The Beacon: Emily Fisher's blog
Video: Aimee Teegarden Swims with Sea Lions
Drum roll, please: we’re excited to unveil our latest video starring actress and ocean lover, Aimee Teegarden of “Friday Night Lights.”
We traveled with Teegarden up the coast of Southern California, from La Jolla to Santa Barbara Island, filming a video about the need to protect the ocean’s threatened habitats.
Teegarden showed off her surfing skills and also free dove with sea lion pups in a gorgeous kelp forest.
“It’s amazing that hidden treasures like this exist all over the ocean – you just have to look for them. It’s really upsetting to think about an awesome place like the sea lion rookery being destroyed by destructive fishing, pollution, or anything else harmful,” said Teegarden. “This experience made it clear that we need to identify these unique and important areas in the ocean and do whatever we can to save them. I love that Oceana finds the special places like this and then fights to protect them.”
Check out the new video, share it on Facebook and Twitter and join Aimee and Oceana in our efforts to save the ocean’s hidden treasures!
Angela Kinsey and Barton Seaver Head to Capitol Hill
Next Monday, actress and ocean activist Angela Kinsey will be here in Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to pass legislation to stop seafood fraud.
Kinsey is best known for her role as the tightly-wound head of accounting on “The Office,” and she also appeared in a video for Oceana’s sea turtle campaign alongside Rachael Harris (“The Hangover.) Kinsey will be joined by sustainable chef and author Barton Seaver and Oceana campaign director Beth Lowell. Their stops will include a briefing on Capitol Hill and a reception at National Aquarium.
Oceana has found mislabeling of nearly one in five fish fillets sampled in Boston-area supermarkets, as well as the mislabeling of more than half of the seafood sampled in the Los Angeles-area. Oceana is calling on the federal government to make combating seafood fraud a priority as well as for traceability of seafood sold in the United States.
Yves Klein Auction to Benefit Oceana
Tomorrow Christie’s International Auction House will host a Post War and Contemporary Arts evening sale, featuring Yves Klein’s FC 1, which is being sold on behalf of an anonymous collector. FC 1 is expected to achieve a record-breaking final sale price, a portion of which will be donated to Oceana.
FC 1 is the most important work by Yves Klein ever to be offered at auction, and is considered to be one of the most important Post War European works of art. The piece has been featured prominently at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC.
We’re so thankful to our friends at Christie’s for their continued support. Christie’s has put together a great website, including a tab about Oceana and a video about the making of the piece:
Oceana's Mike Hirshfield on Fish and the Law
Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set catch limits under the 2006 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act amendments for all covered species, a major triumph for fisheries management.
The Environmental Forum asked the leading voices in fisheries management, “Is the 2006 law succeeding in restoring fish stocks? Are adjustments needed to ensure robust stocks and sustainable commercial and recreational fisheries in the future?” Here’s an excerpt of the response by Mike Hirshfield. Oceana’s Senior Vice President for North America, and Chief Scientist. He is currently on sabbatical; you can read about his travels at his blog.
The United States is fortunate to have a law designed to keep abundant fish populations in the ocean. All ocean lovers, including commercial and recreational fishermen, should celebrate the passage of the 2006 amendments to that law. If they are carried out fully, we will definitely see increased fish populations in future years. Our fishery management system is one of the best in the world, certainly compared to places like Europe. But before we pat ourselves on the back too much, we need to take a clear-eyed look at what the amendments did — and didn’t — do, as well as the way the National Marine Fisheries Service is implementing the law. Some problem areas are indicated below by italics.
The amendments only addressed part of the problem. Fisheries management comes down to three principles: First, don’t kill more fish than can be replenished. Second, don’t kill too many other animals. And third, don’t wreck the places fish need to live. The 2006 amendments really only dealt with the first.
The amendments came 10 years too late for some species. Conservationists thought the 1996 amendments required an end to overfishing. We were wrong. Unfortunately, for some species, the additional decade meant ten more years of declining populations. For long-lived, slow-growing species like Atlantic halibut, some sharks, and Pacific rockfish, the extra overfishing means their populations won’t rebuild for decades — if ever.
Too many species are “off the books.” Several hundred species of fish caught by fishermen are not included in fishery management plans, so managers don’t consider them subject to the accountability requirements of the 2006 amendments. Managers have even removed species from plans to avoid the obligation. Species subject to international management are exempt from the requirements, even if overfished, like Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Too many species may fail to rebuild. Many rebuilding plans are designed with little better than a 50 percent chance of success — meaning they are nearly as likely to fail. Even an 80 percent chance of success means 20 of 100 such plans will fail. We may not always have all the science we would like, but it needs to be taken seriously, with the tie going to the fish. We need more safety margin, not less.
The bare minimum is the target. “Not overfished” and “preventing overfishing” are weak standards of success, leaving too many populations at risk. Fish stocks will face increased threats from a changing climate. We need to hedge our bets with larger fish populations, not the bare minimum.
You can read the full piece at The Environmental Forum.
