Reports of progress in scaling back large-scale industrial fishing on the high seas is a band-aid on a sliced aorta in the neck, the patient, and the oceans, are still moving rapidly towards extremis. Major fisheries throughout the world are under severe pressure and half-measures just won't do it anymore. Industrial and commercial fishing in international waters must be halted, the industry must be stabbed in the heart, if the oceans are to heal and fish stocks are given a reprieve to recover in sufficient numbers to even consider limited fishing.
Contemplating the cascading tide of events from the total collapse of major fisheries is beyond the ability of every human brain or computer model to predict with any certainty, and anyone who postulates events based on this eventuality is running a fool's errand. Only one thing can be said with certainty, billions of humans will die. The Global High Seas Marine Preserve, a non-profit dedicated to saving the oceans, believes a two-pronged campaign must be mounted; strongly encouraging consumption of sustainable seafood and a complete halt to industrial harvesting of marine life in international waters.
The following article by Danny Quintana, founder of Global High Seas Marine Preserve, goes into detail the issue of halting industrial fishing.
Each day massive trawlers are out in international waters with nets that are so large they can fit two 747s. These killing machines are not "fishing." They are emptying out the oceans of all life. If the trawlers capture non-targeted species called "by-catch," these fish are just killed and thrown back into the waters. These destructive practices have resulted in smaller fish, and the collapse of fisheries worldwide. Since 1970 have of the wildlife in the oceans has been killed off.
These destructive practices of industrial fishing are going to end. Either nations will join together like was done at the turn of the last century and international laws were passed to save whales; or the wildlife in the oceans will be killed off. We can volunteer and stop the destruction of the fisheries by banning industrial fishing. The alternative is let a tiny handful of rich companies from ten countries kill off all of the wildlife in the oceans.
Who are these companies? Where are they from and how much damage are these massive trawlers doing to the oceans? The European Union, the United States, China, Japan and Russia are the biggest fish killers. Without tax subsidies from their governments these ships would not be profitable. The only question is will humans step up and save our brothers and sisters in the oceans? Or are we going to allow a handful of very greedy individuals to kill off the oceans' creatures?
It is a moral question. Clearly not all humans have the same value for life. In some Asian nations there are people but few animals. Japan is modern beyond belief. The cities are clean, their computers, autos and bright lights remind us they are an economic superpower. But they are one giant city with people who work from sunrise to sunset chasing money and not finding happiness. The Japanese are a sea power and would kill whales in their small wooden boats near their shores. Today, they claim a cultural right to kill whales. Now that is all well and good but if that is the reality then only hunt whales in small wooden boats next to their shores using ancient technology. This "cultural right" that the Japanese claim to travel anywhere on this tiny planet in their huge fishing vessels to slaughter fish and whales has to change.
Europe has people, cars, trains, fine wine and great food. Their wildlife is gone. Their great forests were cut for housing, ships in a bygone era and other purposes. The wild herds of antiquity have been killed off or fenced in to tiny areas. The Europeans once fished off their shores but have so completely decimated their fisheries, they now travel to the shores of developing nations and are killing off their source of protein, their fish.
Less than one percent of the world's fisherman from ten nations, using massive ships with nets and long lines that go out for miles and miles, are killing all life in the oceans. This is going to end. It is going to end because very soon these ten nations, all rich industrial powers are going to kill off the wild fish. Very soon Bluefin tuna will be extinct. Today 90 percent of the predators in the oceans have been killed. Sharks are being killed faster than they can reproduce and their slaughter is destroying the food chains- all for the Chinese delicacy of "shark fin soup".
When the last shark is killed, when the last Bluefin tuna is slaughtered so a rich Japanese businessman can enjoy his last tasted of sushi, when the last whale dies from plastic poison or a harpoon or a net, when the last sea turtle and dolphin and sea bird dies- we will be bringing about our own extinction.
We need to hold an international conference on saving the wildlife in the oceans by banning industrial commercial fishing. These creatures are being killed so people in rich countries can have a food choice. These creatures are not being killed because we are hungry. People in rich countries have many sources of protein. We don't need to kill off our water creatures just because we can.
We once came together to save the whales from certain destruction as it was obvious that the hunting practices of whaling ships of the 1800s were going to bring about extinction. The whaling commissions and international standards, the rule of law saved the whales. We now need to do the same thing with the fisheries. The data is out there for all to see. The small handful of companies and very rich individuals know exactly what they are doing. There is no mystery or controversy on whether or not the fisheries are collapsing, the whales are dying, the sharks are being killed off. We know it is happening.
For media interviews with Danny Quintana contact E.B. GO Vision Media at c@EBGOinc.com