Monday 31 August 2015

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #594 Demand Sustainable Fishing

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #594 Demand Sustainable Fishing


Over three-quarters of our global fish stocks are either over-exploited or fished right up to their limit. This is a rather scary fact, one which begs the question, “have we already gone too far?” Maybe we are able to recover from the damage already done, but only if we demand sustainable fishing practices, worldwide – NOW.
Everywhere, fish populations are exploited, overfished through poor practices such as trawling which takes not only huge quantities of the target fish, but also takes and kills huge quantities of non-target fish, and other sea creatures such as dolphins, turtles, marine birds and many more. These species are left to rot in the ocean. We not only kill more than we need, we use the ocean as a giant rubbish dump as well.
For a very eloquent delivery of the information you need go to http://www.marineconservation.org.au/pages/sustainable-seafood.html where you can learn about the issue and exactly what sustainable fishing practices are. Individually, we can make a difference by purchasing only what we know is caught sustainably. In Australia we have guides and apps for phones that will help us with those decisions. Maybe your country has these resources too. If we don’t stop over-fishing our resources, and continue to take from the ocean as we currently do, there will be nothing left to take. Consider the consequences when we reach that point (which will be soon).

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