So long and thanks for all the fish

[ensho]

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-11-17-so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish


There was some hope recently that the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the organization charged with managing the Atlantic tuna fishery, would listen to its own scientists and ban commercial Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing so that the species might survive. Nope:

Environmentalists on Sunday warned bluefin tuna was on its way to extinction after a international meeting of fishery ministry officials trimmed catch quotas but upheld continued hauls of the fish, prized in sushi dishes.

“After meeting for 10 days, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) refused to end fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna,” the Pew Environment Group, a U.S. organization that sat on in the meeting in Recife, Brazil, said in a statement.

“Instead, ICCAT set the catch limit for bluefin, considered the most valuable fish in the sea, at 13,500 tons,” it said.

...Yearly quotas set up by ICCAT are systematically exceeded by industrial fleets. That and illegal fishing have caused the population to decline by more than 85 percent in the eastern Atlantic and by more than 90 percent in the western Atlantic.

ICCAT “has failed once again to act beyond the interests of a few tuna fishing and farming industries,” Greenpeace said in a statement. “Again it has approved recommendations which fail to ensure the recovery of Atlantic bluefin tuna.”
-snip-
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the Barons win again

[Teaser]

1. actually, this position represents an improvement of sorts

probably not enough to save the tuna, but it's a kind of meh-level progress.

[redqueen]

2. So sad...

nothing matters but profit.

[gratuitous]

4. Profit and then the bailout, of course

Don't forget the bailout. Never forget the bailout. Because nobody could have foreseen that chronic overfishing would lead to a species extinction, and now the large food processing concerns need a bailout to replace their lost revenues.

[Johonny]

8. Profit doesn't even matter

Fishing them til they're gone isn't a very good long term economic strategy to have a profit.

[redqueen]

9. I don't believe the words 'long term' enter into it.

It seems that all that is considered is the short-term gain. There are exceptions but IMO this does seem to be the rule.

[lapfog_1]

3. Now, if only I was an extra-terrestrial dolphin preparing to depart

Or a white lab mouse, performing intricate experiments on humans... how subtle.

Oh well, I guess I'll have a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster and chill. Perhaps hope for a Vogon Constructor fleet to happen by.

[doodadem]

6. Don't forget your towel!

[nashville_brook]

5. but, but... business interests are incapable of acting against their long-term self-interest...

it must be someone else taking the fish.

[havocmom]

7. Liberals?

They get blamed for everything else ;)

[nashville_brook]

10. it's those damn near-vegetarian who eat fish but not meat.

scoundrels!

seriously tho...i grew up fishing around the coast of Central Florida, and now that i've returned and taken up the hobby again, I'm amazed at the difference in the quality of fish i'm catching. They're all babies.