by frog
This week, the Fishing Industry announced it was seeking Marine Stewardship Council certification for five NZ fisheries. The Government endorsed the move, saying the “eco-label will be further endorsement of New Zealand’s careful fisheries management”.
The Greens would love all of NZ’s fisheries to be MSC-certified, if only the “careful fisheries management” was a true reflection of reality. The only MSC certified NZ fishery at present is Hoki, and that certification is hotly contested – Forest and Bird’s “best fish guide” ranks it RED because “it has one of the greatest ecological impacts of any New Zealand fishery”:
The main concerns with this fishery are: the bycatch of hundreds of NZ fur seals, albatrosses and petrels each year, plus bycatch of the globally threatened basking sharks and impacts on benthic communities. The management of two stocks as one quota management area, the declining state of the Western stock fishery and failure to limit catches of this depleted stock to levels that will allow recovery are also serious concerns. Additional problems are the catches of small fish on the Chatham Rise and on West Coast, lack of a management plan, the need for the annual quota to be reduced to 100,000 tonnes in 2004 and further reduction to 90,000 tonnes in 2007.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace published a report this week called “While Stocks Last” linking the sustainability of our fisheries with supermarket procurement policies, or the lack of them. Overseas, consumer pressure has led to supermarkets destocking unsustainable fish like NZ’s orange roughy. Greenpeace called on NZ supermarkets to follow, but alas, they rejected the idea, putting their faith completely in NZ’s quota management system. Echoing what the Greens have regularly said, the report explained that “the QMS maintains fish at “tipping point” so any errors in catch limits could see fish stocks drop too low to sustain themselves.” Is that really sustainable?
To illustrate the inevitable endpoint of current practice the Greenpeace report author said that, “Unchecked the fishing industry will leave little in the seas but harvests of ‘bait and worse,’ – the bottom levels of the marine food web like sea cucumbers, jellyfish and, eventually, plankton – for future generations to eat”. So, Greenpeace has launched a jellyfish restaurant in Auckland!
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Sat, May 9th, 2009
Tags: environment, fisheries, marine, Metiria Turei, oceans, sustainability
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Jellyfish is actually a delicacy in Japan. It is just cultural arrogance that assumes the only type of food worth eating are those we happen to eat in our culture.
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sheesh..!..kiore..
do you really have to encourage them to eat everything that moves..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Phil – a seemingly obscure question for you – have you ever noticed (at a dinner party or picnic or any time when people are gathered together to eat) the way all present will watch, intently, as the plates are loaded up with food? All will watch each plate as the servings are dished out. A quietness falls over the proceedings – all are focused. Any thoughts as to why this happens and what purpose it might serve?
Just curious as to your interpretation (if any).
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get thee to a sociologist..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
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Heh, I agree.
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kiore I think the implication is that jellyfish will be the only thing left if fisheries are not managed properly…
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Jellyfish have a nerve net and not a central nervous system and are not likely to be sentient. So while I would not advocate eating anything which someone could project sentience on to (see my previous comment on indirect duties), it is unlikely we have any direct duties to jellyfish. It is in any event better than eating fish, which have been pretty much proven to feel pain and have a fairly complex cultural system.
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I wonder how people eat such things although that it is a delicacy.But as it say different people ,different ideals.
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