The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which administers a well known eco-labeling process to inform consumers which fisheries are sustainable, is becoming increasingly industry-friendly.
Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) on deck during long-lining operations. (Photo: Derke Snodgrass, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC/SFD)
A study just published by a group of researchers in the journal Biological Conservation found that several of the fisheries that received the MSC’s “sustainable” label — accounting for 35 percent of labeled seafood worldwide—do not meet the council’s standards.
Case in point: the sustainable label awarded to Canada’s longline swordfishery which has an extraordinarily high bycatch of other species. As the researchers noted, “for the 20,000 swordfish “sustainably” hooked in Canadian waters yearly, longliners also catch 100,000 sharks, 1,200 endangered loggerhead turtles, and 170 leatherback turtles.”
As the report’s lead author, Claire Christian, director of the Secretariat of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, observed “When the MSC labels a swordfish fishery that catches more sharks than swordfish ‘sustainable,’ it’s time to re-evaluate its standards.”
The UK based Marine Stewardship Council was founded by the World Wildlife Fund, one of the world’s biggest environmental groups, and Unilever, one of the world’s biggest seafood processors.
Source: Blue Marble.
First Light Productions 
Hi – Do you know what kind of subspecies of leopard the one in camera trap award winning pick is in china?
Assume you’re referring to “Camera Trap Prizes” post of November 30 last year. The Shuishui River Reserve where this shot was taken is, I believe, in the Sanjiangyuan region located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in western China. The cat was identified as Panthera pardus, of which there are four subspecies. That particular cat is either Panthera pardus delacourii which ranges from southeast Asia into southern China, or Panthera pardus orientalis found in far east Russia.
Thanks for your reply BUT – how can it be the one found in Far East Russia as photo taken in china? So surely it’s the panthera pardus delacourri?
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You’re right. It certainly could be the delacourri which ranges from southeast Asia into southern China.
Assume you’re referring to “Camera Trap Prizes” post of November 30 last year. The Shuishui River Reserve where this shot was taken is, I believe, in the Sanjiangyuan region located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in western China. The cat was identified as Panthera pardus, of which there are four subspecies. That particular cat is either Panthera pardus delacourii which ranges from southeast Asia into southern China, or Panthera pardus orientalis found in far east Russia.
Learn more about the Marine Stewardship Council’s Objection Procedure here http://bit.ly/13nnmUx
Reblogged this on Ann Novek–With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors.