Here’s a post that assumes that you, as a surfer, give a shit and feel part of the ocean, land and air system we call Earth. It’s a very pretty graphic put out by the Guardian newspaper using data from Dr. Villy Christensen of the University of British Columbia, one of the foremost centres of worldwide fisheries research.

And, ugh, it’s pretty graphic.

Below that is another info graphic showing which fish are OK to eat.

I could say, ‘Enjoy!’

But that would be inappropriate, so how about, ‘don’t buy tuna!’ or ‘quit eating fucking sushi!’

You get the jist.

Click  here to start the graphic.

 What can I do?

Click here to open it full size at the fantastic informationisbeautiful website.

Here’s a chunk from a website called overfishing.org – kind of a guide to guides in different countries:

“Eating with a (clear) conscience A number of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) maintain seafood guides / lists on fish to eat and to avoid. Aimed at consumers these lists are usually based on a simple colour system with green being good and red being bad. Not all list are of the same quality and not all NGOs follow the same methodology. In general these list do provide a good and easy buyers or consumers guide overview. Print a list on a small credit card sized piece of paper, stick it in you wallet, and always carry your environmentally friendly fish list with you! This overview is not as comprehensive as it can be and contributions, especially for new countries, are welcomed!

Europe

United Kingdom

Pocket fish purchasing guide Extensive purchasing guide by the Marine Conservation Society.

International seafood red list Illustrated what not to buy and “better buys”. By Greenpeace UK / International. Good list with FAQ.

Netherlands & Belgium

De Goede Vis Gids One of the best guides available. By Stichting De Noordzee. (in Dutch, French version, pdf)

Vis-a-Card Good fish guide by Greenpeace Nederland. Printable credit card sized card. (in Dutch)

Sweden

WWFs Fiskguide – din guide när du ska köpa miljövänlig fisk (seafood guide) By WWF Sweden. Printable credit card sized in PDF (in Swedish).

Finland

Seafood Guide By WWF Finland. Direct link to PDF. (in Finnish)

Germany WWF-Einkaufsratgeber Fische & Meeresfruchte (seafood guide) Annotated purchasing guide. By WWF Germany. (in German)

The Americas

Canada

SeaChoice A comprehensive national seafood program. List available in PDF as well.

United States of America

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Good list with regional guides for five different US regions.

Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood Informative site and fish guides. By the Blue Ocean institute.

Asia & Oceania Australia

Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide Not free, only as book, not accessible online. From the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Thanks For All The Fish Free. ABC Channel fish pages. Based on the Australian Marine Conservation Societies guide.

Indonesia

Seafood Guide Fish and shellfish guide for Indonesia. By WWF Indonesia. In English and Indonesian.

Africa

South Africa

Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative An extensive database that even includes distribution maps of many local species.

Globally

For many countries no special guide is maintained. Seafoodchoices.org is a good starting point providing information on fish species, restaurants and suppliers. While maybe not directly developed for a certain country some of the guides mentioned above could be a good and useful start for guide-less countries nearby as well. For Europeans the international seafood red list maintained by Greenpeace International is a good starting point.”

This week Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is launching Global Wave Wednesday, a new campaign action uniting surfers from around the globe in the call to protect UK waves from pollution, marine litter and over-development. SAS is calling on surfers, environmentalists and ocean lovers to join them and the coalition of wave and ocean protections organisations on Wednesday, 15th May, for this global day of action to protect our waves.

Global Wave Wednesday will be the first time the global wave protection community has joined forces to highlight calls to protect natural surfing resources. A broad & diverse range of organisations are supporting Global Wave Wednesday, covering almost every coastline in the world. The supporting partners include the world’s biggest surfing NGOs, grass roots environmental organisations, leading oceanographers, and surfing federations.

Global Wave Wednesday partners will be helping secure 100,000 signatures for the Protect Our Waves petition, which calls on the UK parliament to debate the value of surfing waves and locations, and legislation in order to recognise the importance of waves as a cultural, social, economic and environmental asset to coastal communities. Peru, New Zealand and Australia already have legislation that protects surf spots and the sport of surfing, and SAS hopes to deliver the same level of recognition and protection for the UK.

