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fish: For how long? — SeaChange exhibit shows threats to seafood chain by “bioamplification”  New
York, N.Y. — The SeaChange Institute, a project of the Ocean
Alliance, has mounted an exhibit in the lobby of the Steelcase Building
at 4 Columbus Circle in Manhattan that addresses the importance of
living sustainably by keeping pollutants out of the seas. The exhibit
is underwritten by the Annenberg Foundation.SeaChange—on display weekdays through May 31st between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.—highlights the critical problem of the “bioamplification” of heavy metals and other toxins in the fish we eat and what that means both for consumers and for the future of the world’s seafood supply. It visually documents some of the results of a 5_-year scientific voyage around the world by the Ocean Alliance research vessel, Odyssey, to gather the first-ever baseline data on levels of synthetic contaminants throughout the world’s oceans.  “Preliminary
results of our research voyage indicate that the world’s oceans
are seriously contaminated with a suite of heavy metals as well as
by POPs (persistent organic pollutants), including a subset of POPs
known as EDCs (endocrine disrupting compounds) that are of particular
concern,” explained Ocean Alliance founder and noted biologist
Dr. Roger Payne. The term “bioamplification” describes the process through which consumption of pollutants in organisms by chains of ocean predators (food chains) causes these toxins to re-concentrate, increasing their concentration by about 10 times in each new predator step in the chain. The SeaChange exhibit shows that the highest concentrations of EDCs are found in the very fish consumers love to eat most, the top predators in this chain.  “The
ultimate revenge of a top predator like a swordfish or bluefin tuna
that we eat,” said Payne, “is that it can feed our synthetic
EDCs back to us at dangerously high concentrations and we don’t
even know it.” Payne, who is best known for his discovery (with Scott McVay) that humpback whales sing songs, and for his theory that the sounds of fin and blue whales can be heard across oceans, describes his latest studies of ocean pollutants as “the most important scientific research with which I have ever been involved.” Polluting the seafood chain  The
SeaChange exhibit on display at the Steelcase Building summarizes
in layman’s language Ocean Alliance’s preliminary research
findings on how these pollutants are impacting the seafood chain.
Payne and his associates have been analyzing close to one thousand
skin samples extracted benignly from sperm whales around the world.
When complete, their research will provide the first bioassay—quantitative
measurement—to look at pollutant levels and their physiological
effects on fish throughout the world’s oceans. “We want to create awareness in the general public,” Payne said, “that today’s ‘better living through chemistry’ is polluting the fish we eat and, that if it keeps up, humanity will soon lose access to seafood.” The SeaChange exhibit offers some solutions to this serious problem. “We want to arouse exhibit-visitors’ concern about the critical importance of living sustainably, without which, civilization has no long-term future,” explained Payne’s wife and fellow environmental spokesperson Lisa Harrow. Together, Payne and Harrow—an actress who boasts numerous stage, film, and television credits—also have been sharing their message about the need to protect the planet by living sustainably through their lecture/performance piece, SeaChange: Reversing the Tide. That piece combines the knowledge of science with the wisdom of poetry—from Shakespeare to Robert Frost to Mary Oliver, and others — to argue compellingly that man’s survival depends on the wellbeing of thousands of other species on this planet.  They
hope that the SeaChange exhibit at Steelcase will reach more
audiences with their message that most of the problems humanity faces
are solvable, that many solutions are simple, and that existing scientific
knowledge is strong enough to start implementing the long-term rewards
of living sustainably.Steelcase—the global leader in the office furniture industry—is represented in the SeaChange exhibit as well. Projected on the lobby wall are quotes from Economicology: The Eleventh Commandment, a book by Peter M. Wege. The former Steelcase board member and son of one of the company founders coined the word “economicology” in the 1990s to define the balance the world must find between “economics” and “ecology.”  “Our
lobby exhibitions now and in the past have connected to the community
and have been a source of education,” noted Steelcase spokeswoman
Jeannie Bochette. “From the moment we opened our space, more
than 10 years ago, we have had exhibitions, which change every three
months.”About the exhibitors The Ocean Alliance (www.oceanalliance.org) is dedicated to rigorous scientific research in conjunction with global education in order to improve people’s appreciation for, and understanding of the ocean environment and the creatures within it. Their principal focus is on whales and the importance of conserving them. Since 1967, Ocean Alliance founder Roger Payne, has studied the behavior of whales, leading over 100 expeditions to all oceans and studying every species of baleen whale in the wild. In 2007, Payne—who is knighted in the Netherlands and is a MacArthur Fellow—was awarded the Dawkins Prize for Animal Conservation and Welfare by Balliol College, Oxford University “For outstanding research into the ecology and behavior of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities.” His publications include the book, Among Whales (1995) and three recordings: Songs of the Humpback Whale (1970), Deep Voices (1975), and Whales Alive (1989—works composed by whales but arranged and played by humans). Payne has appeared in many documentary films for television, some of which he wrote and/or presented. He co-wrote and co-directed the IMAX film Whales. An award-winning film about Payne’s work, A Life Among Whales, is currently being screened worldwide. In addition to writing and performing SeaChange: Reversing the Tide, Lisa Harrow is the author of the environmental handbook What Can I Do? Born in New Zealand, she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Her resume boasts numerous other stage, film, and television credits, including a number of leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Lisa played the lead in the New York production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit. She won the Australian Oscar for Best Actress for the film The Last Days of Chez Nous, and starred in the film Sunday, which won the Grand Jury Award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. The couple married their scientific and theatrical talents with their shared environmental interests to create SeaChange: Reversing the Tide, which uses science and poetry to urge Earth’s inhabitants to make sustainable living our primary goal. More information is about the program is available at www.seachangeinstitute.org. Contact: Lisa Harrow lisa@Seachangeinstitute.org 802.457.5095 Downloads, Images & Captions: Download press release pdf > 
SeaChange logo .jpg > SeaChange logo .eps > File: MantisShrimpLarva.jpg Title: Mantis Shrimp Larva Photo Credit: Peter Parks | imagequestmarine.com Possible Caption: Mantis Shrimp Larva which attacks its prey with lightning-like strikes of mantis-like arms while riding (and for several months) on the back of a tiny jellyfish. File: MixedZooplankton.jpg Tiltle: MixedZooplankton: Dinoflagellates, Acanthometra, Radiolari Photo Credit: Peter Parks | imagequestmarine.com Possible Caption: There are roughly 2,000 known species of Dinoflagellates. Because they contain chlorophyll, they are usually treated as plants, but they can also show animal characteristics, such as catching and eating smaller organisms. The glass skeletons of Radiolarians are famous for their beauty. File: Swordfish.jpg Title: Swordfish Photo Credit: Eleonora de Sabata | medsharks.org Possible Caption: Swordfish that are Step VI predators will bioaccumulate on average 106 times (that’s a million times) the concentration of synthetic poisons that are present in the Diatoms on which their food chain is based. So when we eat a pound of such a Swordfish, we are eating all of the poisons that were dissolved in a million pounds of Diatoms—that’s 500 tons of Diatoms! whale photo by Rolf Hicker. | SeaChange is a project of Ocean Alliance logo, print, video and website crafted by CHANGE |
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