Albacore
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Scombridae
Tribe:	Thunnini
Genus:	Thunnus
Species:	T. alalunga
Binomial name
Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788)

The albacore, Thunnus alalunga, is a type of tuna in the family Scombridae. This species is also called albacore fish, albacore tuna, albicore, longfin, albies, pigfish, tombo ahi, binnaga, Pacific albacore, German bonito (but see bonito), longfin tuna, longfin tunny, or even just tuna. It is the only tuna species which may be marketed as "white meat tuna" in the United States. It is found in the open waters of all tropical and temperate oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Lengths range up to 140 cm (4.5 feet) and weights up to 45 kg (99 lb).

Albacore is a prized food, and the albacore fishery is economically significant. Methods of fishing include pole and line, long-line fishing, trolling, and some purse seining. It is also sought after by sport fishers.

The pectoral fins of the albacore are very long, as much as 50% of the total length. The dorsal spines are 8 to 10 in number, and well forward of the rays of the dorsal fin. The anterior spines are much longer, giving a concave outline to the spiny part of the dorsal fin.

Consumers, albacore, and sustainable fisheries[link]

semi-cooked Albacore

A number of programs have been developed to help consumers identify and support responsible and sustainable fisheries. Perhaps the most widely accepted of these programs is that of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Several albacore fisheries have been certified as sustainable according to MSC standards, including the U.S. North and South Pacific albacore pole and line and troll fisheries ("pole and troll"), Canadian north Pacific fishery, and the New Zealand troll fishery.^[2]

The United States government's "Fishwatch" program seeks to provide consumers with accurate and timely information on U.S. seafood fisheries.^[3]

In 2010, Greenpeace International added the Albacore to its "seafood red list". "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries."^[4][5] Some groups^[who?] have urged testing and recall of older canned albacore that may have high mercury levels.^{[citation needed]}

Recent studies from the U.S. and Canada show that the albacore caught by the American albacore fishing fleet off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California have far lower mercury levels than in previous years.^[6] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises women of childbearing age and children to limit their consumption of albacore tuna ("chunk white" or "solid white" ) and tuna steaks to six ounces per week or less. However, the FDA advisory does not distinguish the albacore caught off the West Coast from albacore caught in other parts of the world.^{[citation needed]}

Supply[link]

Management and stock assessment are applied to separate stocks of albacore believed to occur in the North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian Ocean, North Atlantic and South Atlantic.

SeaChoice ranks albacore as a "best choice" for consumers, although notes some "moderate concerns" regarding the management effectiveness (in particular, no definitive assessment of the albacore stock of the Indian Ocean fishery has taken place), and "moderate concern" over the fishing stock, especially regarding the North Atlantic albacore population, which the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) considers overfished with overfishing still occurring. The southern Atlantic stock is also considered (in 2007) overfished but not currently experiencing overfishing. The North Pacific and South Pacific albacore stocks are not overfished and not experiencing overfishing.^[7]

Other species called albacore[link]

In some parts of the world, other species may be called "albacore":

• Blackfin tuna Thunnus atlanticus (albacore)
• Yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares (albacore, autumn albacore, yellowfinned albacore)
• Yellowtail amberjack Seriola lalandi (albacore)
• Kawakawa Euthynnus affinis (false albacore)
• Little tunny Euthynnus alletteratus (false albacore)

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up albacore in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikispecies has information related to: Thunnus alalunga

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thunnus alalunga

• Marine Stewardship Council (international independent certification of sustainable fisheries)
• American Albacore Fishing Association (MSC certified Pacific U.S. "pole & troll" albacore)
• Wild Pacific Albacore
• NOAA Fishwatch
• American Fishermens Research Foundation
• Western Fishboat Owners Association
• albatuna.com
• TIME MAGAZINE: The Danger of Not Eating Tuna
• Etymology of "albacore"
• FishBase info for albacore
• Communicating FDA advice on consumption of albacore tuna.
• Albacore by R. Michael Laurs and Ronald C. Dotson, 1992, retrieved January 19, 2006.

