Take Action Daily - Here Fishy Fishy

Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, None

"Eat more fish" touts almost every health and fitness magazine and article. Yet stocks are disappearing fast - really fast. Some scientists predict the oceans will be devoid of sea life come 2050 (a mere 40 years). This seems extreme, however we are already seeing proof. Coastal fishing villages, who have put pressure on governments for years not to restrict their livelihood, are now now facing consequential collapse. We can see these symbolic villages rapidly falling apart. We cannot see the lack of fish found in the ocean. We do not see the horrific by-catch, suffocated, useless and wasted, thrown back, destroyed carelessly. We also don't see the cruelness of the shark hunt, where fishermen fin a shark alive and allow it to sink helplessly to the bottom of the ocean to die slowly and painfully (if anyone has seen a show on this, it may just bring you to tears. You forget your preconceived notions that it is just a shark and see it for what it is, a living, feeling creature, just trying to survive like the rest of us). Check out a good Canadian documentary called Sharkwater. www.sharkwater.com
"My big fear is that it may be too late" says Spanish marine biologist, Sergi Tudela, about the decline of the great Bluefin Tuna. "I have a very graphic image in my mind. It is of the migration of so many buffalo in the American West in the early 19th century. It was the same with the bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, a migration of a massive number of animals. And now we are witnessing the same phenomenon happening to giant bluefin tuna that we saw happen with America's buffalo. We are witnessing this right now, before our eyes." - National Geographic
As consumers, we MUST show and enforce our buying power here, - NOW. You don't have to stop eating fish entirely, but we need to slow down and be responsible and ethical. If you are dining out, take a moment to get acquainted with responsible restaurants (even if you don't plan to eat fish, it's good practice to support them because of what they support). If you are buying fish yourself for home, do a little research first. Have a list of questions to ask the clerk (find out where it is from and how it was caught, ex. if you are buying shrimp you want to make sure it is cold water shrimp)and if they can't answer, chances are you don't want to eat their fish.

for more info :

www.seachoice.org
www.oceanwise.org