The Secret Behind Shrimp

When you sit down for a nice meal at your favorite seafood restaurant, do you think about where your food came from? Now and days people are all about the organic lifestyle. Knowing how your food was prepared and where it originated has become a necessity for some people. However, this doesn't seem to be a growing trend with seafood. Although, I will say that most people are a little unsettled by just thinking about where the square "fish" sandwich from McDonald's came from. There are plenty of people who love fish, like myself, and wouldn't dream of ingesting that fried fast-food creation.

Seafood market in Japan

The unfortunate truth is, fast-food fish isn't the only seafood we should be wary of. I'm not just speaking from a conservation standpoint. Granted, if we ask more questions and make smart seafood choices, then we will have a profound impact on the world's fisheries, but we'll also be doing our bodies a favor!

What you don't know... can hurt you

I'm sure you've heard the common fact that too many antibiotics can be bad for you and your immune system. We've all experienced those sickly moments that consisted of begging our doctor to please prescribe antibiotics for this, that or the other cold symptom. No matter how many times I swear that I always develop a sinus infection with a cold, I'm sent on my way with a free box of scratchy tissues and a strawberry lollipop. Like that's going to stop a sinus infection.

Many of you know the reason doctors are so reluctant to prescribe antibiotics is because common bacteria that causes infections and diseases are capable of developing antibiotic resistant properties if overexposed to these drugs. So what does all of this have to do with your family dinner at Red Lobster? Well, turns out that humans and our pitiful inability to withstand the common cold are not the only ones overusing antibiotics for unnecessary reasons. Farm-raised shrimp in Asia and Indonesia heavily rely on a multitude of different antibiotics, some of which are very crucial to treating diseases and infections such as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and common ear infections in humans.

Masses of different antibiotics and pesticides are widely used in shrimp aquaculture to stimulate growth and reduce the occurrence and effects of diseases caused by crowded and unsanitary farm conditions. The more these antibiotics are used, the faster a resistance develops. When this occurs, the bacteria growth is no longer halted by the antibiotic, therefore the antibiotic is no longer capable of treating or curing the diseases. Today, antibiotic resistance is referred to as a silent world crisis. Common bacteria are becoming resistant to not just one, but many antibiotics and it's important to realize that these "new and improved" resistant bacteria can be transferred between and among humans and animals.

Turning the subject back to our antibiotic injected shrimp, resistant bacteria can be transferred to us simply by enjoying our favorite shrimp plate at dinner. It has also been proven that some common shellfish diseases still survive within the shrimp even after being frozen. Scientists are still not sure what effects these diseases may have in the human body, but I'd rather not take the chance to find out. To top it off, some of the common antibiotics used in farm-raised shrimp are highly toxic to humans and only used in rare and usually life-threatening medical situations.

From another standpoint, shrimp farms are a huge expense to the environment. Mangroves and tropical coastal forests are clear-cut to make room for commercial shrimp farms. As you may know, mangroves are an integral part of the coastal ecosystem. They not only provide nursery and spawning grounds for commercially important species but they also create a buffer against storm surge, erosion and tsunamis.

What Can We Do?

The good news in all of this is that you don't have to stop eating shrimp. I for one would have a hard time living without my favorite go-to seafood dish. Fortunately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of certain antibiotics and pesticides (particularly the toxic ones) in US shrimp farms. Europe, Canada and Japan have also prohibited the use of antibiotics and chemically enhanced drugs in their aquaculture.

Fisherman

Unfortunately, as much as I like to think that all of our American shrimp comes from Forest Gump's Bubba and his family-owned shrimp boats, this is certainly not the case.  Over 90% of the shrimp that America consumes is imported and most of it is farm-raised. We continue to get cheap shrimp from countries such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, none of which have any restrictions on the antibiotics, pesticides, and bacterial residue found in their exported shrimp.

So how best can we shrimp lovers handle this situation? The answer is simple: ask questions. Local shrimp will often be noted on the menu or in the market. If not, it's worth taking the time to ask where your shrimp originated. And if you can't seem to find a traceable origin, chances are it's not the best option for you or the environment.

If you do have some questionable cheap shrimp from time to time, don't worry.  Odds are you will be completely fine - just try not to make it a weekly habit. As an added bonus, choosing local shrimp will help boost your community's coastal economy and often times be even more tasty!

Why Ask?

You don't have to stop at shrimp. Seeking traceability in all of your seafood decisions is an easy way to help mend the global fishing market. For example, demanding to know the origins of your seafood will aid in the efforts to stop illegal fishing, which is estimated to supply at least 20% of seafood worldwide and threaten 260 million global jobs dependent on marine fisheries.

Grouper

Congress is currently considering two bipartisan bills that would prohibit illegal and unaccountable fishing vessels to enter U.S. ports.  This alone would make seafood traceability much easier, not to mention ensure the future sustainability of our oceans.

