Washington

The following was released by NOAA today: WASHINGTON — Sept. 7, 2011 — NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Maria Damanaki, European Union commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, will sign a historic statement today pledging bilateral cooperation to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, known as IUU fishing—a first for the longstanding partnership between the U.S. and the E.U. on fisheries management.
 
The European Union and United States rank first and third, respectively, as the world’s top seafood importers (Japan is second). Globally, illegal fishing deprives legal fishermen and coastal communities of up to $23 billion of seafood and seafood products annually. This puts honest fishermen at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. The U.S. and the E.U. recognize their responsibility to protect the oceans’ vital food and biodiversity resources.
 
In today’s statement, the U.S. and the E.U. make it clear that they are committed to cooperating on combating IUU fishing as the only effective way of ending these practices. Among other things, they agree to work together to support the adoption of effective management measures in regional and international organizations to combat IUU fishing; promote tools that prevent IUU operators from benefiting economically from their illegal activities; exchange information on IUU activities; and promote the sustainable use of fisheries resources while preserving marine biodiversity.
 
“Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is one of the most serious threats to American fishing jobs and fishing communities, as well as to the health of the world’s oceans,” said Dr. Lubchenco, who is also under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. “International cooperation across oceans will help us maintain a level playing field for our fishermen by strengthening enforcement and preventing illegal fishing.”
 
"IUU fishing is a criminal activity, and we have the duty to do everything possible to stop this practice,” said Damanaki. “Today's agreement will help us to do just that. By joining forces, we make it harder for culprits to get away with their dirty business."
 
Individually, the United States and the E.U. have already put in place a number of legal measures to combat IUU fishing, such as the U.S. High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act that identifies countries engaged in IUU fishing and an E.U. regulation that blocks illegal seafood imports without the required certifications. Both participate actively in international fishery management organizations and promote international instruments to address IUU fishing.
 
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to clamp down on IUU fishing and prevent illegal seafood from entering our market. With all the sacrifices U.S. fisherman have made, they deserve no less.” Dr. Lubchenco said. “The U.S. and the E.U. share common challenges in fisheries management, so working together will bring us closer to achieving a shared vision of sustainable fisheries.”
 
The U.S. is turning a corner in ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks. Landings have increased by more than  200 million pounds and all coastal regions of the country saw increases in total value of these landings in 2010, over last year. Meanwhile, the E.U. is in the process of reforming its Common Fisheries policy designed to rebuild its own fisheries and is looking to learn from the United States’ success stories. Beyond domestic boundaries, there is an increasing need for international cooperation, especially among major fishing and seafood-importing nations, to improve global fisheries management of shared marine resources and to preserve the associated employment and other economic benefits of sustainable fisheries.
 
The document signed today by the United States and the European Union is a building block that will help achieve these goals.

PATTAYA, Thailand — Saved from the soup bowl at a Thai restaurant, the baby shark wriggled out of the bag and into the open sea — a rare survivor of a trade that kills millions of the predators each year.

On average an estimated 22,000 tonnes of sharks are caught annually off Thailand for their fins — a delicacy in Chinese cuisine once enjoyed only by the rich, but now increasingly popular with the wealthier middle class.

Thanks to a group of environmental activists calling themselves the Dive Tribe, dozens of sharks were returned to the wild in the Gulf of Thailand recently, bought from animal markets or restaurants.

Among them were several young bamboo and black tip reef sharks which narrowly avoided ending up as shark fin soup — prized in particular by the Chinese who believe it boosts sexual potency.

Gwyn Mills, founder of Dive Tribe, laments the fact that the plight of sharks is largely overlooked compared to animals such as elephants and tigers.

He fears it may be only five or 10 years before the damage is irreversible.

Read the complete story from The Associated Free Press

There are some new fish in town, and researchers want to know where they came from. The fish are Atlantic salmon (Salmosalar L.), and the town is London—or, more accurately, weirs located in the River Thames at the boundaries of London.

It’s hard to find salmon in the Thames these days, and it’s even harder to find untagged salmon, which likely originate not from restocking efforts but from the wild. If this is the case, it may mean that the animals are finally repopulating the Thames after having been extirpated from the river in the 19thcentury—an impressive feat considering that teams of conservationists have been unable to achieve this goal despite decades of efforts.

The River Thames is one of the most famous polluted habitats in the Western world; urbanization, coupled with the industrial revolution, left the river foul and uninhabitable not just for the Atlantic salmon, but for many animals. Runs of salmon up the Thames were well-known as far back as 1215, when they were mentioned in the Magna Carta; fish numbers were previously so high that there was a fishery on the river until the early 19th century. But once the waters became polluted, the salmon gradually disappeared; the last record of a"natural" Thames salmon was made in 1833.

Over the years there have been various attempts to restore the species to the river, not just because it is an important keystone species and can be used as a bioindicator, but also because it can provide substantial economic benefits thanks to its popularity among avocational and vocational fishermen alike. Ultimately, none of the previous attempts met with much success. During the intense rehabilitation efforts performed in the 1970's and 1990's, the river was stocked predominantly by a mixture of captive-bred fish from Scotland and "supportively-bred" (in other words, with only one generation of captive breeding) fish from two rivers in Ireland. Despite these efforts, the number of adults in the Thames diminished steadily until 2005, when no fish were captured at all.

Read the complete story from Science 2.0