FISHLINK SUBLEGALS 6/1/01 <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><< A WEEKLY QUOTA OF FISHERY SHORTS CAUGHT AND LANDED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS VOL 3, NO. 22 1 JUNE 2001 <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>><< 3:22/05. WILD FISH DON'T MAKE ORGANIC CUT: The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Aquatic Animal Task Force, which released its recommendations on wild fish on 30 May, determined that free ranging aquatic animals "are not suitable for organic certification." Farmed finfish, on the other hand, could be certified as organic if they meet the requirements of the Organic Farm Products Act, although their recommendation is that the feed ratio be less than five percent wild fish meal, which would make it more difficult for the farmed fish industry to get the organic label. This requirement would affect carnivorous fish, such as salmon, which consume large amounts of fish meal in their diets. The report also opposes shellfish certification because of insufficient compatibility with the requirements of the federal law. The NOSB will meet in La Crosse Wisconsin on 6 June and will review the report, but will not decide on its own recommendations to Agriculture Secretary until an October session. For the full NOSB draft seafood labeling recommendations see: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/nop2000/ nosb%20recommedations/aquacult.htm . For more information on the (NOSB) itself see: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/nop2000/nop2/ newpages%20folder/nosbmap.htm. 3:22/19. PERSISTENT TOXIC CHEMICALS SLATED FOR PHASE OUT, IF MONEY CAN BE FOUND: Persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs), also called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are long-lived synthetic chemicals that accumulate in the environment and can not only damage the human food chain but represent a growing concern for human health. An example is DDT, long banned in the United States but so prevalent in other countries that it consistently shows up in increasing amounts in human breast milk in the US and worldwide. Several of these compounds have also been implicated in long- term behavioral and genetic damage to aquatic species, including salmon. A recent international treaty to phase out and ultimately ban 12 of the most toxic of these compounds, sponsored by the UN Environment Programme, was recently signed by over 90 countries, including the United States, and on 23 May US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Todd Whitman and the Bush Administration pledged to seek speedy approval of the treaty by the US Congress. Information on the treaty and these compounds can be found at: http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops. For the EPA announcement go to their web site at: http://www.epa.gov. Meanwhile, the State of Washington's Legislature is gridlocked over funding for the Washington Department of Ecology's plan, the first in the nation and put together with two years of public input, to phase out many of these same chemicals for use within that state. Washington Governor Locke has included $1.2 million in his proposed budget to implement this program, but with their Legislature wrangling over a tight budget it is uncertain whether any of this funding effort will survive. Officials with the Department of Ecology have labeled at least 75 waterways in Washington, many of them containing potential salmon habitat, as unsafe because of high levels of persistent, bioaccumulative toxins. For more information on the campaign in Washington State to fund the Governor's program to phase out these chemicals see: http://www.washpirg.org under the heading "Toxics Free Future," or see: http://www.watoxics.org/tp.htm. ########################################################## Sublegals are a weekly fisheries news bulletin service of Fishlink. For a free subscription to Fishlink, contact with the words "subscribe fishlink" in the body of the text (the request is not case sensitive). You will be subscribed as soon as the request can be approved. 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