For more information about these bills and why you should encourage your local congress representatives to pass them, please visit:

http://mission-blue.org/2013/02/new-bipartisan-bills-take-on-foreign-illegal-fishing-in-congress/

 

 

Capitol Hill Ocean Week: There is only "we"

Alecia Jurado at the US Capitol

Confucius once said, "We are so busy doing the urgent that we don't have time to do the important." Even after over 2,000 years, I couldn't agree more. In today's day and age, we seem to depend on drastic events such as hurricane Sandy or the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to steer people's attention towards the environment and the crucial roles the ocean plays in our everyday lives.


Unfortunately, even after environmentally catastrophic events, the attention is only temporary. Take the BP oil spill for example; even the landlocked people of Kansas were in a state of alarm and fury while watching the thousands of barrels of oil gush into the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf coast inhabitants and visitors alike were petrified for the current effects and the threats the oil was putting on the local ecosystem, beaches, tourism, and economy. Then, 3 months and 4.9 million barrels later, the beaches were cleaned up, the sunburned tourists returned, Dawn launched an adorable new advertising platform and the oil seemingly "disappeared." What people fail to realize is that this oil spill still has just as much an environmental impact today as it did 3 years ago. Just because the oil is no longer visible doesn't mean it's not there and having a continually profound effect upon our Gulf ecosystem.

Similarly, just because we don't notice the sea level rising or the earth warming doesn't mean that it's not happening. Anyone who has taken an Environmental Issues class with Dr. Jeff Chanton will remember the multitudes of graphs and diagrams depicting the ever-changing global temperature. There is plenty of scientific evidence that the earth goes through 100,000-year cycles of global warming and cooling and these cycles have been taking place since long before humans shook the natural balance of this planet. So is global warming a natural cycle or one prompted by human influence? The simplified answer is both. The beauty of this is that we don't have to choose a side, but we do have to accept that our world is getting warmer, we are speeding up the process, and most importantly - we are not prepared for the future state of this planet. Some would argue that we aren't even prepared for the current state. So why is it that we only focus on topics such as climate change and sea level rise once it's too late?

Scientists sampling during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Well, I cannot speak for everyone, but the general consensus is that it's a lot easier to pretend something is not happening until we are forced to confront it. And then rather than creating agenda's and implementing solutions for some of our biggest climate threats, we sit back and argue over which "side" to take. Effective resolutions and adaptive plans are put off because of scientific uncertainties. Newsflash, this is environmental science; there will ALWAYS be uncertainties. There will never be easy answers and almost every solution will involve major compromises from communities, governments, and environmentalists alike.

Hope

I spent the last few days watching some of the world's greatest scientists, policy makers and think tanks come together to try and find solutions for major issues such as ocean acidification, rising sea-level, overfishing, and marine debris. I watched these brilliant people struggle as much as anyone, but I still left every day with a surprising feeling of hope. This hope came from the extraordinary people I met throughout this week. I witnessed women and men from all different professions and interests set aside their daily lives to come together and promote the importance of our oceans. Businessmen chatted with environmentalists, congressmen conversed with fishermen, and students, like myself, soaked in all of the amazing ideas and resolutions that came from the communication between these unlikely pairings. It was this sense of unity and dedication that left me optimistic for the future of our blue planet.



Iceberg in Antarctica

The issues facing our oceans today will require both time and effort, but most importantly, they will require a nation and a world working together to inspire innovative ideas, advocate conservation efforts, and implement (as in actually apply) sustainable solutions. We spend so much of our time creating trivial boundaries and drawing lines between "us" and "them" when it's important to understand that there is only "we." It is no one person's sole responsibility to save the ocean, just like it is no one person's sole actions that are destroying it. Together we got ourselves into this mess and we must work together to get ourselves out.

Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2013: Introduction

What does the ocean mean to you? Perhaps it is a place that holds warm family memories and exciting new adventures. Maybe it's somewhere mystical and mysterious. Maybe it's even a little scary and dark, full of uncertainties and the unknown. However you chose to view the ocean, there are more than plenty reasons you and everyone else should be concerned for its future.

The purpose of this blog is not to try and convince you that oceans are more important than rainforests or space exploration, etc. Instead, it's to make you aware of what the ocean does for you everyday - I bet it's more than you think.

For just a moment, I want you to picture our planet from outer space. What color is it? What do you see first? I hate to be the one to break this to you, but the earth isn't green, it's blue. Oceans are the lifeline of our planet and our human race. They cover nearly 75% of the earth's surface and hold 97% of our planet's water. They provide a sixth of the animal protein people eat and are the most auspicious source of medicines to combat cancer, pain and bacterial infections. Not to mention, those big blue waters produce more than half the oxygen in our atmosphere, and absorb most of the carbon from it as well (that's something we should keep up if we have any hope of preventing climate change). Throughout environmental history, we have always heard that the rainforests are "the lungs of the earth." Turns out, that's not an entirely accurate analogy. Every other breath of air you take comes directly from the ocean. So technically, the rainforests are just one lung and the ocean is the other. Half of your life has been made possible because of a healthy, thriving ocean.