v t e Tuna True tuna Tuna Thunnus Albacore Bigeye tuna Atlantic bluefin tuna Blackfin tuna Longtail tuna Southern bluefin tuna Pacific bluefin tuna Yellowfin tuna Other tuna Scombridae Black skipjack tuna Bullet tuna Dogtooth tuna Frigate tuna Mackerel tuna Leaping bonito Little tunny Skipjack tuna Slender tuna Auxis Fishing and fisheries Almadraba US bluefin tuna industry As food Botargo Chūtoro Katsuobushi Kezuriki Mojama Tekkadon Tuna casserole Tuna fish sandwich Tuna pot Tuna salad Other Dolphin friendly tuna Scombroid food poisoning Tuna Fishing (painting) Tunagate Organisations ICCAT International Seafood Sustainability Foundation#Practices Nauru Agreement Regional Fisheries Management Organisation Predator fish billfish mackerel salmon shark tuna Forage fish anchovy herring menhaden sardine sprat Demersal fish cod flatfish ray

v t e Principal commercial fishery species groups Wild Large pelagic fish Mackerel Salmon Shark Swordfish Tuna albacore bigeye Atlantic bluefin Pacific bluefin southern bluefin skipjack yellowfin Forage fish Anchovy Capelin Herring Ilish Menhaden Sardines Shad Demersal fish Catfish Cod Atlantic Pacific Flatfish flounder halibut plaice sole turbot Haddock Mullet Orange roughy Pollock Smelt-whitings Toothfish Freshwater fish Carp Sturgeon Tilapia Trout Other wild fish Eel Whitebait more... Crustaceans Crab Krill Lobster Shrimp and prawn more... Molluscs Abalone Mussels Octopus Oysters Scallops Squid more... Echinoderms Sea cucumbers Sea urchin more... Farmed Carp bighead common crucian grass silver Catfish Freshwater prawns Mussels Oysters Salmon Atlantic salmon trout coho chinook Scallops Seaweed Shrimp Tilapia Commercial fishing World fish production Fishing topics Fisheries glossary

Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco performing at the Ancienne Belgique in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Angela Marie DiFranco
Born	(1970-09-23) September 23, 1970 (age 41) Buffalo, New York
Genres	Folk rock, indie, alternative
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Guitar, bass guitar, tenor guitar, vocals, percussion, piano
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Righteous Babe
Website	righteousbabe.com

Ani DiFranco ( /ˈɑːniː/; born Angela Maria DiFranco on September 23, 1970) is an American singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums,^[1] and is widely considered a feminist icon.^[2][3][4]

Biography[link]

DiFranco was born in Buffalo, New York,^[5] to Elizabeth and Dante DiFranco, who had met while attending MIT.^[6][7] She started playing Beatles covers at local bars and busking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum,^[8] at the age of nine.

In 1989, DiFranco started her own record company, Righteous Records.^[1] Early in her career DiFranco worked with manager Dale Anderson, a writer for the Buffalo News, who started another record label called Hot Wings Records, after the two parted ways, that released similar sounding material. Her self-titled debut album was issued on the label in the winter of 1990. Later, she relocated to New York City, where she took poetry classes at The New School and toured vigorously for the next 15 years, essentially pausing briefly only to record albums.

Righteous Records was renamed Righteous Babe Records in 1994.

In 1998, DiFranco's drummer, Andy Stochansky, left the band to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Their rapport during live shows is showcased on the 1997 album Living in Clip.

In 2002 her rendition of Greg Brown's "The Poet Game" appeared on Going Driftless: An Artists' Tribute to Greg Brown.

Her father died early in the summer of 2004.^[9] In July 2005, DiFranco developed tendonitis and took a hiatus from touring. Her 2005 tour concluded with an appearance at the FloydFest World Music and Genre Crossover festival in Floyd, Virginia. She returned to touring in late April 2006, including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28 and a performance at the Calgary Folk Music Festival on July 30, 2006.

In 2005 she collaborated with fellow folk singer Dar Williams on "Comfortably Numb", a Pink Floyd cover song from Williams' album My Better Self.

DiFranco's album Reprieve was released on August 8, 2006. It was previously leaked on iTunes for several hours around July 1, 2006, due to an error saying it was released in 2002.^[10] DiFranco performed with Cyndi Lauper on "Sisters of Avalon", a track from Lauper's 2005 collection The Body Acoustic.

On September 11, 2007, she released the first retrospective of her career, titled Canon and for the first time, a collection of poetry in a book titled Verses.

Red Letter Year was released on September 30, 2008. Says DiFranco about the album:

"When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon. Now I feel like I’m in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano co-produced this record – my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that’s because of him. I’ve got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more."^[11]

DiFranco performed a live webcast from Ex'pression College for Digital Arts^[12] on June 24, 2010. She debuted a selection of new material, including the songs "Which Side Are You On?" (a reworking of the Florence Reece song with different lyrics penned by DiFranco), "Life Boat", "Unworry", "Promiscuity", "Splinter", "Amendment", "See See..." and "Hearse".