Surf protection groups supporting SAS’s POW petition on Global Wave Wednesday include:

• Surfrider Foundation (USA & Hawaii)
• Surfrider Foundation Europe (France, Spain, Holland, Germany, Italy)
• Save The Waves Coalition (International)
• National Surfing Reserves (Australia)
• WiLDCOAST (Mexico)
• Salvem o Surf (Portugal)
• Surfers’ Environmental Alliance (USA)
• World Surfing Reserves (International)
• Surfbreak Protection Society (New Zealand)
• LiVBLUE (USA & Mexico)
• Ocean Revolution (USA & Mexico)
• SurfEns (Mexico)
• DGCostera (Peru)

There are an estimated 23 million surfers worldwide* and the combined supporter base of Global Wave Wednesday partners exceeds 500,000. Surfers are passionate about protecting waves from inappropriate coastal developments and pollution and to ensure they have sustainable access to their waves.

SAS Campaign Director Andy Cummins says: “It’s great to have surfers from all over globe standing up to protect UK waves as part of Global Wave Wednesday! Surfers are part of a global community, often travelling to experience new waves in new countries. We believe that UK surfers deserve to enjoy clean waves and we want to be able to promote the UK as a clean wave destination.”

Surfrider Foundation (USA) Environment Director Chad Nelsen says: “Global Wave Wednesday is a great first step in unifying the world’s surf protection organisations and the Surfrider Foundation is proud to be supporting the Protect Our Waves petition today. Surfing is a truly global sport and we travel the world in search of clean, healthy and exciting waves so we have a vested interest in supporting wave protection in the UK and around the world.”

Executive Director, DGCostera Carlo Grigolletto says: “Peru has a rich heritage and culture of surfing and we are lucky to already have laws that recognise and protect our unique and world-renowned surf spots. Peruvian surfers are stoked to be part of Global Wave Wednesday supporting calls for UK waves to be protected in a similar way, for everyone, for now and for ever.”

Surfing was first introduced to the UK in 1890 in Bridlington (North Yorkshire) by two visiting Hawaiian princes*. Since then the UK has established itself as a genuine surfing location. There are world class waves in every corner of the UK and numerous UK beaches have a rich history of hosting international competitions. Surfers in the UK spend an average of 8.5% more than the other coastal tourists*. Surfing supports coastal economies outside the traditional tourist season, as the waves are generally best in spring, autumn and winter. However, some of the UK’s best waves are under threat:

North Cornish Coast: Several of the best Cornish surfing beaches, including St Ives Bay & Perranporth are under threat from a dredging proposal. The dredging proposal could result in negative impacts on important coastal processes, reanimating pollutants and enforced restricts on using the sea for all water users. SAS are engaged in the Environmental Impact Assessment process and have raised significant concerns within the scoping report. http://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MMO-Scoping-Opinion-Response-SAS.pdf

Broad Bench, South Coast: One of the best waves in the UK, known as Broad Bench, is found on the outer limited of the Lulworth MoD firing range. Currently the wave can be off limits to surfers for up to 228 days a year, including the best seasons for waves at Broad Bench. SAS are working together with the local surf community and the MoD to try and find solution that can allow the MoD full access to their firing range and increase the access surfers can have at Broad Bench.

Saltburn, North East Coast: Saltburn has a thriving surfing community but yet the water quality is failing European standards that are so inadequate they are in the process of being superseded by more stringent standards. The water quality at Saltburn and other beaches around the UK failing these standards is of extra concern to surfers as we immerse and ingest more than the average bather. Health risks associated with bathing in sewage polluted waters include: ear, nose & throat infections, gastro enteritis, Hep A, Ecoli etc.

Please sign the POW petition if you haven’t already, and pass this link on. Thank you!

PATAGONIA LAUNCHES “$20 MILLION & CHANGE” AND PATAGONIA WORKS – A HOLDING COMPANY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Letter from Patagonia Works founder, Yvon Chouinard, announces the launch of an internal fund to help responsiblestart-up companies; reorganizes Patagonia into a new kind of holding company.

VENTURA, California (May 6, 2013)

I don’t like to think of myself as a businessman. I’ve made no secret that I hold a fairly skeptical view of the business world. That said, Patagonia, the company my wife and I founded four decades ago, has grown up to be — by global standards — a medium-size business. And that bestows on our family a serious responsibility. The last line of Patagonia’s mission statement is “… use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” We’ve always taken that seriously.

Three examples: Every year for 30 years, Patagonia has donated one percent of its sales to grassroots environmental organizations. We helped initiate the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, an organization of companies that produces more than a third of the clothing and footwear on the planet. In a very short time, the Coalition has launched an index of social and environmental performance that designers (and eventually consumers) can use to make better decisions when developing products or choosing materials. And last year we became one of California’s first B Corps (benefit corporations), which means that the values that helped make our company successful are now etched into our legal charter.
Now is the time for Patagonia to take the next logical step: to reach out beyond the framework of the apparel and outdoor industries. Today, my family and I are happy to launch $20 Million & Change, an internal fund to help like-minded, responsible start-up companies bring about positive benefit to the environment.

