Sunday, June 14, 2009

The war on fish

I'm currently watching the final episode of the BBC nature program "South Pacific" which is pretty terrifying.

Purse Seine nets are the latest in fishing technology and they can hoover up whole shoals of tuna, a hundred and fifty tonnes in one go, including the young before they have a chance to breed (and in the filming of South Pacific also a film crew).

If this goes on, there will be nothing left. Nothing.

A global tuna collapse, the Newfoundland cod bank disaster worldwide, followed by other species.

At the same time a film has been released called "The End of the Line" which has already had a major impact here in the UK.

The sandwich retailer Pret A Manger has already banned the most at risk blue fin tuna from its shops.

Not all tuna fishing is bad. But unless it is clearly labeled line caught from substainable sources I'd say don't reward this stupid, short sighted, destructive, act of vandalism.

2 comments:

Pothila said...

Three ways to catch a tuna. Pole and line, line caught and purse seine with FADs (fish attracting devices). That's from best to worst catching methods respectively and purse sein nets can catch far more than 150 tonnes, you saw that Spanish vessel in this episode that can take in 4 times as much tuna as the regulated boat that took "only" 150 tonnes. Terrifying - you better believe it. These are the most beautiful fish in the sea, flying through the water at such speeds, reduced to pulped sandwich stuffing. Keep em coming these fishy tales.

JP said...

The Spanish fleets are a real problem and what is *really* annoying is that we European tax payers are subsidising them - 48% of all fishery related funding goes to Spain.

And the fisheries policies themselves that mean that dead fish are put back in the sea is also crazy.

And then there's the trailers digging up the sea bed.....!

Line fishing must be the way forward.