Best Shifting Baselines Stories of 2007

Happy New Year's Eve!!! I will announce the grand prize winner for the shifting baselines story of the year tomorrow (something to look forward to in 2008). Today, I give you the runners-up:

1st place: The story from the New York Times on the new Euro series speargun that was introduced in the U.S. to hunt smaller fish. Americans are known for hunting big fish (because we had some) with bulky spearguns. But lately there seems to be a growing vogue among American speardivers for smaller fish like croakers and snappers...

2nd place: In her talk at UBC on Nov. 8, Alana Mitchell, who is writing a book on "Reading the Vital Signs of Global Ocean," reported that England's National Marine Aquarium used to have a Mediterranean tank. Today, as temperature and other factors of the North Atlantic have changed, so should the tank's name. According to Mitchell, all the species in the Mediterranean tank are now found off of Plymouth's coast...

3rd place: The New York Times story on Deer Meat Sushi. Japan currently consumes more than three-quarters of the world's annual catch of bluefin tuna. But as Japan's economy has stagnated and the price for tuna has risen, the nation is having an identity crisis over the potential fall of their tuna empire. Meanwhile, many sushi chefs seem to be taking the attitude that times change and so must their sushi. Deer meat and raw horse sushi, an extraordinary shifting baseline...

p.s. Did you hear? The Times Square New Year's ball went green this year with more than 9,000 energy-efficient bulbs that use about the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters.