Another Bottom Trawling Article

[Infusoria]

Excuse my ignorance but what is 'tilapia'? Is it a shrimp?

 

[erich orser]

Tilapia is a tropical fish that can be effectively aquacultured, which is what a friend of mine with land in the San Luis Valley told me they're doing up at that lofty altitude. Considering how cold the Rockies get, i can only assume that they're doing it indoors! It's rather tasty.

Erich

 

[rvangeld]

I actually don't eat seafood. Well, Tuna on the odd occasion, but basically that's it. Unfortunately my shopping habits will not make a difference.
I do agree with Steve that apathy and money are the keys, but I kinda look at them a little differently. I think people in a general sense care about the environment, they don't want to destroy the oceans through bottom-trawling. They probably don't know or feel they cannot afford to care. 80% of the worlds population lives in poverty. We have 6 billion people on this planet that we have to clothe, feed and provide shelter. In Thailand they used (still do?) to use dynamite to catch fish as it was far more effective than trawling! How insane is that?! Coral reefs were being blown apart to catch fish. I think people are far more pre-occupied with getting dinner on the table than where it came from. I am NOT one of these - I just like to point that out. We can argue how can people ignore what is going on, but if you ask the everyday person (in developed countries) what they care about it is usually health, education and their personal chequebook that occupies most of their time. The only way to get bottom trawling banned is to get the pollies to care. The only way the pollies are going to care is if people care. The only way to make people care is ? Actually, I have no idea. If I did I would probably be in great demand for pollies PR services.
I definately endorse Steve's stance on one person making a difference through the signature or supermarket stance. By setting examples we can possibly influence those around us. I'm afraid it will take too long to change enough habits to save species. We must keep the issue in the public eye. The media is powerful and influential. To change a mass of habits, you need to appeal to the masses. However, we just don't want to be 'another environmental problem'. Any thoughts would be great.

 

[rvangeld]

Oh, by the way, I am in the School of Aquaculture and we focus on salmon, trout, greenback flounder, seahorses..... There is a big stigma against farmed fish. People will eat beef, lamb and chicken. All high denisity farming, yet as soon as you go to the water, fish should be wild. Go figure! People want their fish freshly caught, yet strangely they don't care how it was caught.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

It's a short reference to fisheries impacts on the news; sad that it has to come from American scientists working in NZ, rather than from the so-called New Zealand scientists (effectively gagged from making any-such statement). It's about time!!

The disturbing thing is that the Kermadec region is probably one of the least-fished regions in NZ waters!!

Thankfully, because it is an international issue, and because American scientists aren't answerable to the NZ fishing industry, we might see something more substantial (as in imagery, more information, examples and eventually a publication) soon.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/550021?format=html

 

[n82rboy]

Indeed, a small group of crazy individuals that think they can change the world, usually do.

Yesyesyes..

 

[chrono_war01]

As a CHINESE, we like our fish freshly caught, but since farmed fish and all the other things we eat are cheaper....we eat all the farmed stuff.

But then again....DOWN WITH BOTTOM TRAWLING!

 

[[email protected]]

Oh, by the way, I am in the School of Aquaculture and we focus on salmon, trout, greenback flounder, seahorses..... There is a big stigma against farmed fish. People will eat beef, lamb and chicken. All high denisity farming, yet as soon as you go to the water, fish should be wild. Go figure! People want their fish freshly caught, yet strangely they don't care how it was caught.

Maybe if the aquaculture industry was

1) more involved with closed containment tanks on land, instead of disease, sewage and parasite spreading net pens in the ocean that destroy native species (eg. farmed Atlantic salmon infecting native Pacific salmon with sea lice)

2) focussed on fish like carp and tilapia that eat a vegetarian diet, instead of trawling up coarse fish in Chile, grinding them to fishmeal, and feeding the fishmeal to farmed Atlantic salmon in BC or Scotland or wherever;

people wouldn't have such a negative view of it??

Just a suggestion....

You can't compare beef, lamb and chicken to farmed salmon. Salmon are carnivores. It is inherently wasteful and ineficient to raise farmed fish on a diet of trawled wild fish.There's not much of a market for ranch-raised tiger, bear, or wolf is there?

 

[Gaetan P.]

Well put!!!

 

[rvangeld]

Number one - just because I am with aquaculture does not mean I endorse its practices.
Number two - okay so we move the fish to land. The land required to support a farm would be huge. So which do we choose to destroy - the land or water environment? You would still get disease, sewage and parasites because of the nature of the beast. I do all my experiemnts on a land based facility and it is not physically possible to have a disease free system. I should know as I work on disease. There will always be sewage and it depends on the country's goverment and their legislation that dicatates if and how the sewage is to be treated. The difference would be if it was moved to land, the sewage would be concentrated into one area.
Number three - yes using other species would be a great idea, except for one thing - there has to be a market for it. One area of research we do here is to look at alternative feeds for salmon and trout like soy, lupin and other plant based feeds.
We are all working here to try and make better practice out of aquaculture. But as long as there are billions of mouths to feed we need aquaculture. Without it the seas would be dead, we would over fish to the point where we have nothing left.
Instead of whinging at the problem, why don't people become part of the solution. Aquaculture is not perfect, not by a long shot. We have farmers that are only interested in profit, governements that don't care about environmental impact and scientists that are trying to make compromises and solutions.
Do you want to eat fish or not?
And yes chicken and cows and pigs are all herbivores. Their food comes from the land which is intensively farmed and stripped of nurtrients, turned over and eroded by hoofed animals. Australia has been in drought for over 10 years. Our once fertile soil has been stripped bare by over farming and lack of water. We destroy the earth in so many ways it is sad. Whether we are on the land or in water we need to respect and nuture our environment.
Its no small issue and I don't think it should be treated as such.