Thirteen new members join the ranks; 8 others are reappointed. The shift in members provides an opportunity to explore what each Council has been doing, whether the new people will shift its direction (and NOAA's), and what the fishing industry, the public, and various interest groups think about past decisions and future directions.
"The House voted Wednesday to prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from approving genetically modified salmon for human consumption."
"The Obama administration released new guidelines that would make it easier to farm fish in federal waters, a move that could transform the nation's coasts and the food Americans will consume in years to come."
Shark fins do not have any taste of their own. Yet the status associated in Chinese society with earing shark fin soup is causing consumption to rise as the Chinese economy expands. Conservationists call it the single largest threat to sharks worldwide.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has decided that the declining Atlantic populations of the bluefin tuna do not warrant endangered species protection for now.
"The states of Oregon and Washington agreed on Wednesday to suspend euthanizing sea lions caught feasting on endangered Columbia River salmon until September while the courts consider a lawsuit challenging such killings."
"U.S. seafood fraud -- where farmed, imported or endangered fish is sold as wild, local and sustainably-managed -- is hurting efforts to preserve ocean diversity, conservation advocates said on Wednesday."
"The Food and Drug Administration is doing a poor job ensuring that imported seafood doesn't pose health risks to Americans, failing to properly assess foreign producers and inspect the products they ship to the U.S., according to a congressional research report released Monday."
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