Month: May 2011

An international team of scientists, led by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, has used DNA to determine that groups of dusky sharks (Carcharhinus obscurus) and copper sharks (Carcharhinus brachyurus) living in different coastal regions across the globe are separate populations of each species. Both are large apex predators that are heavily exploited for the shark fin trade, which claims tens of millions of animals every year to produce the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup. Many of these species are declining as a result of this fishing pressure for their fins. …

US demand for meat, poultry and seafood packaging will increase 3.0 percent per annum to $9.2 billion in 2015. Gains will be fueled by expanding meat, poultry and seafood production, as well as increasing export opportunities to countries such as Japan and Chile. Packaging demand will also be stimulated by the ongoing shift to case-ready packaging by many retailers as a means of reducing in-store labor costs. …

A common Bible story says Jesus fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, which scholars surmise were tilapia. But at the Aquafinca fish farm here, a modern miracle takes place daily: Tens of thousands of beefy, flapping tilapia are hauled out of teeming cages on Lake Yojoa, converted to fillets in a cold slaughterhouse and rushed onto planes bound for the United States, where some will appear on plates within 12 hours.
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