Cover Story: Fish Farm Fiasco by Bruce Barcott
Fish farms were supposed to save the world’s waters from overharvesting. But in British Columbia and around the globe, industrial-style aquaculture is creating its own environmental crisis.

FEATURES

The Betrayal of Basra by Chuck Sudetic
Ten years of US-backed sanctions could not dislodge Saddam Hussein. But as a bleak journey through southern Iraq reveals, they have ensured that Iraqis — and many othe rin the Arab world — now blame the United States for their deepening misery.

Who Owns My Disease? by Arthur Allen
After their children were diagnosed with a rare inherited disease, Sharon and Patrick Terry set out to find the gene that causes it. In the process, they are redefining the role of patients in the genetics revolution.

Colombia’s Cocaine Frontier: Photo essay by Monique Stauder
Text by Kirk Semple
In the rebel-run towns along Colombia’s Caguan River, cocaine is not a drug: It’s a crop, a currency, and a way of life.

Refugees of Time by Verlyn Klinkenborg
In the Mohawk Valley of upstate New York, a group of Amish farmers is transforming the landscape — and creating a present that echoes the valley’s past.

My Virtuous Vacation by Bill Donahue
What the author did on his “volunteer vacation” to Jamaica: Eat gourmet meals. Pound a few nails. Teach kids to play Frisbee. Learn a lesson in humility.

DEPARTMENTS

Backtalk
Readers sound off on abortion regulations, the FCC, Haitian sugar workers, and more.

Outfront
Surgical Strike: Is a group that pays addicts to be sterilized defneding children or exploiting the vulnerable?
From Civil War to the Drug War: Immigrants are risking prison for a taste of home.
Olympic Windfall: With help from his allies in Congress, a Utah businessman cashes in on the Winter Games.
Same Great Taste?: Two biotech companies try to create a group of genetically uniform chickens.
A Face in the Crowd: Is surveillance software turning police into Robocops?
Hellraiser: Faith Spotted Eagle defends her ancestors’ resting places from unwelcome intrustion.

Exhibit
A gunmaker branches out; branding Brandenburg Gate; food gets even faster

Notebook by Susan Q. Stranahan
Many of the nation’s aging nuclear plants are scheduled to be shut down over the next decade. But the Bush administration — despite serious safety issues — is hoping to give them a new lease on life.

The Commons by Sue Halpern
Quietly and without sel-promotion, the nation’s 12,000 “cooperative weather observers” are practicing a forgotten kind of citizenship.

Exposure
“Birdmen” take the plunge

Media Jones
Studs Terkel on death, resurrection, and “the goddamned budget”; the selling of missile defense; fighting moms; plus book, music and film reviews.

Re: Action
Resources for getting involved

P.S.
Cartoon by Christian Northeast