|Fish, Whales, & Oceans
"Fish live in water that is so polluted, you would never dream of drinking it. But you’re ingesting this toxic brew-
bacteria, contaminants, heavy metals-every time you eat fish. Fish’s bodies absorb toxic chemicals in the water
around them, and the chemicals become more concentrated as they move up the food chain. Big fish eat little
fish, with the bigger fish (such as tuna and salmon) absorbing chemicals from all the other fish they eat.
Fish farming, or 'aquaculture,' has become a billion-dollar industry, and more than 30 percent of all the sea
animals consumed each year are now raised on these 'farms.' Fish farms will surely become even more
prevalent as our natural fisheries become exhausted.
All fish farms are rife with pollution, disease, and suffering, regardless of their location, and often they
squander resources—it can take 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce just 1 pound of farmed fish—
and, they pollute the environment with tons of fish feces, antibiotic-laden fish feed, and diseased fish
Fish on aquafarms spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy enclosures, and many suffer from
parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries. Conditions on some farms are so horrendous
that 40 percent of the fish may die before farmers can kill and package them for food. In short, fish
farms bring suffering and ecological devastation everywhere they go. These practices are not only
cruel, but completely impractical and bad for the environment."
GO to FISHINGHURTS.COM
"Fish often carry contaminants from polluted waterways. About 40% of fish samples have so much
bacterial contamination that they have already begun to spoil before they are sold. Fish are also often
contaminated with PCBs, which have been linked to cancer and birth defects. Consumer Reports
found PCBs in 43% of salmon, 50% of whitefish, and 25% of swordfish. The US Food and Drug
Administration and the US Environmental Protection Agency warned pregnant women, women who
may become pregnant, breastfeeding women, and children to limit their consumption of fatty fish
because it contains mercury, which can also contribute to birth defects, kidney damage, impaired
mental development, and even cancer."
Dr. Neal Barnard
"Every single species of large wild fish from the tropics to the poles has been fished so
systematically over the past 50 years that just 10 percent of each type remains." (Study by marine
biologists Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax and Boris Worm of the Institute for
Marine Science in Kiel, Germany).
"We are tampering with the life-support system of the planet and that's not a good thing to do,"
(said by Dr. Boris Worm in regards to our oceans, Emmy-Noether Fellow in Marine Ecology at the
Whales and other sea life are getting stranded and cannot communicate
because of such high noise levels in our oceans (caused by humans, of
"With their groans, clicks, booms and shrieks, marine mammals send warnings, point out good
sources of food, and attract mates. But over the past four decades, says Clark, more and more man-
made noises have been invading their acoustic universe. The noise produced by ocean-going
humans falls into the same low-to-mid frequency range as many whale calls. Clark believes this
acoustic competition has drastically reduced the distance over which whales can communicate and
may be drowning them out altogether...A report released December 3 by the International Fund for
Animal Welfare - or IFAW - warns of the potential adverse effects of increasing noise pollution. In
addition to impeding marine mammal communication and masking sounds produced by predators
and prey, ocean noise may cause animals to lose their way, or it could interfere with essential
behaviors like feeding and breeding.The report also contends that ocean noise has resulted in injury
and even death by driving stressed animals to become entangled in fishing nets or to strand
themselves on shore." (VOA News)
The songs that whales and dolphins use to communicate, orient themselves and find mates are being
drowned out by human-made noises in the world's oceans, UN officials and environmental groups
said...that sound pollution -- everything from increasing commercial shipping and seismic surveys to a
new generation of military sonar -- is not only confounding the mammals, it also is further threatening
the survival of these endangered animals."
Whaling Continues to be Allowed as the Japanese Manipulate the Law:
"Japan insists it must hunt endangered whales for research purposes. Oddly enough, at the same
time the controversial hunt is underway, many Japanese restaurants are starting to feature new menu
items made from whale meat. The restaurant owners reason that while the hunt is only for research, it
would be a shame to 'waste' the resulting meat, hence its appearance on menus. The argument
would be more believable if the vendors of the meat weren't so enthusiastic about it. One chef has
even invented a special 'whale curry' for the occasion...If Japan only plans their hunt for scientific
purposes, it's very peculiar that restaurants are acting as if whale meat is back to stay for good.
Perhaps there's no end of 'scientific research' to be undertaken when you're working on new recipes."
Have you ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
Shocking if you aren't aware of it.