We're saved - we found more fish!

[GliderGuider]

Arctic fishing moratorium needed, scientists say
Loss of permanent sea ice making industrial fishing viable for first time

A group of more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries has called for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic until more research can be completed on waters that were once covered by ice year-round.

The scientists said the loss of permanent sea ice has opened up as much as 40 per cent of the Central Arctic Ocean during recent summers, making industrial fishing viable for the first time.

"The ability to fish is not the same as having the scientific information and management regimes needed for a well-managed fishery," the scientists said in an open letter released Sunday by the U.S.-based Pew Environment Group.

"in the absence of this scientific data and a robust management system, depletion of fishery resources and damage to other components of the ecosystem are likely to result if fisheries commence."

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Quick, catch as many as you can before they're all gone !

(Repeated pretty much verbatim at the board meetings of every fishery company ... )

[msongs]

2. actually it is people who eat fish that are responsible - fish companies just fill a want (it is NOT

a need, humans have NO NEED to actually eat fish)

[Nihil]

5. Actually it is industrial fishing that is responsible (or, more accurately, irresponsible)

> fish companies just fill a want (it is NOT a need, humans have NO NEED to actually eat fish)

FWIW, humans on the coast - especially on small islands - do have a NEED to actually eat fish.

Regardless of that detail, the real damage is being caused by the appallingly large-scale factory
ships that are continuously draining the entire marine biosphere in search of profit, not the
odd fishing boat that is feeding the families in the village.

Like everything else, the profit-merchants fastened their suckers onto yet another aspect
of life and turned it into a bland "resource" - something to be exploited in order to maximise
the "Net Profit" cell at the bottom of their spreadsheet.

Yes, the desire of *some* humans for particular types of food renders them ripe targets
for the marketeers (and thus the exploiters). As a prime example, all you have to do is to
convince the gullible that paying a phenomenally high price for an over-hyped piece of raw fish
from a particular species is "cool" and not only do your profits rocket but the more obscure
bits of "by-catch" (horrible word) provide an opening to repeat the process once the peak of
the initial species has been passed.

Put a maximum limit on the size of fishing vessel (i.e., vessel permitted to land fish) and
you will have an instant reduction in the devastation caused by fishing.

But that would be politically "unappealing" so nothing will happen until the seas are dead.

[Odin2005]

3. *FACEPALM*

Sometimes I wish there was a world government and I were dictator. *SIGH*

[RobertEarl]

4. Teeming with fish

Not a term used very widely anymore.

The old timers I talked to used that term when talking about their fishing adventures. Kids these days may never even have a clue what the waters used to be like.