Saving Seafood

Climate change report predicts drastic changes in US marine economy

November 30, 2018 — Increasing temperatures, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation are the outcomes from climate change that will cause the most damage the world’s marine economy, according to National Climate Assessment report released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program on Friday, 23 November.

The federal program that released the report was mandated by Congress to coordinate federal research and investments in understanding the forces shaping the global environment and their impacts on society. Compiled by top scientists at 13 U.S. agencies, it paints a grim picture of the future of both U.S. and global fisheries as the effects of climate change continue to advance.

The report stated with “very high confidence” that the world stands to suffer “the loss of iconic and highly valued” habitats, and said intensifying ecosystem disruption as a result of ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and other aspects of climate change will result in major changes in species composition and food web structure. In fact, these changes are already underway and have caused significant shifts in how the marine environment is functioning, especially in the warmest and coldest environments, and the report stated – also with very high confidence – these transformative impacts on ocean ecosystems cannot be avoided In the absence of significant reductions in carbon emissions.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

Legal Sea Foods chowder not on Trump’s menu

January 13, 2017 — WASHINGTON — Ever since Ronald Reagan rode into this town, there’s been a certain custom here regarding Boston seafood. When new presidents move into the White House, the festivities include a steaming hot cup of New England clam chowder.

Or at least that used to be the tradition.

So far the Boston company that has traditionally supplied chowder, Legal Sea Foods, has been frozen out. Donald Trump’s campaign is built on challenging the status quo in Washington, and that evidently includes menus at inaugural lunches and balls.

“I haven’t heard from anybody yet,” said Roger Berkowitz, the CEO of Legal.

The reason is a matter of speculation. Could it be because Massachusetts voters didn’t support Trump? Or hard feelings over Legal’s ads making fun of Trump’s reported sensitivity about his small hands? Or is the new administration just charting its own course, unaware of tradition?

Berkowitz, for one, is holding out hope that the inaugural committee might still be interested in serving chowder during the weekend.

“It’s not partisan chowder,” he explained. “This has nothing to do with politics. . . . Maybe this is the chowder that brings America together — who knows?” It often comes down to the last minute, he said.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Union for Concerned Scientists Sets Up ‘Hotline’ for Federal Employees to Report ‘Political Meddling’ by the Trump Administration at NOAA

The Union for Concerned Scientists, led by Andrew Rosenberg, who served as northeast regional administrator, and later deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, has established a hotline for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) employees to report allegations of “political meddling” by President-elect Trump and his incoming Administration.

“I am hearing a lot of worry,” Rosenberg told Bloomberg regarding a potential Trump selection to head the agency. “The worry is that they will be putting another ideologue in place,” Rosenberg said.

December 21, 2016 — The following is excerpted from a story by Michael Bastach. It was published yesterday in The Daily Caller.

Environmentalist worry over President-elect Donald Trump reached new heights when activists set up an anonymous hotline for government climate scientists to report “political meddling” by the incoming administration.

Bloomberg reports “outside scientists are setting up an anonymous hotline for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s employees to report political meddling” over fears Trump could delete public climate data and silence researchers.

“I am hearing a lot of worry,” Andrew Rosenberg, a top activist at the at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in Cambridge, Mass., told Bloomberg. “The worry is that they will be putting another ideologue in place.”

UCS set up the hotline for climate scientists in the wake of news Trump’s administration could tamper with taxpayer-funded climate data. Interestingly enough, it’s a rumor they started.

Trump’s transition team has never said anything to indicate they would alter any public databases — a fact Freedman admitted. But it was too late, scientists, activists and media outlets began to preach the story as gospel.

Climate scientist and Slate columnist Eric Holthaus led the charge and asked people to fill it with climate data “you don’t want to see disappear.” Scientists at the University of Toronto and the University of Pennsylvania created a “Guerrilla Archiving team” to download data before Trump could “delete” it.

Holthaus, to his credit, argued budget cuts are more likely to force agencies to jettison climate data rather than malicious acts by Trump appointees. But it’s hard to say since Trump has not nominated anyone to head NOAA or NASA.

Budget cuts could shrink some efforts to monitor the climate, but it’s unlikely to result in wholesale deleting of taxpayer-funded databases, along with the planes, buoys and weather stations that go along with it.

Read the full story at The Daily Caller