Ocean Politics
jjacquet | December 9, 2008Everywhere I turn it seems to be bad news for poster fish species. Bluefin tuna are in a bad way. And let's not forget pollock, the world's largest food fishery. This year, conservation groups and scientists feel the catch limits are being set anywhere from two to three times too high. Greenpeace has gone so far as to release a television public service announcement in Seattle and Anchorage last week to call attention to the problem with pollock...
jjacquet | September 27, 2008For those of you who watched the first Presidential debate last night, you know that the state of the U.S. economy was the first and central topic discussed by Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. You also might have heard Senator John McCain, in his first few minutes of answering the question on what do to about the U.S. financial crisis, criticize the U.S. government for spending $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Later in the debate, McCain did go on to talk about defense spending. Still, it bothered me that the first attack and hard figure he put out there…
jjacquet | September 13, 2008Focusing on subsidies rather than consumers likely to be better for fish and for small-scale fishermen
A couple weeks ago, Daniel Pauly and I got the paper Funding Priorities: Big Barriers to Small-scale Fisheries published in the journal Conservation Biology. In our analysis, we try to demonstrate that conservationists attempts to encourage sustainable fisheries at the market level should place at least equal emphasis on eliminating harmful fisheries subsidies as on consumer-based approaches (e.g., wallet cards that advise on which fish to eat).
More emphasis on eliminating subsidies might…
jjacquet | September 8, 2008No one wants to talk about it, but apparently some people might not vote for Obama because he is black (a phenomenon I could indeed feel when I recently visited my home state Ohio). At this point, addressing the topic of race is sort of like having to argue against the Earth being 10,000 years old: it's stupid and boring. But, if you can still stomach trying to understand U.S. dunderheads, this column in the Philadelphia Inquirer analyzes the role Obama's father's darker skin could play in November.
The sad reality in the U.S. is that many citizens (and, in particular, union members) are…
jjacquet | August 30, 2008Baracknophobia: The irrational fear of hope.
If you saw Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night (TIME Magazine granted it an A+) you'll likely agree that it's hard not to be excited.
Obama's worldview and oratory skills combined with his positions on almost every issue, including health care, corporate handouts, and a national energy policy, do indeed give reason for hope (and there has never been anything false about hope). Senator Obama also recently answered 14 questions crafted by the ScienceDebate2008 team. Here is his response to the question posed about the oceans:…
jjacquet | August 6, 2008Many of you will recall my passion and compassion for the illustrious sea cow (and for those of you who haven't watched it, the exploding manatee heart is a must). A few weeks ago, after I attended the International Coral Reefs Symposium I went back to my old stomping ground (water?) of Crystal River, Florida, to visit these gentle giants. I have been traveling to Crystal River off and on for 10 years and, even over this brief time, I have witnessed a shifting baseline...
Crystal River is a beautiful area, particularly in the early morning when the fog clings to the water and air is filled…
jjacquet | July 13, 2008Barack Obama attended the 11th International Symposium on Coral Reefs and here is proof: him sandwiched between two top ocean scientists and proponents of the term 'shifting baselines': Daniel Pauly and Jeremy Jackson.
Okay, okay. So he is a cardboard cutout. I purchased him back in Ohio to ruffle the feathers in my Republican hearth and thought he might come in handy at the conference. Some in attendance had a different perspective, though, and as I walked into one of the upstairs rooms (where I had set Obama up off to side), he was being carted off by organizers who said they received…
jjacquet | May 30, 2008At the Fisheries Centre, we always talk about how an increase in fuel price will lead to less fishing (less flying, less driving, etc., too). The annual fuel subsidy to fishermen globally is $6.3 billion annually and, without it, many overfished species might experience reprieve. But today, an article about European fishermen challenges this assumption. Fishermen have been throwing a tantrum about the high cost of fuel and blocked port traffic in the English Channel in France. According to the article:
Some officials ruled out fuel price subsidies and said the protests had highlighted a…
jjacquet | February 27, 2008Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
As this Wall Street Journal piece points out, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest's primary loss two weeks ago accelerated the decline of another endangered species: the Moderate Republican.
