What Is A Fishstick Worth?

[ThomWV]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/06/old.rockfish.ap/index.html

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A commercial fishing boat hauled in what may have been one of the oldest creatures in Alaska -- a giant rockfish estimated to be about a century old.

The 44-inch, 60-pound female shortraker rockfish was caught last month by the catcher-processor Kodiak Enterprise as it trawled for pollock 2,100 feet below the surface, south of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

The Seattle-based vessel, owned by Trident Seafoods, pulled up an estimated 75 tons of pollock and 10 bright-orange rockfish."


It was a breeding female too, full of roe.

[malaise]

1. These fuggers don't even value human life

so this poor fish had no chance. Not even respect for the aged. Ah fugg it.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. ARROGANCE!!!

we are the most ARROGANT species in the universe! we are hateful, disgusting and evil and we don't even KNOW it! the people who caught that fish - the people who clearcut forests and strip mine mountains and dam beautiful valleys and don't believe in global warming - don't even THINK about what they're doing -- and if they do they don't CARE!

son of a motherfucking bitch!! i'll get bombed for using that epithet but god, i can't think of anything else that fits!

[malaise]

3. Bingo

Human beings are offensive.

[Richard D]

4. Here's something really magnificent, old, and big . . .

. . . so let's kill it.

Really, the monkeys are out of control.

[malaise]

5. The geniune monkeys would not have

troubled the fish. It's the fugging barbarian humans.

[Richard D]

9. True

I shouldn't have insulted the monkeys.

[Squatch]

11. Do genuine monkeys not eat fish?

[Squatch]

6. How do you eliminate non-economic/endangered bycatch?

:shrug:

[wtmusic]

8. You don't

And as someone who loves to eat fish, it's just sad.

Stories like this heighten the importance of managing resources.

[ThomWV]

17. No - Its Not "Just Sad"

It is not "just sad", it is disgraceful.

I have been an off-shore fisherman for 40 years. I came within 4 oz of setting an IGFA line-class record once, I have caught and eaten just about every edible species in the Atlantic. None of that excuses this wasteful bycatch. There is no excuse sufficient for this sort of thing.

Put a fine of $10,000,000 on every fish of this sort caught and see how fast the sea food industry finds a way to avoid the bycatch. Impound the boats and sell then for scrap metal and see how fast the sea food industry finds a way to avoid bycatch. Put a bunch of crews in jail for years just for being there when the fish are caught and see how fast the sea food industry finds a way to avoid bycatch.

Demand fishing by hook and line and see how fast unwanted bycatch disappears from our vocabulary. And that leads me back to the first question, what is a fish stick worth?

By the way, as a seafood lover tell me this - how do you feel about the taste and quality of pollock caught 75 tons at a time?

[wtmusic]

18. Pollock tastes like crap

and although I agree with you sentiment it strikes me as simplistic.

Forcing fishing by hook and line would make fish unaffordable for 90% of the population.

[Squatch]

19. Not if said pollock comes in crabstick form.

Yummy.

[ThomWV]

20. Then That Tells You What A Fishstick Is Worth Doesn't It?

If this is the result then a fishstick is worth more than we can afford - isn't it?

[wtmusic]

21. More than who can afford?

Would it not be arrogant of me to favor banning net catches of less-desirable fish like pollock, because I can afford wild salmon? Fish is healthier than red meat and pollock's affordability makes fish an option for many people.

[piedmont]

23. By what measure is Pollock affordable?

The price you pay at your local supermarket doesn't account for the destruction caused by by-catch. If producing X bumber of fish fingers causes a species to go extinct, what is the real price of those fish fingers? Is it worth it?

[wtmusic]

7. About the same as a piece of whale sushi. nt

[Canuckistanian]

10. Picture of the dead fish

[bahrbearian]

12. In the 80's we used to bait our crab pots with them.

one bait supplier used to fish mainly for rock fish, I can't remember the boats name.

[lapislzi]

13. And I'm sure they would call themselves "Christians"

Those who care not a tinker's damn for their god's creation. So much for being stewards.

Disgusted.

[blm]

16. Most likely a moonie - RevMoon controls more than half this nation's fishing industry thanks

to his 5 deacde alliance with the Bush family.

Christian faithful are there only to be used by BushInc for their political agenda. Moon helped finance the ascent of many of the 'Christian' leaders - including the Left Behind propagandist, Tim LaHaye.

[dysfunctional press]

14. why all the hand-wringing over one fish...?

and why all this anger directed at..."they"...? it seems that if this is such a horrible act- then you would have to admit that anyone and everyone who has ever purchased and/or consumed pollock(the main ingredient in imitation crabmeat) is equally complicit in the treachery.

the fact that we are depleting the oceans of almost all sea creatures is a slightly different issue, and one that we are going to have to confront in the not-to-distant future. fish farming may be part of the answer- but trying to feed the ever-increasing population of the planet is going to take a lot of adjustments in the sea and on the land.

but this is just one friggin' fish...and it probably had a very full life...for a fish. get over it already.

[Squatch]

15. From Fishbase.org (re population resilience)

Resilience: Very low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (tmax=157; k=0.04)

[Javaman]

22. It reminds me of the simpsons

where mr burns builds the recycling plant and basically clears the ocean of every living thing to recycle.