washington post
‘Oceana’ a WaPo Political Bestseller
You may have heard by now that actor and ocean activist Ted Danson wrote a book called "Oceana: Our Endangered Oceana and What We Can Do to Save Them". Washington Post writer Christopher Schoppa has also heard the news; he recently featured Danson’s book in his Political Bookworm column, naming it one of the most important new political bestsellers. "Oceana" currently ranks #4 on the WaPo's political bestseller list, right behind Henry Kissinger's book, "On China."
Check out the Washington Post feature to learn why Schoppa is urging his readers to pick up a copy of "Oceana", and learn more about Danson’s motivations for writing the book.
Unpacking the Shark Myth: ‘Demon Fish’
Washington Post environment and politics reporter Juliet Eilperin has a new book out today that explores the science and mythology behind the ocean’s top predators.
In “Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks,” Eilperin travels the globe -- she swims with whale sharks in Belize and great white sharks in South Africa -- to investigate how individuals and cultures relate to sharks and how the misperceptions surrounding them threaten their continued existence on the planet.
The book also includes a few nods to Oceana’s shark campaign work, including our work to combat the use of squalane in beauty products, and actress January Jones’ visit to Capitol Hill to advocate for sharks.
But enough about us, be sure to check out NPR’s great interview with Eilperin, and catch her on tour in the coming months. You can see her full tour schedule as well as excerpts, reviews and other information about the book at www.demonfishbook.com.
Here’s a book trailer for “Demon Fish” to whet your appetite:
Would You Pass the Seafood Pop Quiz?
Andy Sharpless is the CEO of Oceana.
Oceana’s new Seafood Fraud campaign kicked off Wednesday with an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. As the Washington Post reported, it wasn’t just a press conference; it was also a seafood pop quiz.
Our campaigners asked audience members to identify skinless fillets of halibut and fluke by sight, and did the same for red snapper vs. hake and for farmed vs. wild salmon. Then they conducted a taste test between tilapia and vermilion snapper.
The result? While a few fish-savvy folks passed the tests, many people couldn’t tell the difference, which is a simple illustration of how easy it is to fool seafood consumers.
That’s one of the key points of our new report, “Bait and Switch,” which explains how consumers are frequently served a completely different fish species than the one they paid for. Seafood may be mislabeled as often as 25 to 70 percent of the time for fish such as red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod, according to recent studies.