In 2010, DiFranco sued hip-hop horrorcore artist Necro for sampling her song, "Used to You" in a response track called "The Asshole Anthem" on his DIE! album. Due to the lawsuit, the album was reissued without the track.^[13]

She has continued touring through 2011. As of 2008 her backing band consists of Todd Sickafoose on upright bass, Allison Miller on drums, and Mike Dillon on percussion and vibes. DiFranco returned to the Calgary Folk Music Festival in July 2008.

She is also a poet and has been featured on Def Jam's poetry hour.

DiFranco released an album of new material on January 17, 2012, titled "¿Which Side Are You On?". It includes collaborations with Pete Seeger, Ivan Neville, Cyril Neville, Skerik, Adam Levy, Righteous Babe recording artist Anaïs Mitchell, CC Adcock, and a host of New Orleans-based horn players known for their work in such outfits as Galactic, Bonerama, and Rebirth Brass Band.

She and her husband currently reside in New Orleans.^[14][15]

Ani DiFranco, RZA, and Steve Albini at
The New Yorker festival in September 2005.

Relationships[link]

DiFranco identifies herself as bisexual,^[16][17] and has written songs about love and sex with women and men. She addressed the controversy about her sexuality with the song "In or Out". In 1998, she married sound engineer Andrew Gilchrist in a Unitarian Universalist service in Canada, overseen by folk singer Utah Phillips.^{[citation needed]} DiFranco and Gilchrist divorced five years later.

DiFranco gave birth to a daughter, Petah Lucia DiFranco Napolitano,^[18] at her Buffalo home on January 20, 2007. She married the child's father Mike Napolitano,^[19] also her regular producer, in 2009.

Critical reception[link]

DiFranco has been a critical darling for much of her career, if not always a commercial one, with a career album average of 72 on Metacritic.^[20] DiFranco has been toasted by the Buffalo News as the "Buffalo's leading lady of rock music." The News further said:

"Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility."^[21]

Starting in 2003, DiFranco was nominated four consecutive times for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards, winning in 2004, for Evolve.

On July 21, 2006, DiFranco received the "Woman of Courage Award"^[22] at the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit in Albany, New York. Past winners have included singer and actress Barbra Streisand and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. DiFranco is one of the first musicians to receive the award, given each year to a woman who has set herself apart by her contributions to the feminist movement.

Music[link]

Guitar style and collaborations[link]

DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style,^[23][24] rapid fingerpicking and many alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often include alliteration, metaphor, word play and a more or less gentle irony, have also received praise for their sophistication.

Although DiFranco's music has been classified as both folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums. DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists including musician Prince, who recorded two songs with DiFranco in 1999 ("Providence" on her To the Teeth album, and "I Love U, but I Don't Trust U Anymore" on Prince's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album); folk musician and social activist Utah Phillips (on The Past Didn't Go Anywhere in 1996 and Fellow Workers in 1999); funk and soul jazz musician Maceo Parker; and rapper Corey Parker. She has used a variety of instruments and styles: brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998's Little Plastic Castle; a simple walking bass in her 1997 cover of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's "Wishin' and Hopin'"; strings on the 1997 live album Living in Clip and 2004's Knuckle Down; and electronics and synthesisers in 1999's To the Teeth and 2006's Reprieve. Samples from the track "Coming Up" were used by DJ Spooky in his album Live Without Dead Time, produced for AdBusters Magazine in 2003.

DiFranco herself noted that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar – that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority."^[25]

Lyrics, politics and religion[link]

Although much of DiFranco's material is autobiographical, it is often also strongly political. Many of her songs are concerned with contemporary social issues such as racism, sexism, sexual abuse, homophobia, reproductive rights, poverty, and war. In 2008, she donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 Tsunami. The combination of personal and political is partially responsible for DiFranco's early popularity among politically active college students, particularly those of the left wing, some of whom set up fan pages on the web to document DiFranco's career as early as 1994. DiFranco's rapid rise in popularity in the mid-1990s was fueled mostly by personal contact and word of mouth rather than mainstream media.^{[citation needed]}

DiFranco has expressed political views outside of her music. During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, she actively supported and voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.^[26][27][28] She supported Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 and 2008 Democratic primaries. Kucinich appeared with her at a number of concerts across the country during both primary seasons.^[29][30] DiFranco went on to perform at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Early in her career, DiFranco considered herself an atheist. On the subject of religion, DiFranco has stated:

