After running for port all night, we were met at the dock in the early morning by the buyer from Whole Foods. Blue Ocean Institute has been working with Whole Foods in helping them offer sustainably-caught fish at their seafood counter. Whole Foods is featuring Canadian harpooned swordfish as a sustainable, zero-bycatch source of swordfish [...]
The weather turned less friendly. Windy, white caps. The wind was sending seabirds like greater shearwaters and fulmars and storm petrels whizzing along the sea’s raw, undulating surface. Looking ahead to a challenging day of trying to see fins in such tossing seas, our first major sighting was particularly rewarding: a right whale, one of [...]
From my bunk I felt the seas come down and anticipated a calm day. I went on deck alone at 5 a.m. to greet the first light, and watched as dawn painted itself on the horizon and clouds. I could hear the plosive breaths of dolphins before I saw them, and greatly enjoyed watching them [...]
They’re incredible animals, magnificent, specialized predators. Yet most of what we know about them is how to kill them. We value them almost entirely only after we’ve turned them into meat. We miss almost all of what there is to appreciate about them as animals. Even in such intimate contact—as fish we catch, and as [...]
July 10, 2011 After a leisurely breakfast, we began looking for fish. Our boat’s captain and owner is Larry Sears. He’s also the vice-president of the swordfish harpooner’s quota association. This association decides, based on history, how many fish each boat will get to catch for the season. This eliminates a lot of the competition [...]
Getting There After steaming overnight 10 hours from Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, I woke 100 miles at sea. We’re at one of the most famous fishing areas in the northwest Atlantic Ocean: Georges Bank. No one would call the water as I first laid eyes on it calm, but we expect it to lay down [...]
Check your local PBS listings for the first two episodes of “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina“. And look for Carl’s new book, which was released on April 19th: “A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout“ Click here for upcoming events, media appearances and ongoing reviews for Safina’s new book, The View From [...]
Guest blog by Stephen Dishart, Executive Director, Blue Ocean Institute To view Carl’s TEDx Oil Spill lecture click here. Safina points to gross negligence as the cause of the spill With a remarkable agenda of speakers, the hottest topic on the planet and a crowd of environmental experts and others eager for the latest word [...]
The Reverend glances from computer to TV, then back to the blog he’s reading, and writes to his atheist friend, “And as I read this from you I’m watching the news on the oil spill. Seems to trivialize it to call it a “spill.” Milk spills. A can of oil spills. But this? Hard to have [...]
By Carl Safina Don’t believe the globe is warming? Fine. Whatever. Here’s one thing everyone agrees on: the fact that oil spills. Even without global warming—even if global warming is a hoax—we must, finally, eventually, kick the carbon-energy addiction. The fact that oil spills is among those reasons. As if New Orleans doesn’t have enough [...]
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