Fish Gone Scarce.
Alright, I'm daring to approach a topic many of my peers shrug aside as too absurd, too drastic, too bizarre, too unrealistic, and way too liberal (yes, I just wrote the "L" word, believe it our not). But what I have to say needs to be said…and it regards the environmental degradation on a massive scale.
If any of my readers have seen April's National Geographic, they probably noticed the picture of a dead marlin snagged in a fishing net on the cover. Some probably made a face, shrugged their shoulders, and stuck the magazine in the magazine rack next to their toilet. Others probably thought to open the magazine, look at all the different pictures of living and dead fish, then made their face, shrugged their shoulders, and placed the magazine conveniently with all the other magazines from the past year next to their toilet. But how many people actually care to realize that those few dead fish are only some of billions of fish killed each year???????
According to the National Geographic, since 1900, many species of fish have declined by nearly 90 percent. Worse than that, if current processing rates continue at nearly 100 million tons of fish each year, endangerment and eventual extinction is inevitable. Can you imagine that? the total extinction of some of your favorite fish dishes? Bluefin tuna. Yellowfin tuna. Various salmon species. Marlin. Mahi-Mahi. Shark. The list goes on, and on, and on. And it is infuriating how rapidly the populations of each of these species of fish are dropping.
Now, I want it made clear that I am not one who likes fish of any sort (except for when it is raw in various sushi rolls and sashimi). But I am a long-standing fan of freshwater fishing and especially deep sea fishing. Each year I go on a week-long trip down to Baja California in Mexico for non-stop deep sea fishing. I love the thrill of fighting to reel in fish whose size many cannot even imagine. It is so fun, but it has always been my personal resolve to throw back everything my family and close friends will not eat. I've thrown back marlin and sailfish larger than myself, and many other "sport" fish that many fishermen would definitely keep to have mounted on their wall. I do this because it makes me sick coming back to the dock after a great day of fishing and seeing lines of fish that will never be eaten, or used for anything other than decoration. It's disgusting to see, and I refuse to participate in anything like that. What's worse is the fact that most of those fish are the product of overfishing that is not legal and that hurts the future of the fish populations.
Why do governments let idiots like that do that to the environment? Because it's "economical" and there is a big profit involved. As a result, the fish populations are all dropping, regardless of what any politician says, and it is not fair to the fish, and it won't be fair to us when they're gone.
Alright, I'm daring to approach a topic many of my peers shrug aside as too absurd, too drastic, too bizarre, too unrealistic, and way too liberal (yes, I just wrote the "L" word, believe it our not). But what I have to say needs to be said…and it regards the environmental degradation on a massive scale.
If any of my readers have seen April's National Geographic, they probably noticed the picture of a dead marlin snagged in a fishing net on the cover. Some probably made a face, shrugged their shoulders, and stuck the magazine in the magazine rack next to their toilet. Others probably thought to open the magazine, look at all the different pictures of living and dead fish, then made their face, shrugged their shoulders, and placed the magazine conveniently with all the other magazines from the past year next to their toilet. But how many people actually care to realize that those few dead fish are only some of billions of fish killed each year???????
According to the National Geographic, since 1900, many species of fish have declined by nearly 90 percent. Worse than that, if current processing rates continue at nearly 100 million tons of fish each year, endangerment and eventual extinction is inevitable. Can you imagine that? the total extinction of some of your favorite fish dishes? Bluefin tuna. Yellowfin tuna. Various salmon species. Marlin. Mahi-Mahi. Shark. The list goes on, and on, and on. And it is infuriating how rapidly the populations of each of these species of fish are dropping.
Now, I want it made clear that I am not one who likes fish of any sort (except for when it is raw in various sushi rolls and sashimi). But I am a long-standing fan of freshwater fishing and especially deep sea fishing. Each year I go on a week-long trip down to Baja California in Mexico for non-stop deep sea fishing. I love the thrill of fighting to reel in fish whose size many cannot even imagine. It is so fun, but it has always been my personal resolve to throw back everything my family and close friends will not eat. I've thrown back marlin and sailfish larger than myself, and many other "sport" fish that many fishermen would definitely keep to have mounted on their wall. I do this because it makes me sick coming back to the dock after a great day of fishing and seeing lines of fish that will never be eaten, or used for anything other than decoration. It's disgusting to see, and I refuse to participate in anything like that. What's worse is the fact that most of those fish are the product of overfishing that is not legal and that hurts the future of the fish populations.
Why do governments let idiots like that do that to the environment? Because it's "economical" and there is a big profit involved. As a result, the fish populations are all dropping, regardless of what any politician says, and it is not fair to the fish, and it won't be fair to us when they're gone.
posted by dr.scholl at 16:19
1 Comments:
Wow. I guess I've never thought about that before. It's an interesting thought. It's sad because I love fish (yes, even for eating) and I also believe that they were put on the earth for our benefit, but I think that we as humans take them for granted. We take them for granted just like we do many other aspects of our world that we assume will last forever. Huh. That's really sad... well, good blog. Way to go, once again!
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