The discovery is being touted as providing insight into how smoking contributes to "hardening of the arteries."

"When blood vessels are exposed to cigarette smoke, it causes the vessels to behave like a rigid pipe rather than a flexible tube, thus the vessels can't dilate in response to increased blood flow," said study author Dr. David J. Bouchier-Hayes at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. This condition, called endothelial dysfunction, is one of the earliest signs of arteriosclerosis, a major cause of heart attacks and stroke.

In the Irish study, groups of smokers and non-smokers were given 1.5 grams of taurine a day. After a few weeks, the researchers measured vessel functioning using ultrasound images of blood vessel diameters in the subjects' arms. Greater diameter indicates good endothelial function.

At baseline, smokers' blood vessel diameter was 3.33 millimeters; after taking the taurine, the smoker's vessel response rose to 3.7mm. (Interestingly, vitamin C produced similar results.) The taurine supplement used in the study is equivalent to that found in one serving of fish. Taurine is found in many foods but is most abundant in most kinds of both lean and fatty fish, Dr. Bouchier-Hayes said.

Southeast black cod farms

By all accounts, black cod is a prime candidate for fish farming. Successful experimental ventures are already under way in British Columbia, where farmed black cod has already made its way to markets. At the recent Board of Fish meeting in Sitka, some fishermen said they'd like to try it out in waters of Southeast Alaska.

"Ten years from now I don't want to be in the same position that the salmon industry is in now," said Sitka longliner Mike Mayo, who has visited the B.C. black cod farms. "It's right here right now. Some think it's this monster under the bed, but if you watch Walt Disney not all monsters are bad," he told radio station KCAW.

Mayo envisions catching black cod and keeping them alive in net pens. "I propose taking 10,000 pounds of fish, each weighing between a half pound to one pound, and growing them to seven pounders in approximately six months," he said. "It's a pretty good return on the dollar."

Alaska Department of Fish & Game biologist Tory O'Connell said the proposal raised many questions.

"If you hold them in nets in the water, are you pre-empting grounds for other fisheries? Is there any concern about viruses and oxygen depletion? Most likely these fish would need to be held near where they are captured, and someone would need to be on-site with the net pens, so it raises quite a few permitting issues," she said.

Fish farming is illegal in Alaska, but Republican Sen. Alan Austerman of Kodiak has introduced legislation to re-examine the ban. That would be required before black cod could be caught and raised in Alaska waters. A recent report from British Columbia says that once black cod is produced in large volumes, it could push down prices by 40 percent.

Log books go electronic

The nation's first federally compliant electronic logbooks are ready to be on board fishing boats -- and the systems are being offered by the feds for free. Juneau-based OceanLogic, a fisheries software development firm, created the logbooks with financial backing from the Aleutian/Pribilof Island Community Development Association.

The electronic logbooks are easy to use and provide data with the stroke of a single computer key. Redundant information, such as the vessel and skipper names, permit numbers, target fishery, and gear type are "front loaded" during installation. When fishing gear is set out or hauled back, a single keystroke polls the vessel's Global Positioning Satellite system for time and date, latitude and longitude and and where that is in relation to the correct statistical and reporting areas. Skippers need only to input estimated depth, gear depth, haul weight and any fish discards. At end of trip, encrypted data is sent to fishery managers.

"The ELB is information-driven and gives someone the advantage of getting information right away," said project manager Bob Mikol. "It can be plotted out on a chart, and you can see your catch in the form of a pie chart, for example. The information can be provided to fishery meetings, even Congress."

Mikol said the ELBs have a higher degree of accuracy and resolution than the current Vessel Monitoring Systems now required on many fishing vessels. Currently, the electronic logbooks are only compliant for trawl catcher boats (daily fishing logs have been required since 1990 for trawlers), but will eventually be available for other gear types.

At least two Kodiak skippers gave the ELBs high marks and credited OceanLogic with providing good support. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has purchased 50 of the ELB systems to be given free to the first takers. Contact Bob Mikol at 907-586-0145 or via email at rmikol@oceanlogic.com.

Kodiak-based free-lance writer Laine Welch can be reached via e-mail at msfish@ptialaska.net.