"As a film warns many species face extinction, should we stop eating fish?"
Watch out, the food police are on the prowl again - and they've got your lunchtime sandwich in their sights. This time it's tuna that has got them in a flap. And so effective has their campaign been that Julian Metcalfe, the man behind the Pret A Manger sandwich bar chain, has announced he is banning tuna from his sarnies and sushi boxes.
Such is the market dominance of Pret that other retailers are now expected to follow suit.
His decision was prompted by the hard-hitting documentary The End Of The Line, which its makers hope will do for the world's oceans what An Inconvenient Truth did for climate change - raising awareness about an imminent ecological crisis.
Now, your first response to such crusading films might be one of deep scepticism.
Life for the consumer is certainly hard enough without being lectured by handwringing eco zealots who say eating any kind of fish is akin to chopping down rainforests or shooting Giant Pandas.
And get this: it's being backed by a fishy celebrity campaign featuring the likes of Greta Scacchi and Emilia Fox stripping naked, like those models used to do to protest against the fur trade.
So what's the true story? Must we really give up our tuna sarnies? Indeed, should we give up eating fish altogether, as the more extreme campaigners seem to suggest?
In a bid to sift the facts from the flimflam, I bagged (or should I say netted?) a copy of The End Of The Line. The first thing to report is that it certainly tugs hard on the eco heartstrings.
Not since Finding Nemo has a film stirred up such empathy for creatures of the deep. It does so by mixing glorious sequences of fish swimming through the oceans with arresting film of trawlers heaving out huge, wasteful catches and of fishermen slaughtering majestic tuna.
These shots alone should get the bunny-hugging brigade on side.
It's also got a stirring, grandiose orchestral score, brainy, easy-on-the-eye scientists telling us what's what, and stunts, such as pinning down famous chefs about what fish are on their menus.Familiar shock-doc fare, perhaps, to anyone who has seen campaigning films such as Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine (about U.S. gun culture) or, indeed, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.
But there's no denying that at the heart of the film lie some frightening statistics.
These bare repeating here, for in reality they need no cinematic embellishment.In 1989, the world's wild fish reserves peaked and have been declining ever since.
Ninety per cent of large fish have been fished out and fleets are 250 per cent larger than the oceans can support sustainably.
Trawlers scour the seafloor, in a way that is the equivalent to ploughing a field seven times a year, and throw back 80 per cent of the catch dead and unwanted, to avoid exceeding quotas.
With the current rates and methods of commercial fishing, our seas could run out of fish by 2048.
Still got an appetite for that tuna sandwich?
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Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
context
And just for some context, check this tuna boat out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj4FuILXJqQ&feature=related
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Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
No tuna
Bass Grouper on my sandwich today!
What do you do though? People have to eat...FULLSTOP.
Cull a billion homosapians; move to a new world; develop chemical pills to replace that tuna sandwich.
No easy answer, but 2 and 3 above probably by 2048.
Cheers Pete
scottnofish
Posts: 1617
Date Joined: 28/08/07
yum bass groper
how did you find the taste . would be one of my fav fish
hows the arm going pete
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
Serious Subject
No hijacking Neil - serious subject....
Magnificient tasting fish - would be better too, if I had caught it (thanks Soupy)!
Arm going well. Another week in the cast then lots more exercising. Will have to get the boat out and start retraining the arm - might start on some squid then work up to fishing 200m+.
Cheers Pete
BBWA4LIFE
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 23/05/09
maybe no fish to be kept by
maybe no fish to be kept by recreational fisherman...
if u want a feed mayb the fishmarket?? just for a year or 2.. just to improve the stocks.. tricky subject tho... would like to hear everyones input.
Going Offroad In Search Of The Elusive One.....
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
recs are a drop in the ocean
recs are a drop in the ocean compared to the world wide commercial take. If recs were banned from fishing forever more from today, the same depletion would happen....too many mouths to feed is the big picture.
Cheers Pete
out wide
Posts: 1535
Date Joined: 30/12/08
True Pete
But all we have to do is stop buying tinned tuna .This would help a little you would think. I don't believe we will have to worry about no tuna in 2048 because we would be lucky if there is anything left by then .And your right there is to many people . Solution ? well nature is trying hard with swine flu , one more mutation and KA-POW .
stirlo76
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 21/04/09
Fishing stocks
(insert climb up onto my soapbox....)
Unfortunately those documentaries are generally biased just as the media is. They have chosen to out figures and statistics that suit their agenda.
True - fishing stocks have declined.We all know this by each time we go fising in the metro area lately.
False - our ocean ill run out of fish by 2048.I highly doubt it. We have a likelyhood that some more species will become endangered and some may become extinct but to the level of `run out of fish`.... i think not.
For example Western Australia has a large governent operation called Fisheries which monitors fish stocks closely. It wasn`t too long ago that we were facing a total fishing ban for certain times of the year? I think this is a good idea and that this will come in. Tighter bag limits are imminent.
I think some stocks are endangered, but in WA we are in an enviable position compared to other places in the world, thanks to our currrent fishing research and bag limits.
Globally, the world should take note of our numerous fish species and the restrictions we have put in place to protect them.
As for tuna....... if its not fresh it tastes like crap anyway, that why they put all the flavours in the bloody tins!
Just my opinion.
saltatrix
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 30/03/08
I can understand the English
I can understand the English getting involved in this. They have a miniscule recreational sea fishing fraternity and the oceans up that way are truly fucked.
The European union politics are laughable as Cod trawler fishermen arrogantly declare their rights to take the last recruitment of cod.
Much of the ocean fishing in the Northern hemisphere is ruined. Thats why the yanks have sent Jessica Meeuwig down to the University of WA to close off half of Western Australia.
Because its probably one of the few places with any fish left.
Maybe she might like to go back to America instead of working for the federal Labour party by proxy. Theyve got a big well paid job for her over there. heres heaps of work to fix anything else up around that way.
Maybe Jessica might like to go back the US and work for PEW which she probably wil after shes finished here. She can take her husband with his corrupted ideology too.
Angling tourism is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy - 90000 jobs; more than any sport; spread the word
saltatrix
Posts: 1081
Date Joined: 30/03/08
But all we have to do is
But all we have to do is stop buying tinned tuna .This would help a little you would think.
A ban on fish such as in cat foodwould be good too. Unfortunately the conservation movement wont touch that one.
Too many blue rinse pussy lovers in the world with pussys that will only eat Tuna.
Angling tourism is worth $10 billion to the Australian economy - 90000 jobs; more than any sport; spread the word
out wide
Posts: 1535
Date Joined: 30/12/08
Whats wrong
with pussy ? Is it there tuna smell you don't like or what .
Goatch
Posts: 1011
Date Joined: 03/07/07
I for one
refuse to buy any catfood that has fish in it , the moggy's are my other halfs not mine , but my missus still likes to buy them little fishy treats which is a bone of contention between us , f<>?ing Cats!!!!
Just one more cast , honest !!!