I know this isn't the case for everyone, but I love the ocean for the mystery, the unknown and the undiscovered. The thrill of not knowing what's swimming underneath me makes my imagination go wild. To me, the ocean is the last frontier. It's a place just as mysterious as outer space, but ten times more accessible. Like I've said before, the ocean is what encouraged my love and concern for the environment. It directed me to my studies at FSU, my internship here at Nat Geo, and hopefully my future career. Those sparkling blue waters have given more than just air, water, food and protection. They have inspired me to be the person I am today. I'm not saying you have to love the ocean as much as I do. I'm not even saying that you have to like it, but there's no denying that it is a part of all of us. The ocean is my life, and it's at least half of yours, whether you want it to be or not.

Everyone at Ocean Week understands the point I have just described to you. That is why they left their jobs as scientists, professors, senators, lawyers and business leaders for a week and traveled to DC and came together to discuss an issue that should be at the forefront of every country's agenda: How are we going to save our oceans, and how can we start now?

I want to remind you that I am an educator at heart, not a policy maker. I'll admit policy plays a huge role in my degree and my career, but politics have never been my strongpoint. I understand the fundamentals and you should know that I look at environmental policy from a very broad scope, which you'll see reflected in my next few discussions of Ocean Week. I've discovered that sometimes some of the most complex issues can be resolved with the ideas we believe are too simple to work.

Destination Imagination

One of the many great things about working in the Education department at Nat Geo is a shared passion to make a difference in our communities. Every day the people in this office have the opportunity to reach the minds of thousands and thousands of children, teenagers, and adults. That is an amazing power to hold. We are a direct connection between the science community and everyday people. For example, there are enormous amounts of scientific research articles being published every week, but only a tiny fraction of them reach the public. The problem isn't that these research articles are inaccessible, rather it's that they are unreadable to the general public who struggle to understand and relate to the information being released. My goal, and the goal of Nat Geo Education, is to be a translator, interpreter, and teacher for the non-scientists in our society. We convert the important scientific research of today into a reader-friendly version, something that is still informative and factual but also gives anyone the ability to walk away with a better understanding of the subject matter.

This past week I was assigned a number of different "busy work" jobs. I've done a multitude of emailing and contacting partner organizations for GNP. I also had a great time tracking down some lost UPS packages. But on the plus side, I'm now on a first name basis with Mail Services and that is a very powerful relationship to have! Despite all of the cool and exciting opportunities I've had so far, at the end of the day I'm still an intern. They busy work was sure to start eventually.

This week I met Sam; my second supervisor who just came back from an event in Tennessee called Destination Imagination. If you've never heard of this, you should Google it. It's basically a weeklong convention of over 20,000 students from Kindergarten to University level, who compete in teams to solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at tournaments. The programs are designed to promote higher order thinking and improve creative thinking, critical thinking, and collaborative problem solving. It's a mix between robotics, the environment, and creative design... on steroids. These students come to this convention from all over the nation and are absolutely ecstatic to be there. So what better place to launch the official announcement of the Great Nature Project than into a stadium full of screaming children and teens? Check out the video of Nat Geo's GNP announcement below and maybe you'll get a small idea of how absolutely insane this event is! Personally, it makes me want to be a kid again...

http://blog.education.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/23/the-great-nature-project/
 

Improvisation Time

Speaking of screaming children... Friday was the annual Anacostia Environmental Youth Summit, and, being the education enthusiast that I am, I volunteered to go and help man the Nat Geo booth. My motivations may have been slightly intensified by the fact that we were given free Nat Geo t-shirts, but all the same, I showed up to help teach local 6th-8th graders about geography and the environment. So you can imagine my surprise when we found out the entire Summit consisted of 3rd and 4th graders who were in no way able to complete our junior-level activity. After the first 30 minutes of insane chaos and improvising, me and another intern were able to come up with an activity that basically consisted of matching the endangered, threatened (or just plain interesting) animals to their respective habitat locations. All of a sudden, I was incredibly thankful for the multitude of wildlife documentaries I've watched at 3 in the morning when I couldn't sleep (you know which ones I'm talking about!).  Apparently your mind does retain some information at that hour, otherwise there is no way I would have remembered that a pile of elephant crap can attract thousands of dung beetles who will eat and/or bury the entire pile within 2 hours. Coming from a family of all girls, it was truly amazing to me to see how the single mention of a dung beetle could grab the attention of every little boy in the group.

Ocean Week 2013

As for this coming week, I'll have some really exciting stuff to share! Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2013 starts this Tuesday and Nat Geo was nice enough to get me tickets for every event (except for the $350 dinner... that seems just a little bit excessive). I'll be listening in on lectures, seminars, and round-table discussions by the nation's greatest marine conservationists, scientists, explorers, and political representatives. They'll be addressing topics from the latest updates on the aftereffects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to the strategy behind balancing the economy and coastal threats. Anything you can imagine that has to do with the current state of our oceans will be covered and I'll be reporting it all back here! Hopefully you are as excited as I am, and if you're not.. well I should warn you now that this might not be the blog for you. But if you keep looking, I bet you can find a great read on dung beetles...