A forum was held to introduce successful regulatory, conservation and seafood marketing strategies from Canada, the United States and Mexico to fishermen, regulators, researchers and others working to improve economic and ecological outcomes in the Gulf of Mexico's wild shrimp fisheries. The session was sponsored by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Property and Environment Research Center, and Environmental Defense. The agenda and a list of participants are attached.

Lacking a Ph.D. in marine biology, it was hard to tell what exactly killed the wayward sea otter. It might have been a predator, but I didn’t see any visible wounds. Maybe it succumbed to leptospirosis or one of any dozen other bacterial outbreaks slowly making their way up the coast from California’s marine mammal populations. Or perhaps one of the hundreds of tanker ships that pass through the area every week had discharged some oil into the water, contaminating an abalone or crab that the otter had enjoyed as an unwitting last meal.

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