End of the Line: Help Reclaim Our Ocean

October 29, 2010

Last night I went to watch End of the Line - which is a documentary about how we are raping and pillaging our oceans.

It really is worth watching and the cause it promotes is more important than ever.

Here are some facts to consider:

An international group of ecologists and economists warned that the world will run out of seafood by 2048 - Washington Post

As many as 90 per cent of all the ocean’s large fish have been fished out. - WWF

Only 0.6 per cent of the world’s oceans are designated as protected.- WWF

Japan has caught $6 billion worth of illegal Southern Blue-fin tuna over the past 20 years. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

In 2000 tuna long liners set 1.2 billion hooks catching untold number of turtles, seabirds and sharks. - WWF

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna could be extinct by 2012 unless we stop fishing them now.

Fifty two per cent of fish stocks are fully exploited. - Marine Stewardship Council

[More facts here]

The bottom line is that we all need to make some changes - otherwise we are going to have no fish.

So what can we do?

Well we can all contribute in some way or another and there really is no excuse for not doing so. If 1 million people sat back, as individuals, and said ‘ag whats the point I cant make a difference on my own” then that would mean 1 million less people trying to make a difference.

So get involved and start embracing one or two of the following:

• Ask where the fish you’re eating came from and how it was caught.
• Refuse to eat over-fished and endangered fish - you can download a handy list that fits in your wallet here.
• Report establishments selling endangered fish by smsing 079 499 8795 (South Africa only)
• Eat only sustainable seafood and make sure the retailer you are buying from has ensured the fish they are selling is sustainable.
• Put pressure on your local government to decrease and improve the policing of fishing quotas.
• Put pressure on your local government to create vast marine protected areas with no fishing allowed.
• Boycott eating Blue-fin Tuna and single out establishments selling it.

Do at least one or two of the above and you will be helping the cause a great deal. If you are more serious about it you can actually reclaim a piece of the ocean and pledge to help preserve it for future generations.

Click Here to Claim your Piece of the Ocean

and

Learn more about SASSI - The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative

“Every person on the planet can claim 2 hectares of ocean - that’s what you get if you divide the surface area of ocean by the number of people on Earth. If the biological diversity of the oceans is to be maintained or restored, large areas must be protected altogether from the commercial fishing industry and responsible fishing must prevail outside those areas. ”

Get involved - otherwise our oceans and drinking white wine with seafood is never going to be the same.

Posted in Causes