Sponge Worthy

According to the BBC, trawlers are tearing up sponge habitats in the cold waters off Scotland. The sponges are important for cleaning the kitchen counter -- joking. Ocean sponges from shallower waters have already proved effective at combating diseases like cancer, noted the brief article. Even if sponges did not have the potential to help cure cancer, they are part of an ecosystem, which is good enough reason for me. Let's not trash them if we can help it people.

Hope springs eternal if we are willing to believe the spokesperson for the accused fishing industry. "Sponge beds are enormous, very dense areas, which are not targeted by fishermen, in fact, exactly the opposite is true," said Phil MacMullen, Head of Environmental Responsibility at Seafish.

Read the whole story here.