With the launch of this fund, we have reorganized Patagonia and our other businesses within a new holding company called Patagonia Works. While most holding companies are about diversification, Patagonia Works is dedicated to a single cause: using business to help solve the environmental crisis. Rose Marcario, who has been COO and CFO of Patagonia’s apparel company, will now take on a new role as President and CEO of Patagonia Works. Rose has been instrumental in tripling profits for our company. We now want to apply her business acumen and keen sense of social and environmental responsibility to new companies in five critical areas: clothing, yes, but also food, water, energy and waste. Rose has been responsible for the launch of Patagonia Provisions, which will soon expand beyond our Wild Salmon Jerky (wild-caught in natal waters by First Nations tribes) to other foods that, like our jerky, are more thoughtfully sourced. The food business is, as much as the apparel or energy industries, environmentally broken. It takes more from the planet than it gives back. We aim to find ways to get what we want to eat by working with nature rather than against it.

Casey Sheahan will continue to serve as President and CEO of Patagonia, Inc., the clothing company at the heart of Patagonia Works.

Others might see Patagonia Works and $20 Million & Change as revolutionary business ventures; we think both are just next logical steps to doing business more responsibly. Economic growth for the past two centuries has been tied to an ever-spiraling carbon bonfire. Business – and human – success in the next 100 years will have to come from working with nature rather than using it up. That is a necessity, not a luxury as it’s seen now in most business quarters. We invite and encourage all companies to start to work with us in that direction.

To apply for funding or seek information regarding the $20 Million & Change program, please email: info@patagoniaworks.com or call (805) 667-2300.

SURFAID Ambassador: Joel Parkinson from SURFAID on Vimeo.

MARINE MINERALS LIMITED CARRY OUT UNLAWFUL SAMPLING FOR DREDGING PLANS

We can reveal that Marine Minerals Limited (MML) has unlawfully undertaken the first significant works associated with their dredging proposal. Considering St Ives Bay is one of only 3 sites Marine Minerals Limited is applying to dredge, they are either incompetent or negligent in failing to apply for the necessary permission to carry out their sampling under the Coastal Protection Act 1949.

SAS has serious concerns about the project and how Marine Minerals Limited is operating. Marine Minerals Limited is simultaneously making very limited information available whilst they and their PR agency are promoting unsubstantiated claims. Marine Minerals Limited is yet to announce the method of dredging they will use to remove tens of millions of tonnes of sediment from the North Cornish coast, or how they have arrived at the number of jobs they believe their proposed activity will create. Without this information SAS and other stakeholders cannot identify the level of environmental impact that will be felt at the coast or the true number of established jobs that could be threatened or new employment that might be generated within the county.

St. Ives area’s Godrevy Beach, where mining samples have been taken. Photo by surfhog.com

Marine Minerals Limited has no excuse for not securing the appropriate licences before undertaking the seabed sampling work within St Ives Bay. SAS not only referenced the Coastal Protection Act 1949 but also even named the licencing authority in their response to Marine Minerals Limited’s scoping opinion. The Marine Management Organisation also clearly stated in relation to every license they grant that they “…would further advise you that the issue of this licence does not absolve you from seeking any other consents or approvals which may be required before you embark upon the work to which it refers.” It’s clear that the responsibility to ensure all licences and permissions falls with the applicant, Marine Minerals Limited.

Surfers Against Sewage’s Campaign Director Andy Cummins says: “Carrying out these works without the relevant permissions, as Marine Minerals Limited has, are not the actions of a responsible developer. Showing such blatant disregard for the environment and the licencing authorities demonstrates why SAS is right to have serious concerns about this proposal. The North Cornish coast is too valuable to allow irresponsible and unprofessional operators to carry out potentially devastating works.”

A spokesperson from the North Coast Protection Association said: “North Coast Protection Association (NCPA) are disappointed, but not surprised to learn of this development. Already we are aware of the countless contradictions made by Marine Minerals Ltd (MML) in their public relations and application documents which can only be seen as disingenous at best. We continue to have serious concerns that this company does not act in a professional way and the potential loss of jobs, and damage to the environment are simply too great to allow the project to go ahead”.

Cornwall Seal Group co-ordinator says: “I am sad to say that this description fits with our experience of Marine Minerals Limited. Marine Minerals Limited forced Cornwall Seal Group to work to extremely short deadlines of a few days because Marine Minerals Limited had booked a sampling boat before having obtained their original MMO sampling license.”

