Comments on: Hoki not so sustainable

By: Drakula

Drakula — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:33:11 +0000

Hi, I think I will take Naturevisions advice and get my fangs into ” The End Of The Line “. Ialso agree with David (above) that (1) vegiterian diets are the most sustainable and(2) fish farming would take the stress off shoals of wild fish and as one of above contributers says you have to start from the bottem up and create a whole eco system. Iwould be a pure vegiterian but fish is very benificial to those with cholesterol problems which I have.
Has anyone noticed the rising price of tinned tuna and sardines it`s gone up nearly 50% in the last 2 years and most of it is imported from the other side of the world! Bloody ridiculious!

By: DavidTze

DavidTze — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:51:04 +0000

Today, about half the fish meal harvested from the oceans is used in aquaculture. The rest goes to feed land animals, mostly swine and poultry. In this regard, the first step in taking pressure off wild fisheries is to direct the full amount of sustainable fish meal to aquaculture, where it has fewer substitutes. The good news in the long term is that science is making progress in dramatically reducing or eliminating the amount of fish meal required in the diets of previously carnivorous marine fish. Virginia Tech just announced results of successful experiments in feeding cobia a no fish meal diet, for example. It will take years for full commercial applications, but at least it outlines a path, sustainable at each step along the way, to eventual seafood production of the species that humans actually relish eating. Ideally, we’d all be vegetarians, but this approach is the next best solution.

By: Drakula

Drakula — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 23:24:27 +0000

I read the above posts last night and decided to sleep on it because this is an issue that makes me so angry that I start spitting blood! What Naturevision refers to is drag-net fishing, the most deplorable of fishing practices. These bastards do their dirty work mainly in international waters,and yes it`s illegal internationaly, but who is going to enforce these laws?As Garrit rightly questions as to where our navy is, as I question where the UN is. For the past 20 years the power of the UN has been undermined by the US.(since the 1`st Iraque war) Our navy is wasting it`s time in the middle east even if it`s only a tentative involvment. I say to Bush stuff your bloody war !! We have more real enemies who are actually starving our grand children.

By: stuey

stuey — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:22:39 +0000

I think it is perfectly fine for people to post slogans from other parties on the Greens blog, we are mature enough to handle it, I imagine other parties would delete them, but we argue on the merits of policies.

By: naturevision

naturevision — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:08:16 +0000

Nice to see the Greens put something other than Climate change on the agenda… yes its a concern, but there are other environmental concerns, and other reasons people vote for the Green Party too. Some more of these posts might help balance things up… just a thought?

Anyway…
read “End of the Line - how overfishing is changing the world” for an up to date, easily digestable review of fishing around the world. You’ll think twice before hoeing into your fish&chips next time!

“The End of the Line” is a well-written, highly informative book which addresses a serious global issue.

“Imagine what people would say if a band of hunters strung a mile of net between two immense all-terrain vehicles and dragged it at speed across the plains of Africa…. left behind is a strangely bedraggled landscape resembling a harrowed field… this efficient but highly unselective way of killing animals is known as trawling… it is practiced the world over every day, from the Barents Sea in the Arctic to the shores of Antarctica and from the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the central Pacific to the temperate waters off Cape Cod.”

Overfishing is a serious problem that must be addressed. The statistics are staggering. As journalist Charles Clover shows in his global exploration of the destruction caused by overfishing, we have inflicted a crisis on the oceans in a single human lifetime greater than any yet caused by pollution.

By: big bruv

big bruv — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:28:22 +0000

No longer will I purchase anything from the Talley’s range, as far as I am concerned Peter Talley is scum.

Can anybody tell me if Talley’s have other brand names, I would not want to buy one single product from that germ.

By: kahikatea

kahikatea — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:54:28 +0000

# Gerrit Says:

>Still believe the oceans are going to be where the food will be grown in the future. Just that we need to get it further offshore and out of our harbours.

also, we need to concentrate on bottom-feeder fish. Currently most fin-fish farming in New Zealand is farming carniverous fish, which means you have to catch other fish for your farmed fish to eat. And the quantity of fish you have to catch to feed them is much greater than the quantity of fish you get from the farming.

Farming on land would never have worked if our ancestors had insisted on farming lions, and caught sheep in the wild to feed the farmed lions.

There’s currently a lot of work being done in China on farming dogfish, which are bottom feeders.

By: peasant

peasant — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:41:49 +0000

I’m no greenie but I was disgusted by the attitude of Peter Talley, in today’s Press:
Fisheries boss backs killing whales, seals

By: bjchip

bjchip — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:58:01 +0000

As the price for sustainable protein sources goes up and the availability of unsustainable sources diminishes, the market will make such offshore aquaculture feasible… maybe. The problematical nature of any effort like this in the open ocean is pretty obvious to anyone who’s spent a chunk of his life on that ocean. Money and energy would be required to make it work.

I still remember reading “diet for a small planet” back when it came out.

This Green at least, has pointed out the necessity of naval preparedness and its importance to an island nation.

respectfully
BJ

By: Gerrit

Gerrit — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:31:54 +0000

Fair point BJ, cigarettes is not the best example.

Market forces at work? Would like to see sustainable fish farming at a much larger scale. say five or six mile offshore with deep set nets. That would be ecologically exceptable one hopes. Especially as it leaves the deep sea fish stocks alone for occasion sustainable harvesting.

New Zealand will need to improve its naval and airforce fishing protection abilities as I foresee plundering of the oceans such as we see with the Patogonian Toothfish (?) stocks at the moment.

Still believe the oceans are going to be where the food will be grown in the future. Just that we need to get it further offshore and out of our harbours.