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| TABLE OF CONTENTS | Volume VII, Number 4
JULY/AUGUST 1996 |
COVER STORY
VACUUMING THE SEA
At sea 200 miles southwest of Iceland last summer, the crew of a super-trawler big enough to contain a dozen Boeing 747 jumbo jets unloaded a staggering 50 tons of oceanic redfish into flash-freezers down below, as the Icelandic ship's captain began maneuvering against nearby Russian and Japanese vessels for the next set. Emotions were running high, as there was a lot at stake. Each ship was trawling nets with opening circumferences of almost two miles; that's the equivalent of 10 New York City blocks wide by two Empire State Buildings high. Soon the Russian boat steamed over the Icelander's net, and the Japanese trawler ripped loose the Russian's lines.
By Dick Russell
SIDEBAR: WASTE AT SEA
It's hard to believe, but the United Nations estimates that about 27 million tons of fish each year--a third the volume of the regular commercial catch--are caught and then tossed back (usually dead) because they are the wrong species, too small, damaged in capture or exceed a particular quota. And some estimates peg the real amount at closer to 40 million tons. In the industry, it's known as unwanted "bycatch."
By Dick Russell
SIDEBAR: TURNING SEALS INTO SCAPEGOATS
Twillingate, Newfoundland----Kill seals, save cod. That's the rule followed by the Canadian government, which this year authorized the killing of a quarter-million harp seals, whose burgeoning population could be having an effect on depleted stocks of Atlantic cod, their favorite food. By early May, the hunters were mopping up, shooting the seals bobbing along Newfoundland's northern shore.
By Chris Chivers
SIDEBAR: GOING, GOING...GONE
Through 1989, when the annual global fish catch peaked at 86.1 million metric tons--a nearly fivefold increase over the recorded haul in 1950--the notion of unlimited bounty prevailed. Since then, we've witnessed a precipitous decline, especially in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean. Canada's Grand Banks and New England's Georges Banks--once among the most plentiful fishing grounds anywhere--have undergone complete collapse. With the virtual disappearance of haddock, cod and yellowtail flounder, an emergency federal closure of more than 6,000 square miles off the Massachusetts coast was ordered late in 1994, shutting down a $200-million-a-year industry.
By Dick Russell
MAD COWS AND THE COLONIES - It Can't Happen Here? Don't Bet on It. U.S. Farmers are Still Practicing 'Cow Cannibalism' Years After Britain Gave it Up
In 1985, a previously healthy Holstein dairy cow in England became edgy and uncoordinated. It had difficulty standing and walking, and became aggressive and unpredictable. Death came quickly, and an examination revealed a startling fact: Its brain was riddled with holes, like a sponge. The cow's condition was later given a name: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE. "Mad cow disease" had arrived.
By Kieran Mulvaney
SIDEBAR: BRAVE NEW WORLD
Oddly enough, one reason cows are eating more of each other these days has to do with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a synthetic form of the controversial hormone the dairy industry is employing to stimulate milk production. Marketed under the name "Posilac," Monsanto's rBGH is the first genetically engineered food product to win FDA approval. Injected into a cow's pituitary gland every two weeks, rBGH (also known as BST, or bovine somatotropin) can increase milk output by up to 25 percent.
By Jim Motavalli and Tracey C. Rembert
SIDEBAR: THE RENDERING INDUSTRY
Every summer through most of the 1980s, an awful smell wafted its way across the west side of Bridgeport, Connecticut--a stench ultimately traced to the premises of Herman Isaacs, Inc. Once you knew how the long-established company did business, it wasn't surprising to learn that its operations stunk to high heaven. Isaacs, now closed, was a meat rendering plant; it bought spoiled meat scraps, animal carcasses, and other "offal" and transformed this waste product into an inoffensive, high-protein base for such products as designer soaps, medicines, candy (yes, candy) and a whole lot of other things you'd never suspect had meat in them.
By Kieran Mulvaney
CONVERSATIONS
RICHARD LEAKEY
Interview with Richard Leakey.
By Scott Harris
GREEN LIVING
ECO-HOME: THE ETERNAL FLAME - Compact Fluorescents are Cheap, Earth-Friendly and May Last Forever
By Tracey C. Rembert
YOUR HEALTH: SUN DAYS - To Fight Skin Cancer This Summer, Sun Lovers Will Have to Take Precautions
By Alyssa L. Burger
CONSUMER NEWS: RETHINKING HEMP - With a Wide Variety of Uses, Ranging from Clothing to Paper, the Hemp Industry is Growing in the US -- Despite a Ban on Growing It Here
By Anne W. Wilke
MONEY MATTERS: GREEN PLASTICS - Some Environmentalists See Eco-Credit Cards As a Contradiction in Terms, But They Make Money
By Marshall Glickman
GOING GREEN: WELCOME TO PARADISE - Hawaii's Molokai Island Offers Unspoiled Ecotourism
By Ed Rampell
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E WORD
FISHED OUT
CURRENTS
DOWN DEEP - Environmentalists Fight to Protect the Fantastic Microscopic Creatures That Dwell on the Ocean's Bottom
MINING DISASTER - Exxon, Operator of a Mine that Colombian Indians Say has Destroyed Their Homeland, is Planning Another Venture in Wisconsin
BUYING HIGH, SELLING LOW - Emissions Trading is a Flop on Wall Street, but is it Reducing Pollution?
BACK FROM THE BRINK - Is Captive Breeding Creating Viable Populations...Or Zoo Specimens?
IN BRIEF
CLEANING THE AIR WITH ART
FILLER 'UP--AND MAKE IT A LITE
DOLPHINS ON THE BEACH
RAGING WATERS
PLAIN AND SIMPLE - The Luddite Congress
WILD SENTRY FOR WOLVES
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