SAS are pleased that Cornwall Council is in the process of writing to both the MMO and Marine Minerals Limited setting out that it fully expects to that should Marine Minerals Limited wish to conduct either further sampling runs, or a larger scale extraction of materials from the sea bed, it is to first to get permission from Cornwall Council for this extraction as the licensing authority under the 2002 Order. However, SAS are extremely disappointed that a prosecution is not being sought.

The UK’s coastline and surfing waves need better protection from inappropriate developments like this and pollution. Join SAS in calling for legislation to Protect Our Waves by signing the petition at www.protectourwaves.org.uk

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is calling on communities in North Cornwall to submit opinions on a massive and potentially devastating coastal dredging proposal. Marine Minerals Limited are applying for a licence to remove millions of tonnes of sediment from North Cornwall’s sea bed as little as 200 meters offshore at some of Cornwall’s premier beaches, including; St Ives Bay, Porthtowan, St Agnes & Perranporth.

If you have any concerns about this proposal, please register them with the Marine Management Organisation by Friday, 8th February. The case officer at the MMO is Ellen Moir Ellen.Moir@marinemanagement.org.uk

SAS first raised concerns about this issue when the new Protect Our Waves petition was launched in August 2012. http://www.protectourwaves.org.uk/case-studies.php There are many potential adverse impacts associated with a proposal of this type, but SAS is especially concerned about threats to vital coastal processes, the marine environment, marine wildlife and local surfing resources. The North Cornish coastline is a valuable natural environment, already supporting thousands of jobs and generating millions of pounds for the region. Surfing alone brings in £64 million to Cornwall’s economy and supports 1,600 full time jobs.

The dredging proposal targets tin reserves stored in the sand, washed out from Cornwall’s historic mining activity. The dredging areas Marine Minerals Limited has identified are also some of Cornwall’s premier beach resorts. The proposal requests permission to dredge as close as 200 meters from the shore. Several millions of tonnes of sediment will be removed, with approximately 5% of the sediment refined for further use and the remaining 95% returned to the sea floor.

Throughout the licencing application the MMO has an obligation to identify the potential worst-case scenario. SAS are contacting the MMO and listing the following concerns.

Coastal Processes:

Removing and replacing several millions of tonnes of sediment has the potential to disrupting the natural build-up of sediment. This sediment plays a vital role in encouraging waves to break offshore, dissipating the majority of the wave’s energy before the waves reach the shore.

Disrupting the sediment could also impact on sand levels in the intertidal zones and above the high tide line at the beach. This could significantly reduce the quality of surfing waves and impair the beach experience for local residents and tourists.

Reanimating pollutants:

Disrupting the sediment around the river mouths at St Ives Bay, Porthtowan, St Agnes and Perranporth could also reanimate pathogens associated with Combined Sewer Overflow discharges and heavy metals used in mining. These could have serious impacts on the health of water users and the wider environment

Flora and fauna:

Removing millions of tons of sediment, processing it, then dumping it back on the seafloor it will impact biodiversity in the area. The species potentially at risk include seals, sharks, dolphins, crustaceans (crabs, lobsters etc.), sea fans and many more. They all play important roles in regulating our marine environment and support wildlife watching eco-tourism and diving. The special flora and fauna obviously support the important fishing economy, culturally important to the region.

SAS Campaign Director Andy Cummins says: “Disturbing and removing significant amounts of sediment from the North Cornish coast has the potential to devastate the fragile and complex environments that support surfing, tourism and fishing. SAS are raising these concerns and will continue to engage through the licencing application and we urge any interested parties to do the same.”

SAS will continue to consult on the proposal and ensure that surfers, waveriders and coastal communities are represented throughout the licencing process. You can support SAS’s concerns on this dredging proposal by signing the Protect Our Waves petition at www.protectourwaves.org.uk

PROTECT OUR WAVES GUARDIAN TODAY

AND YOU’LL RECEIVE THE ICONIC

POW TOMBSTONES ORGANIC T-SHIRT

AND A LIMITED EDITION CAR STICKER,

AS WELL AS ALL THE OTHER GREAT SAS

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS.

Image by Kirstin Prisk www.kirstinprisk.co.uk

We’re well on the way to securing 100,000 signatures for our POW petition, which we will take to Parliament later this year to encourage debate for stronger legislation to protect UK surf spots from sewage discharges, marine litter and inappropriate development. Your support & donation as a POW Guardian is vital in helping us deliver this groundbreaking campaign.

THE POW GUARDIAN RATE IS £36 ANNUALLY, EQUIVALENT TO JUST £3 A MONTH.

Sign the POW petition at: www.protectourwaves.org.uk
Thank you for your support!