"Well, I'm not a religious person myself. I'm an atheist. I think religion serves a lot of different purposes in people's lives, and I can recognize the value of that, you know, the value of ceremony, the value of community, or even just having a forum to get together and talk about ideas, about morals – that's a cool concept. But then, of course, institutional religions are so problematic."^[31]

Since becoming a mother and releasing her Red Letter Year album in 2009, DiFranco has talked in concert about "finding religion".^{[citation needed]} At concerts she has stated that her song "The Atom" is an "alternative Christian proposal". In "The Atom" she sings ”Oh holy is the atom/ The truly intelligent design/ To which all of evolution/ Is graciously aligned.” In Reno in 2008 prior to singing "The Atom", she said "I've kind of gotten religion lately, I took a sweet religion, one I am sort of familiar with and sprayed a can of patriarchy-off and this is what I came up with."^{[citation needed]}

Label independence[link]

DiFranco was one of the first independent artists to own her own label, which has allowed her a considerable degree of creative freedom over the years, including, for example, providing all instrumentals and vocals and recording the album herself at her home on an analog 8-track reel to reel, and handling much of the artwork and packaging design for her 2004 album Educated Guess.^[32] She has referenced this independence from major labels in song more than once, including "The Million You Never Made" (Not A Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label head-hunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label.

DiFranco has occasionally joined with Prince in discussing publicly the problems associated with major record companies. Righteous Babe Records employs a number of people in her hometown of Buffalo. In a 1997 open letter to Ms. magazine^[33] she expressed displeasure that what she considers a way to ensure her own artistic freedom was seen by others solely in terms of its financial success.

[edit] Discography

Studio albums[link]

	"Napoleon" noicon from Dilate
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

• 1990 – Ani DiFranco
• 1991 – Not So Soft
• 1992 – Imperfectly
• 1993 – Puddle Dive
• 1994 – Out of Range
• 1995 – Not a Pretty Girl
• 1996 – Dilate
• 1998 – Little Plastic Castle
• 1999 – Up Up Up Up Up Up
• 1999 – To the Teeth
• 2001 – Revelling/Reckoning
• 2003 – Evolve
• 2004 – Educated Guess
• 2005 – Knuckle Down
• 2006 – Reprieve
• 2008 – Red Letter Year
• 2012 - ¿Which Side Are You On?

Compilations[link]

• 1993 – Like I Said: Songs 1990–91^[34]
• 2007 – Canon

Live albums[link]

• 1994 – An Acoustic Evening With
• 1994 – Women in (E)motion (German Import)
• 1997 – Living in Clip
• 2002 – So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
• 2004 – Atlanta – 10.9.03 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2004 – Sacramento – 10.25.03 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2004 – Portland – 4.7.04 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2005 – Boston – 11.16.03 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2005 – Chicago – 1.17.04 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2005 – Madison – 1.25.04 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2005 – Rome – 11.15.04 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2006 – Carnegie Hall – 4.6.02 (Official Bootleg series – available in stores)
• 2007 – Boston – 11.10.06 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2008 – Hamburg – 10.18.07 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2009 – Saratoga, CA – 9.18.06 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2009 – Chicago – 9.22.07 (Official Bootleg series)
• 2010 – Live at Bull Moose Music (Limited edition)^[35]

EPs[link]

• 1996 – More Joy, Less Shame
• 1999 – Little Plastic Remixes (limited distribution)
• 2000 – Swing Set

Demos[link]

• 1989 – Demo tape (unreleased)

Videos[link]

• 2002 – Render: Spanning Time with Ani DiFranco
• 2004 – Trust
• 2008 – Live at Babeville

Poetry[link]

• 2004 – "Self-evident: poesie e disegni"
• 2007 – Verses

Other contributions[link]

• 2004 – WFUV: City Folk Live VII – "Bliss Like This"
• 2006 – Jason Karaban – "Doomed to Make Choices"
• 2008 – The City That Care Forgot – Contributed backing vocals to the title track of Dr. John's 2008 album.
• 2009 – Jason Karaban – "Sobriety Kills"
• 2010 – Anais Mitchell – "Hadestown"
• 2011 – Twilight Singers – "Blackbird and the Fox"
• 2011 – Every Mother Counts – "Present/Infant" (Remix)

See also[link]

• Righteous Babe Records
• Category:Righteous Babe artists

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ani DiFranco

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ani DiFranco

• The Righteous Babe homepage
• Ani DiFranco at the Internet Movie Database
• Ani DiFranco discography at MusicBrainz
• Ani DiFranco at Rolling Stone
• Works by or about Ani DiFranco in libraries (WorldCat catalog)