28 cases of ciguatera fish poisoning have been documented since November. Fish such as grouper, snapper, and amberjack eat toxic algae, and people who eat the contaminated fish can suffer from nausea and vomiting. In serious cases, neurological problems can last for months or years …
… a federal judge rejected President Bush’s exemption of the U.S. Navy to rules regulating sonar …
… scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggested that wind may be behind the sardine and anchovy booms and busts off the California coast over the last century …
… British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, which sells over £400 million worth of seafood every year, announced that it will attempt to source all its fish from sustainable stocks …
… Japanese whalers resumed their annual hunt after anti-whaling activists had to return to port to refuel …
… it was discovered that a fishery policy in Brazil hurt tucum palm tree populations. A species of fish, pacu, is fished above a certain size, but larger fish disperse tucum seeds more effectively than smaller fish, leading to a decline in the tucum palm …
… two right whales were sighted off the eastern U.S. coast with fishing nets trailing behind them. One was nicknamed “Ruffian” because it was also covered in lacerations …
… a young loggerhead sea turtle washed ashore in Ireland, 3,000 miles from its usual southeast America habitat. Rescuers pushed it out past the surf on a surfboard …
… a great white shark that was accidentally caught by commercial fishermen was released into the Pacific after 137 days on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. His handlers were concerned he was getting “a little too frisky” to stay safely contained …
… and a humphead wrasse named Bentley disproved the theory that fish have no memory when he recalled a dinner gong that he hadn’t heard for four months. He ate squid and prawns.
