In the United States, seafood is an important commodity. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. imported $20.2 billion in “edible fishery products in 2014” (“Imports”). With such large quantities of seafood flowing in and out of the country, mistakes can be made. For decades scientists have called attention to the problem of mislabeled fish. Although mislabeling fish may seem harmless, it can have devastating health effects on the consumer, and efforts to prevent mislabeling have increased. In order to combat this problem, the government should enforce DNA testing on all fish, regardless of whether the fish are imported or produced domestically. In addition, stricter monitoring of the production process …show more content…
While the list requires that retailers use “either the ‘acceptable market name’ (e.g. rockfish) or the common name (e.g. yellowtail rockfish),” there are still other species names on the list that are neither the market name nor the common name (Logan et al. 1597). Some species are grouped together under one name that the people use and the government says is not allowed; this contradiction questions how thorough and accurate the list is (Logan et al. 1597). *** There is also a lack of regulation or observation of the fisheries. In 1995, the FDA created the Seafood Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program to “identify and prevent seafood-processing hazards that can lead to foodborne illness” (Davis et al.). However, an inspection by the FDA discovered that few firms are actually inspected by regulators. An inspection of around 8,500 importing firms from 2002 to 2003 found that only “5%--7% were inspected by regulators” (Davis et al.). To add to the problem, the FDA discovered that firms processing fish that can cause food poisoning had “particularly low rates of compliance with HACCP regulations” (Davis et al.). This inspection reveals the limitations of the federal government in trying to solve the mislabeling problem. In order to combat this issue, stricter regulation needs to be …show more content…
DNA testing has become a popular method of monitoring firms in recent years; when it is impossible to discern the species solely on its physical features, DNA testing creates a further look into the species. Although early uses of DNA testing were prone to contamination and often became ineffective after heating, improvements in technology have improved the process and its accuracy (Wong and Hanner 828). Now more than ever, scientists have utilized this technology to identify mislabeled species and to prove how widespread this malpractice
As a child Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother; a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Dave dreamed of finding a family to love him and call him their son. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dreams and make something of himself. A Child Called 'It' covers the early years of
Dissolved oxygen is oxygen that is trapped in a fluid, such as water. Since many living organism requires oxygen to survive, it is a necessary component of water systems such as streams, lakes and rivers in order to support aquatic life. The dissolved oxygen is measured in units of parts per million (ppm). Examine the data in Table 4 showing the amount of dissolved oxygen present and the number of fish observed in the body of water the sample was taken from; finally, answer the questions below.
ASC 855-10-25-3 explains that non-recognized events “provide evidence about conditions that did not exist at the date of the balance sheet but arose after the balance sheet date but before financial statements are issued or are available to be issued.” ASC 855-10-55-2 also gives an example of entering into “significant commitments” after the balance sheet date but before the financial statements are issued, which is the case for Shakespeare. Financial statements would not have to be reissued because Shakespeare has not filed with the SEC; they are a privately held company.
Oysters filter water for the rest of the community. They can filter up to 2 gallons (8 liters) of water in an hour. They are the most effective filtration system in the Chesapeake Bay. Before Europeans/ Americans started to harvest the oysters in this region, the amount of oysters in the Bay could filter the 18 trillion gallons of water in the Chesapeake in a matter of days, while the current population takes over a year.
In The Oyster Question, Christine Keiner utilizes environmental, agricultural, political, and social history perspectives to investigate the Maryland oyster industry and its decline throughout history to answer the question if the oyster industry should be privatized. She offers opposing viewpoints from scientists, politicians and local community members. She has managed to connect scientific history with environmental history with local history to bring together a comprehensive overview of the problems both past and present of the Maryland oyster industry. I think that Christine keener does an excellent job, not without its flaws, of laying bare how science and preservation is necessary to be understood as local phenomena, manipulated by
In the 1960’s, there was an estimated number of 500,000 dolphins caught as bycatch per year by fishing industries alone(NOAA 8). There was an act, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, that was passed in 1972. This act’s main goal was to reduce marine mammal bycatch. This act required that “scientific studies were initiated, observers were placed on fishing boats, fishing gear was inspected, and boat captains with high dolphin mortality rates were reviewed(NOAA 8).” The also modified fishing gear in order to reduce how many dolphins were caught. This act was an incredible success, and dolphin bycatch had “declined from about 500,000 to about twenty thousand dolphins per year(NOAA 8).” This shows how much the fishing industries had improved how they fished in order to protect the dolphins. They also made a requirement that all tuna that was caught through dolphin-safe means be labelled(NOAA 9). This allowed consumers to see what they were buying. Therefore, it became in the interest of fishing industries to catch tuna by means other than through dolphins. Today, there are only about three thousand dolphins killed every year through fishing industries(NOAA 10). There is also a clear distinction between tuna that was caught through dolphin-safe means and otherwise. Therefore, the only thing a consumer has to do is to buy
Commercial fishing in New England is not sustainable. Commercial fishing is the catching of fish for profit and, as with other profit making activities, there are trade-offs between a pure capitalistic market and the damage it does to resources. For commercial fishing, this trade-off is that the more fish the fishermen catch, the more damage it does to the fish population. To make commercial fishing sustainable, large regulations need to be in place, as Jack said. However, large regulations of a free market are usually not accepted in America and would not be put in place in time to save the fish and sustain commercial fishing.
