Articles by Andrew Sharpless

Donate wild salmon instead of tuna

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. Despite the mall stampedes, fruitcake overload, never-ending traffic jams, and hideous reindeer sweaters, I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with my family. I can almost taste my mother's mince pie, and I am ready to play backyard soccer and touch football with my daughters and my nieces and nephews.

Sea bass smuggler cops a plea in Miami

In September 2005, U.S. prosecutors brought criminal charges against Antonio Vidal Pego and the Uruguayan company Fadilur for trying to bring Chilean sea bass into Miami without proper documentation.

Although this case may have lacked the pizazz necessary to inspire a Law & Order episode, it was, in fact, a very big deal. This indictment was the first ever for the illegal importation and sale of Chilean sea bass. Yesterday was another groundbreaker, with the first ever guilty pleas for pirate fishing (coming from Vidal and Fadilur).

Shark finning divisive issue

A few days ago I came across this post by Doctor Mark Hyman touting the medicinal properties of food. During his recent trip to China, the doctor was "treated" to the "delicacy" of shark fin soup, which he claims can help ease arthritis and possibly fight cancer.

New report cites impacts of biodiversity loss

For those of you that would rather get a root canal the read "Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services," consider this your Cliff's Notes.

This new report in Science shows that marine biodiversity loss is increasingly impairing the ocean's ability to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations. If these trends continue, pretty much all the fish will be gone by 2048. In fact, according to the report, a whopping 30% of the world's commercial fisheries are already collapsed.