Today there is a choppy wave and wind. The sun comes and goes. . .

There is a hurricane hitting Florida but that is too far away to be affecting this wind. I have tried to understand the visual and infra-red maps on the environment canada site but the meaning often eludes me.

Here in Nova Scotia the weather seems particularly hard to predict - really we are an island sticking out into the Atlantic - and the weather affects a lot of micro-climates. So today it was supposed to be sunny, but it has been overcast for large portions of the day.

Today I am worrying about seafood. . . it is better, especially at my age and weight to eat fish than meat, but it is difficult to know what to eat. . . I know that mussels farms are sustainable and environmentally OK. Today I had clams that are supposed to be from Digby "Fresh whole Digby Clams" but I also know that the Digby area clam beds were closed this year (just checked they opened Aug 2nd - whew) but I am uncertain about lobster although I think there is still lots of it.

I have little reminders on my fridge about sustainable seafood. One card from seafoodwatch (my card is from 2006 - but it has been updateed since then) has categories Best, Good Alternatives and Avoid. That would be great - but it says, for instance to avoid shrimp that are imported - farmed or wild caught; and that a good alternative is US farmed or wild caught - but I have had to give up shrimp because there is no US shrimp for sale.

I also know that the Ecology Action Centre of Halifax, has a similar program on making seafood choices to sustain biodiversity and the ocean -- it is called Seachoice but it still makes decisions difficult. They also have three columns - Best Choice, Some Concerns and Avoid - There are additional PDF pages about Pacific (BC) salmon and which are OK. I am still trying to figure out whether "wild caught" pacific salmon from China is OK.

Also, although I do ask, I usually cannot determine how a fish was caught -- so for instance the instructions are that harpooned Atlantic swordfish is OK but pelagic longline swordfish is not, unless it is US Atlantic pelagic longline and then it is in the "some concerns" column. I also know I need to avoid anything dredged or trawled. My friend John who used to work on fishing boats as an inspector/observer says that if we could see what we do to the bottom of the ocean - like we can clear cut forest - there would be a hew and cry.

The only places that I can find out about the fish's origins are at Pete's in downtown Halifax and at the Saturday morning market also in downtown Halifax - I live out of town so this is inconvenient - so we just don't eat salmon, mostly don't eat big shrimp(occasionally as party food, I admit it), don't eat tuna except occasionally from a can, don't eat red snapper or orange roughy . I would like to eat Haddock but cannot find out usually if it has been bottom longlined or caught some other way. . . so I ask in Sobey's and the Superstore week after week the source of the fish and they tell me that they don't know (usually) or they tell me - oh yeah it is longline caught - oh yes. . . whatever it is they think I want to hear.

So, I try, but the wholesalers and retailers have got to get on board here - they don't want to know because it might eat into profit margin, availability or perceived choice in their stores. As consumers we have to demand it! You can write to Sobeys right now at: sobeys
or to the Superstore at: Superstore

Now just in case you don't understand the problem with farmed salmon - this video helps explain it.