Sunday, April 22, 2007
OTTERS, SEALS, LOBSTERS, TOMATOES
Global coldening isn’t just a problem for Alaskan sea otters. Seal hunters remain trapped in thick ice off Canada’s eastern coast:
“They’re getting anxious because some of them have been out for eight or 10 days,” said a spokesman for the Canadian coast guard, Brian Penny. “They’re running out of supplies and it’s a long, slow process to get to them all” ...
“Conditions are terrible up there with the ice and that,” said Ward George, a search-and-rescue coordinator in St. John’s, Newfoundland. “So we’re just waiting for the wind to change, to ease off on the pressure, and we’ll do our work.”
Best of luck, clubbers. Lobstermen could do with a little global warmening, too:
“I’m not catching nothing, but it’s pretty close,” said Jack Merrill, a lobsterman from Mount Desert, Maine. “This morning when I went out, there was still ice in the harbor. In the middle of April, that’s almost unheard of. That’s really cold, and it’s why the lobsters aren’t moving and the price is so high.”
The situation is flipped in Australia, where our eternal drought is expected to drive up fruit and vegetable prices. It already is, in fact; a mate who runs Sydney’s finest Lebanese restaurant paid $17 for a crate of tomatoes last Monday, $45 for a crate last Wednesday, and $105 on Saturday (this is in advance of any shortages; investigations may ensue). Happily, Sydney at least is tipped to receive further rain throughout the week. Tonight we copped a deluge so violent the house sprung leaks in three rooms.