Organizations like the Club for Growth, which raised and spent over $1 million for Gilchrest's primary opponent, have aggressively targeted what they refer to as "RINO's" (Republicans In Name Only), with the explicit goal being to run them out of the party.
The result is an increasingly uni-polar Republican party that brooks no dissent from party orthodoxy, rather…
jjacquet | February 12, 2008Posted by David Wilmot, dave@oceanchampions.org
2008 is not shaping up to be a good year for conventional wisdom. The New York football Giants beat the record-perfect New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in an upset that can best be measured by the surreal fact that Las Vegas Casinos lost money on betting. One can only hope the Casinos and Vegas find a way to recover.
On a somewhat less viewed but arguably more important stage, the race for the Presidency of the United States is thwarting conventional wisdom. I'm not exactly sure where conventional wisdom can be found or how it is…
jjacquet | February 11, 2008It's official. Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Barack Obama have been invited to ScienceDebate2008.
The location? Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, named after one of our nation's greatest scientists (and greatest patriots). The date? April 18, just before the Pennsylvania Primary. Read more on the event at The Intersection.
jjacquet | February 5, 2008Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
The last month has seen enormous turnout in primaries and caucuses around the country, and today's Super Tuesday vote promises to be no different. Here's a prediction of a 40% turnout in one Missouri district. This is phenomenal for a primary election. There are general elections in this country that don't see that kind of turnout.
We saw similar high turnout in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. I cannot remember a primary election that produced more voter and media interest. TV execs aren't even worried about the writer's…
jjacquet | January 29, 2008Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
So my question to those of you out there in science blog land is this: does politics matter to you?
One of the best fish advocates in Congress could go down (If you don't believe me see today's Washington Post).
Gilchrest could be replaced by an anti-environment zealot.
Do you care?
Congress controls whether federal dollars get directed at ocean-related research.
Key members of Congress work to get science projects funded.
Do you believe that building relationships with these members makes a difference in funding, and to your work?
I can…
jjacquet | January 24, 2008Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
Lots of interesting developments in the Gilchrest race this week.
The Politico has this story about the massive amount of direct mail being directed at Gilchrest by hard-core anti-environmentalist Andy Harris.
Gilchrest's other primary primary opponent (no, that's not a typo - I meant to say "primary" twice), E.J. Pipkin, triggered the "millionaire's amendment" to campaign finance rules, allowing Gilchrest and Harris to raise three times the legal limit from individuals. That's because Pipkin has already pumped over $350,000 of his own money…
jjacquet | January 22, 2008A new campaign out from WWF that calls unsustainable fish "stinky" has caused some controversy among the seafood industry. Blogfish has more on the stink the campaign caused. Unfortunately, we can no longer view the video but I can't imagine how a hand puppet could make too much trouble...
jjacquet | January 16, 2008Remember a couple weeks ago how the California courts ruled to protect acoustic feeders and minimize Naval sonar use? Well, NRDC's Kate Wing just informed me that ruling is now being challenged by the Bush Administration who yesterday attempted to override the court ruling. According to NRDC, who instigated the original lawsuit:
In an effort to nullify measures established to protect marine mammals from potentially lethal sound blasts, President Bush gave the Navy an unprecedented waiver under the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), and allowed the Navy a second "emergency" waiver under the…
jjacquet | January 16, 2008Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org
I know I promised last week to talk about why we aren't planning to endorse anyone in the presidential race, but there's a Congressional primary coming up that really needs attention right now.
The Politico has a great story up about the primary race being faced by Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), one of the best Republican champions the oceans have in Congress ("Maryland incumbent receives right jab").
Gilchrest is one of a dying breed - the moderate Republicans - and he's frequently been out of step with his party on environmental issues (he once…
jjacquet | January 15, 2008Two Sea Shepherd volunteers have been detained after boarding a Japanese whaler (first they were tied up to the ship). See the article and watch the video here.
jjacquet | January 15, 2008European boats unfairly fishing in African waters have depleted local resources. Many African fishermen now have no fish and no hope, except in the prospects of a better life in Europe. The New York Times has more in a great article yesterday: Europe Takes Africa's Fish, and Boatloads of Migrants Follow.