Word: swordfishing
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During 1998, proclaimed the International Year of the Ocean by the United Nations, conservation groups hope to make the swordfish a symbol for all marine creatures threatened by overfishing. So, welcome to the "Give the Swordfish a Break" campaign, to be kicked off this week with a well-publicized swordfishless feast at Felidia, a tony New York City restaurant...
...Natural Resources Defense Council and SeaWeb, and some of the nation's finest chefs, led by Nora Pouillon, owner of the Nora and Asia Nora restaurants in Washington. At least 25 chefs of top-rated eateries along the Atlantic Seaboard from Maine to Texas have pledged not to serve swordfish this year, and some will print information about the campaign on menus. That way diners will learn that swordfish populations are under pressure everywhere and severely depleted in the Atlantic. "As chefs, we are high-profile people," says Robert Taylor of Hamilton's at the Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore...
...swordfish is the victim not only of human tastes but also of modern fishing techniques. Until the middle of this century, swordfish were generally harpooned, and only the largest, usually weighing more than 200 lbs. and sometimes as much as 1,200 lbs., ended up on dinner plates. Those specimens were easy targets, and boats left smaller swordfish to grow...
...1960s, fishermen adopted a more devastating technique called long-lining, which makes catching swordfish cheaper and quicker. Hundreds of baited hooks are attached to a line that stretches dozens of miles and is set horizontally above the continental shelf at a depth where swordfish congregate. Anything that bites usually gets hooked and often suffocates--mainly swordfish but also sharks, sea turtles and other marine species. Most worrisome is that much of the catch consists of small swordfish, averaging 90 lbs. At this size, females have not reached reproductive weight or age. In 1995 an estimated 58% of the Atlantic swordfish...
...Baloney," retorts Putnam Maclean, a director of the BlueWater Association, a membership organization of swordfish boat owners and suppliers. "Telling U.S. consumers not to buy swordfish is hurting the only guys out on the ocean who are adhering to the quotas," says Maclean, who is part owner of four swordfishing boats. He believes that the depletion problem is the result of overfishing by non-American swordfishermen...