by frog
This great letter appears in the April issue of Seafood New Zealand magazine. I’ll let it speak for itself:
Dear Editor
Well, the dolphin observer program has come to an end and, might I hazard to say, with some very positive results.
Our worst fears of being landed with some hairy armpit, tattooed Green who was coming on board to rip us to bits never bore fruit. Instead, we got a very pleasant young marine biologist who had just completed her degree at uni. She came on board and approached her job with a high degree of professionalism and was very open about the job that she was there to do.
She was up all hours of the day and night observing almost every shot, noted mitigation devices in operation and the interaction with the dolphins, integrated well with the crew and when not doing her work she was always quick to jump up and make a brew, roll a smoke for the boys, or throw a meal together – she did a better job than my lads, that’s for real.
The general feedback I have had from the other boats is that they had a similar experience with their observers.
I hope that the information that has been gathered will go a long way to dispel the general public’s impression that we are nothing but dolphin-murdering, albatross-munching ocean rapists. I’d like to think that some of the half-truths and lies will be replaced with some real facts, reinforcing the view that we are just normal conservation-minded Kiwis, working in an increasingly hostile environment, who do care about the seabirds and mammals we share the ocean with.
All in all, it was a very painless experience.
Rosco Dillion, Skipper, FV Frontier
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
“Our worst fears of being landed with some hairy armpit, tattooed Green who was coming on board to rip us to bits never bore fruit”
Ah ! But I was available…..
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>>dolphin-murdering, albatross-munching ocean rapists
A free tofu salad to whichever Green MP uses that phrase in parliament….
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Tattoed Green! Tattoed Green! Fantastic! What was the fellow thinking? Aren’t sailors , ocean going hard-men like himself (?) famed for their tattoes? Shouldn’t he be supportive of Greens with tattoes – real men (and women) of the world, sporting their badges of honour for all the world to see? What kinds of tattoo was he imagining Greens might wear, that gave him pause for concern?
I have a tattoo. Does that strike fear into the heart of anyone here? Is Rosco Dillon a softy of the high seas? Sheesh!
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A good letter, the only fault you can pick with it is the negative characterisation of a “green” but who can blame them , the left has certainly muddied the waters.
“She was up all hours of the day and night observing almost every shot, noted mitigation devices in operation and the interaction with the dolphins, integrated well with the crew and when not doing her work she was always quick to jump up and make a brew, roll a smoke for the boys, or throw a meal together – she did a better job than my lads, that’s for real.”
Maori claim that they are kaitiaki of Aotearoa.
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She obviously was not on a boat known to me. These bastards stand on the bow with the 3 0 and blow away every seal they can see. They think it’s a great joke when one gets on board cause then they get to club it to death. I am not sure how wide spread this behavior is but it sure is pathetic.
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“I have a tattoo. Does that strike fear into the heart of anyone here?”
Well now that you mention it!!
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Surely this is the key sentence: “I’d like to think that some of the half-truths and lies will be replaced with some real facts, reinforcing the view that we are just normal conservation-minded Kiwis, working in an increasingly hostile environment, who do care about the seabirds and mammals we share the ocean with.”
We’re all environmentalists. The Green party has simply moved to the extreme fringe in order to be able to keep on making a living out of it.
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wat – We’re all environmentalists
the fishermen shunda describes just don’t seem to be very good ones!
The Green party is making a living out of environmentalism?
Wat?
I suppose that’s better than, say, the National party making a killing out of capitalism.
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so we can take it you approve of what is being done to the oceans/fish species of the world..?
..still eat ‘the fruits of the ocean’..?
how to explain the unbelievable arrogance of a species that thinks everything else is here for it to eat..
..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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phil – agreed (emphasis on greed )
I struggle to credit fishermen for their claims of ‘sustainability’. How they can spin that in their extractive industry, I just don’t know. The whitebait fishermen (and women, naturally) take the cake when it comes to claims of sustainability. No doubt you will want to point out that the consumer is equally culpable and I, again, agree.
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Of course we are all environmentalists. All fishers love the ocean and just want to preserve it for future generations. Just like all farmers really care for the land and are the only ones that really understand it. Oh, they all love their animals as well, and townies just don’t understand that sheep LOVE having their tails docked and spending all summer in the sun with no shade in sight. And the fur industry, every laboratory in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture’s animal welfare division really care for animals. And of course animals really enjoy performing in rodeos and circuses.
You know something. I would sooner trust Winston Peters on a bad day than anyone in the primary production industry talking about either sustainability or animal welfare.
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# wat dabney Says:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:23 am
“We’re all environmentalists. The Green party has simply moved to the extreme fringe in order to be able to keep on making a living out of it.”
But we don’t live in the same environment. To some you can never have too many people NZ is only (tiny )% urbanised CO2 makes no difference , fish stocks will always recover, if we over heat we will put a big mirror in space.
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Hmmm…time for todays quote – I see the high Moral Ground is overcrowded again…
“Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. But this
wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare in which the
torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason.”: Octavio Paz
(Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat, 1914-1998)
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you need to read this .. frog..
http://whoar.co.nz/2009/imagine-a-world-without-seafood-for-supperits-nearer-than-you-think/
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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While the letter gives us a nice warm fuzzy feeling about the wonderful chaps involved in commercial fishing, please check reality about “sustainable” fishing. Herewith Forest and Bird’s “red list”.
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/publications/-best-fish-guide
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