Oceana and Fish Fraud on the Daily Show
We have finally made it -- Last night Oceana’s new Los Angeles seafood fraud report was featured on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Ever-angry Lewis Black responded to the report: “Snapper, tilapia, who gives a S#@*? That’s what the ketchup’s for!”
Well, not quite the message we were going for with the report, but pretty funny nonetheless.
Video: Andy Sharpless on Fish and World Hunger
Did you know that protecting our oceans could be an answer to world hunger? A few weeks ago our CEO Andy Sharpless gave a talk at TedxSF about how saving the oceans can help feed the world.
We think it’s a fantastic, thought-provoking presentation, please watch and pass it on:
Video: Chile’s Shockingly Polluted Communities
Our team in Chile has produced a powerful video, and we are excited to share it with you.
The video shows dramatic images and real testimonies from the people of Ventanas, in central Chile, which is severely affected by the pollution from coal-fired power plants and a copper refinery.
Earlier this month, a toxic cloud appeared containing levels of sulfur dioxide 10 times higher than the maximum limit established by the World Health Organization. In response to this and several other major pollution events over the past year, Oceana has been calling on the government to close the industries that operate in that area, at least until a health inspection is completed, and someone is held responsible for the pollution.
Just watch:
Our campaigners in Chile are also working to prohibit the installation of new polluting or dangerous industries in areas already declared as highly polluted. Sadly, Ventanas is just one example of many communities in Chile that are affected by severe pollution. The environmental costs of the thermoelectric industries and coal refineries are unfairly concentrated in these communities, and their residents are suffering from environmental discrimination.
Stay tuned for more videos that will feature other areas in Chile that are suffering a similar reality. Give today to support our work to protect Chile’s people and marine life from severe pollution.
Chile to Expand Marine Reserves in 2012
Great news today: The Chilean Government announced its intention to expand the Salas y Gómez marine reserve and to create a smaller reserve in Hanga Roa Bay – the harbor right off the main town and capital of historic Easter Island. This new marine conservation plan for Easter Island is set to be established by the end of the year.
The government also announced the plan to develop an assessment and status report of the main fisheries of Easter Island.
Following an expedition in 2010 to Salas y Gómez Island, led by Oceana, National Geographic, and the Waitt Foundation, the Chilean President announced the creation of the original Salas y Gómez marine reserve. This no-take reserve protects 150,000 square kilometers around the island – an area larger than Greece.
In 2011, Oceana and National Geographic Society partnered with the Chilean Navy and conducted an unprecedented expedition to study the marine area surrounding Easter Island and Salas y Gómez Island to assess their current states of conservation and potential need for new protection measures. Using the baseline study developed from this collaboration, Oceana proposed the expansion of the Salas y Gómez marine reserve, Motu Motiro Hiva, to an area of 411,000 km2, making it the second largest no-take marine protected area in the world.
These marine protected areas can only officially be declared after a referendum is conducted for the people of Easter Island, known as the Rapa Nui, and they give their approval for the proposals.
Easter Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site, famous for its stone statues, called Moai. Salas y Gómez Island is a small uninhabited island 250 miles east of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. It was described by Dr. Enric Sala, marine ecologist and National Geographic Ocean Fellow, as one of the last undisturbed and relatively pristine places left in the ocean.
We’re excited to hear that Chile is electing to protect its invaluable marine resources in Easter Island and Salas y Gómez – and we’ll keep you posted as things progress.
New Report: Widespread Seafood Fraud in LA
Something’s fishy in Los Angeles.
That’s according to our new report, which found widespread seafood mislabeling in the LA-area. DNA testing confirms that 55 percent of the seafood our campaigners sampled was mislabeled based on federal law.
In May and December of 2011, Oceana staff and supporters collected 119 seafood samples from grocery stores, restaurants and sushi venues in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The targeted species included those that were found to be mislabeled in previous studies as well as those with regional significance such as wild salmon, Dover or other regional soles, red snapper, yellowtail and white tuna.
Among the report’s other key findings include:
- Fraud was detected in 11 out of 18 different types of fish purchased.
- Every single fish sold with the word “snapper” in the label (34 out of 34) was mislabeled, according to federal guidelines.
- Nearly nine out of every ten sushi samples was mislabeled.
- Eight out of nine sushi samples labeled as “white tuna” were actually escolar, a species that carries a health warning for it laxative effects.
This Year's Christie’s Green Auction a Success
Last week, international art collectors, philanthropists, celebrities and designers convened for the third year in a row for Christie’s Green Auction.
Last year, the evening's festivities raised a record-breaking $2.4 million for four of the world's leading, science-based environmental nonprofits: Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, Central Park Conservancy and Conservation International.
The Green Auction’s companion online auction, powered by charitybuzz, will continue through Thursday, and includes a day with President Bill Clinton, a 13-day safari in Kenya and a volleyball lesson with Gabby Reece.
And if you can’t afford to bid on a safari or celeb experience, you can also text GREEN to 80888 to donate $10.
A huge thanks to everyone who has helped make this year’s auction a success!
