UK’s Waitrose refuses to stock NZ-caught hoki

British supermarket chain Waitrose confirmed it refuses to stock New Zealand-caught hoki

Waitrose, a large British supermarket chain, confirmed that it is refusing to stock New Zealand-caught hoki because bottom trawling is used in New Zealand fisheries.

Waitrose supermarkets say “NO” to NZ-caught hoki. Image NZ govt.

Fishing for hoki – The deep-sea fish hoki, also known as blue hake or blue grenadier, is one of New Zealand’s biggest fish exports. Hoki fishing began in the Tasman Sea, but has expanded to include Cook Strait, the Chatham Rise and subantarctic waters. In the decade to 2002 the annual quota for the catch was 200,000 tonnes. In 2004 the Tasman Sea stock was estimated to be down to about 13% of the biomass before fishing developed in 1972, with a warming trend in the Tasman likely to be a contributing factor. The quota was reduced to 180,000, then to 100,000 tonnes in 2004. Caption: NZ govt.

“There are some MSC fisheries that we don’t stock, such as the MSC New Zealand hoki fishery, which conducts bottom trawling,” Jeremy Langley, specialist fish buyer for Waitrose said in a report by Seafoodsource.com.

At least a dozen other supermarket chains in Europe and North America have also removed New Zealand caught orange roughy from their shelves because it goes against their sustainability policies. “Orange roughy is also caught by bottom trawling, dragging large, weighted nets across the ocean floor which lays waste to seabed communities, particularly on the seamounts where some fish species gather to feed and reproduce, and is considered one of the most destructive forms of fishing.” A report said.

“Waitrose has also pledged to buy only pole-and-line caught canned tuna.” Seafood News said.

Orange Roughy, one of the most commercially fished deep-water species. Orange Roughy can live for around 150 years and do not begin to breed until they are around 25 years old, making them extremely susceptible to over-fishing. Image courtesy of R. Waller in the NE Atlantic. Caption: NOAA Ocean Explorer.

The time has come for ALL supermarket chains to consider refusing to stock New Zealand meat products, too!

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How Taklamakan Desert Enriches Oceans

A huge dust storm in China’s Taklamakan desert in 2007 generated dust clouds  that circled the globe more than once in just 13 days: Study

“Asian dust is usually deposited near the Yellow Sea, around the Japan area, while Sahara dust ends up around the Atlantic Ocean and coast of Africa,” said Itsushi Uno of Kyushu University’s Research Institute for Applied Mechanics.

Taklamakan by NASA World Wind . One of the largest sandy deserts in the world, Taklamakan covers an area of 270,000 km² (three quarters) of the Tarim Basin.

Astronaut Photography of Earth – Display Record – STS059-84-51

Taklamakan Dust Storm.

“But this study shows that China dust can be deposited into the (Pacific Ocean),” Reuters reported him as saying. “Dust clouds contain 5 percent iron, that is important for the ocean.”

“The most important achievement is that we tracked this through one full circuit round the globe, nobody has done this before. After half a circuit, usually the dust concentration gets very low and you can’t track it,” Uno told Reuters.

“This means that dust concentration, dust lifetime is very long, more than two weeks.”

The dust cloud envelope, measuring about 3 km high and 2,000 km long, retained its structure even after it had circled the globe once.

“The reason why the cloud structure was very well maintained was because the dust was uplifted … where the atmosphere is very stable,” Uno said.

Previously …

Dust storm over China’s Taklamakan Desert, on April 14, 2002, from the MODIS Instrument on NASA’s Terra Satellite.

Researches using an atmospheric computer model previously showed that dust from the TaklaMakan desert in China traveled more than 20,000 kilometers over two weeks landing on the French Alps. “Chinese dust plumes have been known to reach North America and even Greenland, but have never been reported before in Europe.” (Source).

A DUSTY PATH FROM CHINA TO FRANCE — The spiked line shows the dust’s 315 hour (13+ days) trip from the TaklaMakan desert in China, circling the world (counterclockwise) and landing in the French Alps on March 6, 1990. The black star is where scientists gathered samples.

Related Links:

• Columbia-Led Scientists Dust Off Desert Sands From The French Alps
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El Niño Update – 20 July 2009

Summary

• El Niño conditions are present across the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

• Positive sea surface temperature (SST) departures continue to increase across much of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

• Current observations and dynamical model forecasts indicate ElNiño conditions will continue to intensify and are expected to last through Northern Hemisphere winter 2009-10.

Global SST Departures (ºC)

During the last four weeks, equatorial SSTs were above-average in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Also, above-average SSTs covered much of the Northern Hemisphere mid-to-high latitudes.

Atmospheric Circulation over the North Pacific & North America During the Last 60 Days

During late May and early June, below-average heights persisted over Canada contributing to below-average temperatures over central and eastern Canada. During early June through mid-July, an anomalous north-south dipole in height anomalies (below-average heights over the eastern U.S. and above-average heights over eastern Canada) contributed to near or below-average temperatures over portions of New England and across the Great Lakes and to above-average temperatures in eastern Canada. Credit: All diagrams and captions by NOAA.

Related Links:

• Recognizing El Niño
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• TAO Diagrams
• El Niño Forecasts

• El Niño Update # 1
• El Niño conditions is in progress —NOAA
• El Niño event almost certain: BOM
• El Niño could develop June – August 2009
• World Now

• El Niño [Main Page]