Fish & Fisheries

"Under the watchful eyes of scientists, a little forage fish that lives off the southern coast of Maine developed a strangely large appetite."

"KUMAMOTO, Japan -- Japan, where residents of Minamata suffered lethal mercury poisoning in the mid-1950s, today became one of the first countries to sign a new international treaty to reduce mercury emissions and to phase out many products containing the toxic metal."

"HANOI -- Oil is spilling from a cargo vessel that ran aground on the reefs off Vietnam’s Ly Son island, roughly 730 kilometers (450 miles) south of the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi."

"Florida filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reduce neighboring Georgia's use of water from the Chattahoochee River that feeds the oyster beds and fish-spawning areas of Florida's Gulf Coast."

"Salmon counters at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River are seeing the biggest chinook run since 1938, but environmentalists still worry."

"As he waits for crabs to take his bait, the Cambodian man explains his approach to eating seafood out of the Duwamish River. 'If it comes up black ... I throw it back,' he says. 'But if it looks normal, that means it just swam up from the Sound. It’s OK to eat.'"

"Eating raw oysters in the summertime is always risky; aqueous pathogens peak when the ocean is warm, which is part of why folk wisdom suggests one should only eat raw shellfish in months with an 'R' in the name. But this summer's been riskier than ever."

"The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals deals a blow to a years-long effort by Drakes Bay Oyster Co. to extend its lease in Point Reyes National Seashore."

"BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) have closed 40 oyster beds in Plymouth Harbor, Kingston Bay, Duxbury Bay, Bluefish River and Back River in the towns of Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury and Marshfield."