Buzz from the community
In The Guardian on Tuesday, George Monbiot took a critical look at the EU’s fishing policies in the wake of fishermen protests and strikes against high oil prices. In his view, high oil prices may be the only thing saving collapsing fish populations from unsustainable fishing quotas. He writes:
“The unsustainable quotas set on the US Pacific seaboard won't be met this year, because the price of oil is rising faster than the price of fish.”
All right, Monbiot, we get it. But do you have to be so wryly unsympathetic? Are statements like…
“The fishermen warn that if something isn't done to help them, thousands could be forced to scrap their boats and hang up their nets. It's an appalling prospect, which we should greet with heartfelt indifference”
…really called for? He’s eager to vilify both the fishing industry and the government that subsidizes it, leaving the fish as the only good guys.
I understand that commercial fishing—especially trawling, which rips up the sea floor—is unsustainable the way it is being conducted now. And I understand that governments have a key role in changing those practices. But what I don’t understand is how the loss of jobs in a highly skilled profession such as fishing could be a good thing.
Maybe I’ve been watching too much “Deadliest Catch” lately, but fishermen, though perhaps a little rough around the edges, do a job most people in the world couldn’t do. If we genuinely need to curb fishing (for the time being I’ll ignore, as Monbiot does, any effect that may have on food supplies), why not do so in a way that puts skilled fishermen to work elsewhere?
And that, folks, brings me to my hare-brained scheme of the day. Here’s the plan:
- Use the EU government subsidies to make fuel efficiency improvements to the existing trawling fleet. Some possibilities include wind power, garbage power, and human power.
- Convert the trawling equipment to trash gleaning equipment. If nets can collect fish and seafood from the ocean floor, why can’t they collect plastic bags and bottles from the ocean’s surface?
- Send those skilled fishermen out to harvest trash. You’ve all heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, right? (Check out some images.) Well, these European fishermen would mostly be trawling in the North Atlantic, and—though it’s not as vast—there’s a gyre there, too. (see below)
- Use the trash to fuel all sorts of industries. I’m convinced (though I haven’t figured out how yet) that trash will be the next harvestable resource. It’s got to be good for more than just waste to energy…we may just have to get a little bit dirty first.
Garbage patches: the oceans' next pot of gold?
Yes, there are big holes in this fishing net. While I'm confident that one day trash will be just as lucrative as seafood, I'll grant that it make take some time. And if we trawl for garbage instead of fish, will we be eating trash and chips? Old tire fillets? Plastic sushi? Or maybe, if PETA gets it way, we’ll be eating test-tube fish.
So, maybe I’m advocating, just a little bit, a freegan economy. But hey, it’s got to be better than the alternatives (subsidizing the fishing industry until it completely depletes fish populations; halting fishing and putting fishermen out of jobs).
Come on, I know there have to be other hare-brained schemes out there…let me hear what you’ve got!
Image from Flickr user elsie esq. shared with a Creative Commons Attribution License.
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