Slave labor on fishing boats, particularity in Asia, has been a serious problem for many years. In 2011, we posted about reports that the crews of of chartered fishing vessels operating in New Zealand waters were being systematically abused and robbed of their pay. More recently, the AP investigated the abuse of seamen in Thai shrimping business. They found that Thai and Burmese fishermen were being held against their will and often beaten or killed on trawlers catching “trash fish” also know as bycatch, to supply Thai shrimp farms. The bycatch is also used to make pet food and food for livestock.
Now in the third of his series, Outlaw Ocean, Ian Urbina, of the New York Times, writes of ‘Sea Slaves’: the Human Misery that Feeds Pets and Livestock. Well worth reading. A short video companion to the article:
Around the world, pollution is a serious threat to whales. Ironically, on the Faroe Islands, pollution may help to curtail whaling, where protests have failed. The residents of the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic have been 
Back in 2011, we 
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I have long been a fan of Lucy Bellwood. A tall ship sailor and cartoonist; she is talented, smart and funny. Her wonderful series, 
What’s in a name? Google has 
Was the wreck of three-masted bark, 
In 2012, Shell’s attempt to drill in the Chukchi Sea in the Alaska’s Arctic proved to be an expensive and dangerous farce, featuring groundings, equipment failures, explosions and citations for safety violations. Returning two years later with an flotilla of 29 ships, Shell’s fortunes have not improved. Rather than discovering oil, the 380-foot