"salmon" news and stories

There's more grim news coming out of Japan this morning as officials there widen the evacuation band near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant over concerns that additional radiation may leak from the damaged facility. Earlier this week, Tokyo parents were warned not to give infants tap water, which has tested positive for radioactive iodine; and despite import bans, some Japanese vegetables that have tested positive for radiation found their way to Singapore.

Radiation fears are also migrating to seafood. Japanese officials said they have detected higher levels of radiation in ocean waters near the damaged nuclear power plant, fueling fears on the impact this may have on Japan's fishing industry. The catastrophe has left the famed Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo reeling.

Should the situation at the Fukushima plant worsen, the fallout from the disaster could have complications for some of our own seafood. Philadelphia science blogger Bix Webber posted a troubling graphic on her website earlier this week: a New York Times interactive map that shows travel projections should a plume of radiation head east towards the U.S. Underneath it, Webber shows another graphic illustrating the migratory patterns for Pacific salmon. They're eerily similar.

Which leaves us with the money question: Could salmon stocks (and other species) be impacted should the situation worsen in Japan?

KitchenDaily expert Tyler Florence dishes up a winning recipe for salmon that's a step above a regular fish dinner. He pan-roasts the salmon and then surrounds it with flavorful roasted veggies and a hearty lentil stew.

Get Tyler's recipe for Pan-Roasted Salmon with Roasted Root Vegetables and Lentil Stew.

Genetically engineered salmon made a mighty splash last year when FDA scientists went on record to say the salmon, developed by Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, was safe to eat and posed no threat to the environment.

While industry watchers expected the salmon to get final FDA approval, the agency says there's no timeline in place for issuing a final decision, and has been mum on the subject since public hearings in September. That limbo hasn't stopped lawmakers from introducing legislation requiring the labeling of genetically modified fish, or to prevent its FDA approval in the first place.

Yesterday, California State Assembly member Jared Huffman introduced a bill (AB 88) requiring all genetically engineered salmon sold in California to contain clear and prominent labeling.

In Alaska, Representatives Bob Miller and Scott Kawaski announced this week that they would be sponsoring similar legislation requiring the labeling of genetically engineered salmon, along with a second piece of legislation that would prohibit genetically engineered species from being cultivated in Alaskan waters.

In the bubbling debate between genetically modified foods and organic ones, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack reportedly called for a truce in an open letter released just before the clocks struck 2011. Agricultural resolution? Not so easy, Tom.

"Complexity surrounds American agriculture today," he begins. True. By the end of 2010, federal courts had barred use of Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, even though planting continued while the USDA kept working on its Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] on the genetically engineered (GE) crop, which it completed two weeks prior to Vilsack's letter. A federal court in San Francisco ordered removal of a test plot of GE sugar beets. And the Food and Drug Administration remained indecisive over approval of GE salmon, the would-be first genetically engineered animal, which may or may not be labeled.

Vilsack doesn't appear to be pro or con for either but believes the two can cohabit. "As a regulatory agency, sound science and decisions based on this science are our priority, and science strongly supports the safety of GE alfalfa," he writes.

All you pro-organics who just felt a scrunch in your brow, follow this next line: "But agricultural issues are always complex and rarely lend themselves to simple solutions. Therefore, we have an obligation to carefully consider USDA's 2,300-page EIS, which acknowledges the potential of cross-fertilization to non-GE alfalfa."

A non-GE farmer can hope.

Sophisticated jeweler Tiffany & Co. and the fishing community of Bristol Bay, Alaska, may seem worlds apart, but the famed retailer is just one of 50 jewelers that have pledged not to source gold from the controversial Pebble mine project being proposed in the region. (Click here for a full list of jewelers.)

According to the Wall Street Journal, the mine holds one of the world's largest undeveloped deposits of copper and gold. Unfortunately for the 30 million or so sockeye salmon that spawn there each summer, those valuable minerals are located in the area's headwaters. For nearly four years, fishermen and environmentalists have been at odds with mining companies Anglo American PLC and Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. over the area's natural resources.

"This is the largest, healthiest remaining salmon runs in the world," says commercial fisherman and sustainable seafood consultant Amy Grondin. "Fish from Bristol Bay have been returning here for 9,000 years. They're a sustainable natural resource. Minerals are also a natural resource, but they're not renewable."