Ones that didn’t get away

The End of The Line

References to there being ‘plenty of fish in the sea’, made by those who seem to think they know better than scientific fact, appear to be driving marine policy around the globe.

Personally I have no idea how many fish are in the sea, but I’m inclined to believe that there are not as many as there were 100, 50, or even 10 years ago. It is an undeniable truth that fish stocks are declining at a dangerous rate – there is a reason why Spanish trawlers no longer bother fishing the Mediterranean, and instead now travel thousands of miles to plunder the West African coastline, bribing corrupt governments as they go.

Consumers have to be made to care. Eating unsustainable fish must be made as immoral as wearing fur was a decade ago. While this must start in our own country – any restaurants in the EU, for example, serving shark fin soup should be publicly exposed and boycotted – the greater challenge will come with trying to change perspectives in the Far East, where mindless consumption of endangered species is conveniently swept under the carpet as being part of the culture.

I was appalled to learn that the “abominable” Mitsubishi Corp are encouraging over fishing of Blue Fin Tuna and storing it frozen to minus 60 C in the likely hope that as the animal becomes rarer the price they will command will be hugely inflated.