Disturbing but hardly surprising news as our species (that'd be humans) continues to make the case we're just too dumb and awful to live.
Today's ecological stupidity: overfishing, which is now starving top of the food chain predators like dolphins, sharks and even seabirds.
From the Canadian Press story:
"This is the first time that we're seeing a worldwide trend that more and more large animals are going hungry," Margot Stiles, a marine biologist at Oceana and the author of the report, said from Washington, D.C.
More here. (Toronto Star)
Aside from the appalling ethics involved in unnecessarily wiping out whole species to feed our overpopulated and greedy selves, there's the self-preservation question: when we turn oceanic food chains upside down, you can bet there will be consequences for us. One small example: bluefin tuna, which feed on herring, are in trouble enough just from overfishing. And now we're making sure they starve? Kiss your sashimi goodbye, buddy.
A bigger worry: if we can't manage our fishing now before the crisis hits, what's going to happen when we truly do start to run out of traditional commercially-caught fish? Keep fishing until everything's gone?
That does not sound to me like a wise plan. But it does sound disturbingly plausible.
I'm no expert but it seems to me the solution lies in aggressively-enforced international treaties limiting fish harvests and the generous establishment of protected areas to give wildlife a chance to recover from our predation. Basically like national parks, but international and in the oceans.
Also, aggressively shifting to growing/raising food locally as much as is possible/reasonable would seem to be sensible.
From the Canadian Press story:
"This is the first time that we're seeing a worldwide trend that more and more large animals are going hungry," Margot Stiles, a marine biologist at Oceana and the author of the report, said from Washington, D.C.
More here. (Toronto Star)
Aside from the appalling ethics involved in unnecessarily wiping out whole species to feed our overpopulated and greedy selves, there's the self-preservation question: when we turn oceanic food chains upside down, you can bet there will be consequences for us. One small example: bluefin tuna, which feed on herring, are in trouble enough just from overfishing. And now we're making sure they starve? Kiss your sashimi goodbye, buddy.
A bigger worry: if we can't manage our fishing now before the crisis hits, what's going to happen when we truly do start to run out of traditional commercially-caught fish? Keep fishing until everything's gone?
That does not sound to me like a wise plan. But it does sound disturbingly plausible.
I'm no expert but it seems to me the solution lies in aggressively-enforced international treaties limiting fish harvests and the generous establishment of protected areas to give wildlife a chance to recover from our predation. Basically like national parks, but international and in the oceans.
Also, aggressively shifting to growing/raising food locally as much as is possible/reasonable would seem to be sensible.
And not acting like out-of-control evolved primates with poor impulse control might be an idea too.
Forget right and wrong. Responsible management of resources--be they water, timber or fish stocks--is critical to the long-term survival of humanity. When billions of us collectively act like shoplifting 10-year olds in a very small corner store, the shop that is this planet will soon run out of inventory.
Forget right and wrong. Responsible management of resources--be they water, timber or fish stocks--is critical to the long-term survival of humanity. When billions of us collectively act like shoplifting 10-year olds in a very small corner store, the shop that is this planet will soon run out of inventory.
And I promise, this future will not be fun. Let's try for a better one.
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