Jennifer Jacquet
I am an American post-doc based at the University of British Columbia, where I also completed my Ph.D.
jjacquet
Posts by this author
August 20, 2007
Recently, The End of the Line film crew came to the Fisheries Centre to interview Daniel Pauly, who is one of the characters in what will soon be a "cinematic documentary thriller" about overfishing. In the film's treatment, Daniel is described as "the man who blew the lid off the story [of…
August 19, 2007
Small fish can cause a big stink. A New York Times article reports that fishermen in France and Spain are fighting about fishing for anchovies in the Bay of Biscay. Because the bay was overfished, the European Union implemented a total ban on fishing for anchovies until 2008. But fishermen in…
August 15, 2007
Two whacky stories in one day: a Rhode Island man was arrested and accused of throwing liquid into a whale tank (where three beluga whales reside) at the Mystic Aquarium. The police said Mr. Watkins told them he threw the liquid into the tank "to keep the fish warm and protect them from Agent…
August 15, 2007
A few buddhists bought $7000 worth of live eels, frogs, and turtles for sale in New York City's Chinatown today and set them free in the polluted Passaic River of New Jersey (not exactly seafood heaven). Read the full story here.
August 15, 2007
Fish aren't caught how they used to be, but some say they should be. Of the many gear types to choose from, there is general concensus that family-owned hook and line is one of the best, especially when compared to other gears.
In 2000, hook and line fisherman Paul Parker gave a testimony before…
August 14, 2007
Posted by David Wilmot, dave@oceanchampions.org
Turd Blossom quit! Amazingly, instead of jail he's going back to Texas (please, no Texas jokes). August is typically a quiet month in Washington DC. Karl Rove, President Bush's most trusted advisor, among other things, shattered the calm with his…
August 13, 2007
No, this doesn't have anything to do with shifting baselines, but I watched all ten episodes of HBO's "John from Cincinnati," which culminated last night and ... all I can say is pretty much, "whaaaaaaat?" I was a fan of the show because of the surf setting and because it was shot in Imperial…
August 12, 2007
In today's New York Times, Paul Greenberg has a marvelous article with a marvelous lede about a sportfishing trip he took to Kona, HI: A few months ago I took the most expensive nap of my life, and when it was over I decided it was all Hemingway's fault. Hemingway was an avid sportfisher and…
August 9, 2007
One-fifth of the advice on how to save our oceans in the current issue of Conservation Magazine came from two-thirds of my graduate committee. Check out the ocean advice of Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila and the other eight ideas in 10 Solutions to Save the Oceans. Any favorites?
August 9, 2007
After making his documentary Flock of Dodos, Randy Olson (Head Dodo) stepped out of the spotlight and kicked back with some books--one of which was The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything by Gordy Slack. Slack's book explores that Dodorific subject of religion in the science classroom and how the…
August 9, 2007
In 2002, when Randy Olson wrote an Op-Ed for the L.A. Times one of the ways he described the shifting baselines phenomenon was in terms of weight: If your ideal weight used to be 150 pounds and now it's 160, your baseline -- as well as your waistline -- has shifted. And indeed it has.
One-third of…
August 9, 2007
For five years I've been trying to tell everyone that someday Dr. Jeremy Jackson needs to give a talk about the oceans in which he is dressed up as the grim reaper, complete with black hood and scythe. Well, my dream almost came true last night at the premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie The…
August 8, 2007
Tonight the environmental documentary film The 11th Hour starring Leonardo DiCaprio (I'll resist comparing our planet to the Titanic) premieres in Hollywood--and two Shifting Baselines co-founders, Randy Olson and Jeremy Jackson, are turning out for the event. The film, which explores our…
August 7, 2007
Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
With Congress in recess, there's not a lot going on in DC, so I'd like to talk a little more about the red tide funding authorization pushed through the House by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fl.) two weeks ago. One of the great things about Castor's amendment…
August 5, 2007
The Galapagos Marine Reserve has trouble with illegal shark finning and a couple solutions--namely decent laws and several individuals fighting the daily Galapagos grind to keep those laws intact and sometimes enforced. One of these individuals is Sean O'Hearn of Sea Shepherd International. And…
August 2, 2007
Big, predatory fishes such as tuna and swordfish used to decorate the kitchen whisk. Today, scrambling eggs is only possible with those creatures lower on the marine food web, such as cephalopods. This mysterious creature from the deep (aka squid whisk) is a belated birthday present from my sister…
August 1, 2007
Daniel Pauly just pointed me toward a story that will compete with Deer Meat Sushi as the Shifting Baselines story of the year. The Sunday Times ran A Trimmer Gun to Spear Smaller Fry about how there is finally a speargun sold in the U.S. to hunt smaller fish. Americans are known for hunting big…
July 31, 2007
Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
Well how about some good news for a change? Last week Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fl) pushed through the House an amendment to authorize $90 million over three years for research into the causes of red tide and other harmful algal blooms (HAB). Here's our…
July 31, 2007
The New York Times ran a nice article yesterday on the northward expansion of the hefty (up to 100 lbs.) Humboldt squid. Scientists are queried why the Humboldt squid has, over the last ten years, made a home in Monterey, California (it wasn't because of low taxes). A study of squid stomachs (not…
July 30, 2007
Though the paper Shifting gears: Assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in U.S. waters is geriatric (2003) in blogosphere terms, I thought it might be worthwhile to post a couple of the paper's visual highlights. Below are the different types of fishing gears that scour U.S. waters (and…
July 25, 2007
Who: Surimi
Here Spanish surimi poses as baby eels, which have been overfished (photo courtesy of M. Hirshfield).
What: A pulverized fish product that has been shaped, texturized, and flavored to resemble some other fish product. Gobal surimi production is estimated to be between 550,000 and 600,…
July 25, 2007
Last year, President Bush set aside a large tract of coast off the northern Hawaiian Islands as a marine protected area (MPA) and National Monument. Politically, islanders tell me, this was not too difficult because U.S. fishing interests in the northern Hawaiian islands are relatively small. In…
July 24, 2007
Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
So what are the lessons about fish politics (and politics generally) from last week's silly flap about the Patagonian toothfish that Al Gore ate at the rehearsal dinner at his daughter's wedding?
People expect a level of perfection out of politicians…
July 22, 2007
Today's New York Times ran an article about the increasing interest in marine biology in today's youth culture (some of you believe I should now go confirm this story--check their sources and double-check their stats; I will not). In the U.S., about 50 summer camps, most of them near the ocean,…
July 19, 2007
In 2003, after Randy Olson would give a lecture on ocean conservation, audiences would ask the inevitable: What is one thing I can do to help the oceans? Olson would respond: Boycott Chilean sea bass. Today, though the evidence for declines in Chilean sea bass is even clearer, the message is no…
July 19, 2007
Every day planes leave Kona, Hawaii with live yellow tangs loaded in the cargo hold, most of them destined for a U.S. aquarium. Craig Schmarr of Ocean Riders Seahorse Farm believes the "self-regulating fishery" is a threat to Hawaiian reefs.There is now a market for captive-bred, eco-friendly…
July 18, 2007
The whole Gore/Chilean sea bass debacle calls into question Hollywood's role in the environmental movement. Gore, having received an Academy Award, now definitely qualifies as 'Hollywood'. One the one hand, Hollywood should not represent environmental causes because it is a liability (as in the…
July 17, 2007
Al Gore's daughter got married last week and apparently the event was so sacred it called for eating one of the world's most endangered fish: Chilean sea bass (which is not actually a 'bass'). Now Gore is justifiably under scrutiny by the media and charged with eco-hypocrisy.
The D.C.-based…