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For most seafood eaters, the connection between healthy coral reefs and what's on their dinner plate is pretty much non-existent. Consider coral, and things like jewelry, souvenirs, or home aquarium tank decorations come to mind first. But scientists warn they're worth significantly more alive and healthy than they are as fancy wall hangings for your guestroom.

Coral reefs make up only one percent of the vast ocean floor, but support 25 to 33 percent of all marine life, and provide important habitat and nursery grounds for many fish, including some favorites like grouper and red snapper. Coral is also used in medicines, it provides income through tourism, and protects fragile fine sand beaches from storm damage. And while coral may look like just a rock or a plant, they are actually formed by tiny colonies of animals called coral polyps, whose skeletons form the coral we recognize.

But serious pressure from the jewelry and home-decorating trade, damage done by unsustainable fishing practices, and climate change (which is contributing to ocean acidification), means their continued survival is in serious question, and has some scientists sounding alarm bells, including dire warnings of severe hunger for coastal populations and political instability should coral reef declines continue.

Environmentalists who have lamented the serious decline of bluefin tuna stocks for decades are being bolstered by a significant move by France yesterday. According to today's New York Times article, France has agreed to support the listing of bluefin tuna as an endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) -- a move that will give the EU enough votes to support the ban on bluefin tuna trade at next month's CITES meeting in Qatar.

Many environmentalists say that while the move by France is significant, it simply isn't bold enough.

"What's needed is a five-year total moratorium on fishing [for bluefin tuna]," says Carl Safina, co-founder of Blue Ocean Institute, who first proposed a ban on bluefin tuna to CITES in 1991. "A ban on international trade only goes part of the way. People could still catch bluefin and sell them domestically in any country, as long as it's not traded across borders."

While France now supports the proposed trade ban, they're qualifying that support with an 18-month delay to appease the country's fishermen and to give them time to adjust.

"If it's just a delay to assist fishermen with the transition, which is what we think, then that's OK. But the problem is, the fishermen may stockpile all the fish they can get during the 18-month delay, further threatening the species and its recovery, and that's bad," says Susan Lieberman, deputy director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group.

The U.S. government has not yet declared its position on the issue, and for the time being, bluefin tuna remains on menus at restaurants and sushi counters both here in the U.S. and abroad.

There is a reason why Frank Bruni drove through the South and not, say, Montana, on his hunt for the best fast food in the country. It is because there is more fast food eaten in the South than in any other part of the country.

According to Scarborough Research (pdf), while the average American adult eats fast food about 5.2 times per month, residents of Birmingham, Alabama dine at fast food restaurants 6.5 times per month. Given that the examples used by the research firm were McDonald's and Subway, it seems likely that they only included major chain restaurants in their survey, too. Rounding out the top five for fast food consumption were Louisville, KY; Austin. TX; Memphis, TN and Raleigh, NC, ranging from 6.4-6.2 average visits.

The company also looked at the cities in which "sit-down" quick service restaurants, like Applebee's or TGI Friday's, were frequented. Orlando, Florida came out on top, with 4.5 visits per month. The other top cities included Cincinnati, OH; Fort Meyers, FL; Tampa, FL and Atlanta, GA.

Cities like Syracuse, NY and Philadelphia, PA were towards the bottom of the fast food visit rankings, with only 4 visits per adult per month, and Honolulu, HI, Buffalo, NY and Spokane, WA had the fewest "sit-down" visits, at 3, 2.9 and 2.5, respectively.

 

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