02-03-2010, 03:09 AM
Well, sure, thanks for asking.
Let's be clear, first of all. The only reason we care about 500 fish is that they're so few of them. The reefs are failing not because of overfishing, nor because of people collecting fish for aquariums. That's completely small potatoes. The reefs are dying for large scale systematic reasons. 1) Shoreline Development 2) Poor Ag practices 3) Temperature increases and increased oceanic acidity caused by every increasing CO2 levels. These are the issues that our killing the reefs--the fishermen at this point are largely scapegoats. If the reefs were systematically healthy they could take significant fishing pressure. They aren't. That's NOT the fault of fishermen, that's the fault of the habits of society as a whole and its rabid consumptionist ways. But since we are not willing to in any meaningful way address the reasons that reefs are dying, at least yet, and probably not soon enough, still a heavier hand in regulation in terms of fishing pressure can at least string out the terminal condition a few years. Is it worth it? Probably not, except that an attempt to do so will create a public debate and hopefully wake a few people up. Maybe that's good. It's a dangerous game as fishing is a very important part of local tradition here, even if one can't really catch much, and such an action will look very much like outsiders coming in, screwing things up, and then taking away what was once someone else's rights. And they'd be completely justified in such a view, because that's exactly what has happened.
Anyway, alternatives? Alternatives in this context must address viable business plans and lifestyles that are capable of providing a reasonable standard of living and still operate in a sustainable fashion, not creating a net societal or ecological deficit. I use the term in a strict sense--as an empirical metric--not in the loose feel good "green" sort of way others might. These lifestyles and businesses must be primary producers of value and carbon neutral operations. That can indeed be done. I'll be putting together a bit of a presentation on my own agricultural projects here in the next couple of months. Such projects meet all the criteria of "not killing reefs." All in all these are practical issues rather than ideological ones--and such lifestyles are completely achievable for anyone who's willing to significantly cut back on their lifestyle demands. A lot of people aren't willing to do that, I understand, and the choice at its core to care is always a moral one.
While we only see business as usual the reefs are toast. To save the reefs will not only require telling fishermen not to fish, but builders not to build, farmers not to farm, and consumers not to consumers not to consume. Or at least we'll all be required to do all those things in a very different manner and being held to a very different standard. We're a very long way from that. Until we as a culture value our reefs enough to educate ourselves about why they're dying and make personal sacrifices so as to protect them, well, that's it.
A bit of a rambling answer, but I've got a lot to do this morning. If there's interest, I'll follow up with more.
http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/
Let's be clear, first of all. The only reason we care about 500 fish is that they're so few of them. The reefs are failing not because of overfishing, nor because of people collecting fish for aquariums. That's completely small potatoes. The reefs are dying for large scale systematic reasons. 1) Shoreline Development 2) Poor Ag practices 3) Temperature increases and increased oceanic acidity caused by every increasing CO2 levels. These are the issues that our killing the reefs--the fishermen at this point are largely scapegoats. If the reefs were systematically healthy they could take significant fishing pressure. They aren't. That's NOT the fault of fishermen, that's the fault of the habits of society as a whole and its rabid consumptionist ways. But since we are not willing to in any meaningful way address the reasons that reefs are dying, at least yet, and probably not soon enough, still a heavier hand in regulation in terms of fishing pressure can at least string out the terminal condition a few years. Is it worth it? Probably not, except that an attempt to do so will create a public debate and hopefully wake a few people up. Maybe that's good. It's a dangerous game as fishing is a very important part of local tradition here, even if one can't really catch much, and such an action will look very much like outsiders coming in, screwing things up, and then taking away what was once someone else's rights. And they'd be completely justified in such a view, because that's exactly what has happened.
Anyway, alternatives? Alternatives in this context must address viable business plans and lifestyles that are capable of providing a reasonable standard of living and still operate in a sustainable fashion, not creating a net societal or ecological deficit. I use the term in a strict sense--as an empirical metric--not in the loose feel good "green" sort of way others might. These lifestyles and businesses must be primary producers of value and carbon neutral operations. That can indeed be done. I'll be putting together a bit of a presentation on my own agricultural projects here in the next couple of months. Such projects meet all the criteria of "not killing reefs." All in all these are practical issues rather than ideological ones--and such lifestyles are completely achievable for anyone who's willing to significantly cut back on their lifestyle demands. A lot of people aren't willing to do that, I understand, and the choice at its core to care is always a moral one.
While we only see business as usual the reefs are toast. To save the reefs will not only require telling fishermen not to fish, but builders not to build, farmers not to farm, and consumers not to consumers not to consume. Or at least we'll all be required to do all those things in a very different manner and being held to a very different standard. We're a very long way from that. Until we as a culture value our reefs enough to educate ourselves about why they're dying and make personal sacrifices so as to protect them, well, that's it.
A bit of a rambling answer, but I've got a lot to do this morning. If there's interest, I'll follow up with more.
http://sensiblesimplicity.lefora.com/