times of London says eating it might not be the best idea. More»

Oceanic changes doomed '08 crop, but scientists can't agree on what caused them

(NEWSER) - West Coast fisheries has seen a 90% drop in salmon spawn since 2004, and while many blame rivers degraded by dams and diversions, some experts believe the problem has been pushed out to sea, reports Salon. Wind direction and water temperature have changed, bringing less food to the ocean’s surface for fish to feed on; whether climate change is to blame remains unclear. More»

Feds can dodge review under rule changes

(NEWSER) - Critics are raising an alarm over planned White House changes to the Endangered Species Act, reports the Oregonian. The modifications would give federal agencies such as the US Forest Service more leeway to decide whether activities such as logging would harm endangered species—and such determinations would no longer be scrutinized by outside reviewers. More»

Scientists blame global warming for 'white spot disease'

(NEWSER) - Alaskan king salmon are getting sick, and experts have named a culprit: global warming. Marine ecologists say that a rise in "white spot disease" is tied to a 3-decade trend of higher temperatures in the Yukon River, the Los Angeles Times reports. With cold-temperature barriers melting, parasites and bacteria are moving north—and threatening Alaska's prized salmon stock. More»