The USDA is preparing to adopt standards defnining exactly what can be labeled organically farmed fish. Not surprisingly, that's prompted a big debate behind the scenes.

 A typical "open pen" at a commercial salmon farm. These pens are usually arranged in larger groupings (such as the one shown in the photo below), linked by walkways that are used by the staff.

This commercial salmon fishing operation is in a deepwater cove off Lucas Bay, Alaska. Most of the world's salmon farming is done in the cold northern Pacific and Atlantic waters off North America.

Urvashi Rangun (right)  is a senior scientist and policy analyst for Consumer's Union, which is advocating for rigorous new standards for farmed seafood to be labled "organic."

Now that scientists have figured out what causes "Sudden Oak Death," they're trying to get the word out on how to curtail the spread of the tree disease.

This magnified image shows the P. ramorum spores on the underside of a California bay laurel leaf.

In addition to prevention efforts, the California Oak Mortality Task Forces is also developing some best practices for dealing with those forests where large numbers of oaks are already dead or dying.

This photo shows diseased and  tanoaks on Mount Tamalpias, one of the first areas where Sudden Oak Death appeared.

There's a map (pdf)  showing areas of oak death in Northern California here.

Or link to the Sonoma County Sudden Oak Death Strategic Reponse Plan (83 pages, pdf) here .

 Dr. David Rizzo, a leading Sudden Oak Death researcher at UC Davis, offers a summation of what is currently known about the disease, the pathogen that causes it, and how it is transmitted in a 30 minute video that can be seen here.

Noise pollution from big ships is a growing problem under the sea along the California coast, especially for the whales who share the sea lanes.

 Seaflow, a nonprofit organization that works to protect marine life, is advocating for ships to reduce speed once entering the marine sanctuaries.

To view the website of Seaflow, click here .

To read about the Marine Mammal Protection Act, click here.

There’s more economic benefit to letting scuba divers see live sharks swimming off the California coast than there is in fishing for them.

  
Click here to read a summary of the new study Sea The Value:  Quantifying the Value of Marine Life to Divers.