Sunday, November 15, 2009

Preface To Are You Sure?: In Praise Of The Humboldt Current

Not enough bloggers or their blogs, in these troubled times, choose to take time out of their busy schedules of reading politicians' new ghost-written books or complaining about the price of cheese in Shinola to simply sit back & appreciate the little bits & pieces of Nature that make our world the terrifying & lovely place it has always been & may yet one day be. Take the Humboldt Current. You have to go to South America to do it, but take it. Take what the Wikipedia says for granted:

"The Humboldt Current is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north-westward along the west coast of South America from the southern tip of Chile to northern Peru. It is an eastern boundary current flowing in the direction of the equator, & can extend 1,000 kilometers offshore... [N]amed after the Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, [it] is one of the major upwelling systems of the world, supporting an extraordinary abundance of marine life... It is the most productive marine ecosystem in the world, as well as the largest upwelling system... [&] support the world’s largest fisheries. Approximately 18-20% of the world’s fish catch comes from the Humboldt Current LME. The species are mostly pelagic: sardines, anchovies & jack mackerel... The cold, nutrient-rich water brought to the surface by upwelling drives the system’s extraordinary productivity."

Fuck yeah! You can read the whole article here, & if you do, your friends will call you Jack Mackerel. & you'll say, "Of course! & thank you, Humboldt Current!"

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