Anyways it’s not like fast food fish sandwiches are required for us to survive. Also fish is wasted very frequently, it expires or is not eaten, so that is just harming our resources for no reason. People need to realize that fish is important, but could be used in a much smarter way. Many are reasonable and try not to be wasteful, but too many people are. Undoubtedly, if we continue this pattern of wastefulness with our ocean's resources there will be consequences. Many statistics and facts back this up. The rules and regulations we are putting on commercial fishing simply aren’t getting the job done. Our ocean’s fish population has declined so much in forty five years and the overfishing by commercial boats hasn’t gotten better, just worse. Remember the fate of the ocean’s resources is in our very own hands. Works Cited "The Threats of Overfishing: Consequences at the Commercial Level." DUJS Online. N.p., 29 May 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. Campbell, Andy. "Crucial Marine Populations Cut In Half Since The 1970s: Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Sept. 2015. Web. 23 Mar.
In the United States, millions of Americans are left hungry due to limited access to nutritional food on a regular basis. There is a vast disparity in those with access to food based on a number of factors, such as race, access to private transportation, and income. These factors all stem from one overarching idea, geography. Those without access to nutritional food originate from low-income areas that are miles away from a supermarket and they must depend on local convenience stores. The issue of food deserts therefore arise as particular areas in the US grow hungrier due to an inability to attain the high-quality food that many Americans are accustomed to.
There are varied arguments that favor or are against compulsory labeling of genetically engineered food products. Those who argue for the labeling of such products argue that consumers have a right to know what is contained in their food, particularly food products for which there have been health and environmental concerns (Caswell 26). Compulsory labeling will permit consumers to identify and avoid those food products that may cause them problems. On the contrary, those who argue against mandatory labeling point out that
The 1800’s the George’s Banks off the coast of New England was very generous to the fisherman who fished the sea for a living. There was a balance between what the fisherman took and what the sea could provide. By the mid-1900 that balances began greatly to shift. Technology developed during the 1950s allowed fishermen to take in much more fish than previous years. Through continued over fishing and lack of controls in place at the time, the fish stock depleted to the point the George’s Banks could no longer support the fisherman.
For this project, we are researched the salmon trade and how it has evolved over the years. The salmon commodity chain has three main consumers – the United States, Japan, and China. The development of aquaculture has changed our consumption of salmon drastically over the past decades, with Norway leading the aquaculture industry, and Chile fast catching up. Because of differing standards of farming, the quality of cultivated salmon varies; some farms may use chemicals, while others focus on a sustainable farming process focused on longevity of humans, salmon, and the earth. Atlantic salmon used to overflow waters ranging from Quebec to Newfoundland, all the way southwest to Long Island Sound. Come the beginning of the 19th
Yorktown Technologies will launch the first commercially available fish that has been genetically modified. They will be available in the United States in late 2003. They will be available in three colors: red, green, and orange (GloFish, 2011).
Another concern that many consumers and consumer groups have is whether or not these GM salmon should be labeled
The new salmon is said to be more nutritional and even be fit to taste better than the regular salmon. The process is very simple compared to modifying other plants or animals. “Fish eggs, on the other hand, are large and readily accessible—deposited by thousands in the open water” (Fischetti). This makes it severely simple to perform a replication of the gene cell. Farm raised Atlantic salmon just might become the first genetically engineered animal to be eaten by people. Some scientists say that the new gene inserted in the salmon make it mature in 18 months instead of three years. In this way, the FDA will then have to decide if this fish is safe to eat. Opponents would argue that if this fish was approved it would escape and establish in the wild, but Ron Stotish, CEO of AquaBounty, begs to differ. He states that there “is no virtual escape and interaction with wild populations” . Since the fish eggs will be sterile and all female there is no chance of reproduction. The fish will be raised in a tank and not at sea. Over seventeen years ago, AquaBounty Technologies Inc. first applied to the FDA for approval of a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon. In 2009, AquaBounty submitted to the FDA the last required study for their new animal drug (NAD) application. The fish will be raised in a tank and not at sea. Even though the FDA is ready to put the salmon on the market, many scientists and researchers argue that it needs to be more thoroughly investigated.