06 Jun How to wipe out fish stocks
Oceans2012, a coalition lobbying to ensure that the 2012 reform of the European Union Common Fisheries Policy “stops overfishing, ends destructive fishing practices and delivers fair and equitable use of healthy fish stocks,” has produced a slick video to back up its campaign:
Some factoids:
Typically, shrimp trawlers throw 80 to 90 percent of the marine creatures caught back overboard. This means that for one kilo of shrimp, up to nine kilos of other marine wildlife is caught and wasted….
Many of the farmed fish are carnivorous. That is, they eat other smaller fish. Five kilos of captured wild fish are needed to produce one kilo of farm-reared salmon. Aquaculture just converts low value small fish into higher value bigger ones. It does not create more fish
And this one, which I paraphrase:
- In 2008, scientists recommended a catch limit for blue fin tuna: 10,000 tons.
- Fishing nations set the limit three times higher: 29,500 tons.
- Fishermen actually caught six times as much: 61,000 tons.
As is often the case with environmental pieces, the warnings are clear and persuasive, the practical solutions conspicuously absent.
H/T: Nathan Yau