2011 Southeast Sustainable Seafood Guide

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has updated its indispensable Southeast Sustainable Seafood Guide (PDF) for 2011. If you find it hard to know which fish to buy & which to avoid when you're at the grocery store or out to dinner, print it out & stick it in your wallet. Other regions are available at MontereyBayAquarium.org.

Where Have All the Flounders Gone?

With stocks in sharp decline around the world, it's more important than ever to make sure the fish you're eating is sustainable.

So here's a quick and easy tip to start the week. Look for the little blue fish:

That's the seal of the Marine Stewardship Council.

If you want to make sure you're making good choices at the seafood counter or while dining out, you can download the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch pocket guide, customized by region.

Sea Otters: Still Getting the Hang of the Whole “Being a Sea Otter” Thing

My trip to the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in California included a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The bay is home to a remarkable array of sea life, most notably marine mammals like whales, dolphins and seals.

But the aquarium's signature species is the sea otter. There are five on display in a huge tank in the center of the aquarium, but the population fluctuates as otters are brought to the aquarium after being injured or orphaned, then returned to the wild.

I was surprised at the size of the otters. Male sea otters can grow up to five feet long and weigh 100 pounds, about the size of a large dog. Most zoos I've been to have river otters, which are roughly cat-sized. ("I told you. Big suckers!" said The Green Girlfriend, a California native).

Sea otters have the densest fur on the planet, and ironically enough, it almost led to their extinction. They were hunted relentlessly for centuries, cutting their numbers from a peak of as many as 300,000 to a low of as few as 1,000. The global population has rebounded, but are currently stuck at 15,000-20,000 worldwide, mainly along the Pacific, Alaskan, and Japanese coasts.

Scientists are split on why sea otter populations are stuck in neutral, but a marine biologist told us he thinks whaling and overfishing is indirectly responsible. Because killer whales have fewer options, they're turning to sea otters for food.

But on a basic level, the biologist told us, it's hard out here for a sea otter. Their population will never experience explosive growth because, to use an economic term, they live at the margin.

Otters only entered the sea about three million years ago, a short period on an evolutionary scale, and they're still evolving the tools they need to be ocean-dwellers. Otters are barely scraping by on just enough food in water that's just warm enough with fur that's just thick enough to allow them to survive without a layer of blubber (insulating fat) to keep them from hypothermia.

As I've told people I went to see the otters, the first question I've gotten has always been, "Did you get to watch them crack things open on their little tummies?" While I got to see the otters eat lunch, they were fed bits of scallops and squid -- no cracking necessary.

I couldn't help but think of the South Park episode in which Cartman awakens in a future world ruled by super-intelligent otters who threaten him, "I shall smash your skull like a clam on my tummy!"

Go God Go
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For more on sea otters and efforts to help them thrive, click here!