Hey guys
Sorry I know this is not really that tramping-related, but for all those of you who have endured my rants about fisheries management up in the hills, thought this was worth passing on...
"The world's oceans are being emptied, and fishers in developing countries can't find fish--all because of subsidies in rich countries that drive overfishing. This month, the WTO is writing new global fishing rules. Will you send a message to your trade minister to support fair and sustainable fishing?
Often, the issues that affect the most lives don't make the headlines. This month, we have an opportunity to do something big about one of them: the global fishing crisis.
Fishers in developing countries are catching fewer and fewer fish--because of massive overfishing by industrialized fishing fleets from rich countries, fleets subsidized with tens of billions of Euros every year. As a result, fish populations are now collapsing around the globe, and could soon be pushed beyond recovery.
But our oceans don't have to die. This September, the World Trade Organization will release a new proposal for global fishing rules--and right now, trade ministers are deciding what those rules should be. If enough of us urge our trade ministers to support a better system, we preserve our oceans for future generations--and for the one billion humans who rely on fish for protein today. Click here to send your trade minister a message in support fairness and sustainability:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/make_fishing_fair/c.php/?cl=16150568
A recent study found that 90% of the ocean's big fish--tuna, swordfish, and marlin--are already gone. But it's not the countries with the greatest need that are catching too many of these fish--it's the subsidized fishing fleets from the rich countries. These fleets don't just trawl the open ocean--they fish off the coasts of developing countries, robbing local fishers and their communities of desperately needed food supplies. And as technology has developed, the crisis has accelerated.
Last week, Dr. Francis K. E. Nunoo, a Ghanaian scientist who studies fisheries ecology, interviewed a local fisherman for this campaign. the fisherman told him: "Ten years ago, during the peak fishing season of the year, my boat is filled with a single throw of the net. In recent times, we throw the gear about 7 times before filling the same boat. And the situation is even worse this year."
A group of 125 scientists wrote a letter to the director-general of the WTO, urging him to take action on fishing subsidies. Their argument:
"There are only decades left before the damage we have inflicted on the oceans becomes permanent. We are at a crossroads. One road leads to a world with tremendously diminished marine life. The other leads to one with oceans again teeming with abundance, where the world can rely on the oceans for protein, and enjoy its wildlife. The choices we make today will determine our path for the future."
The World Trade Organization is governed by its 151 member countries. The next few weeks, as the WTO works on its new plan, are critical. The plan is to send messages--thousands of them--to our countries' trade ministers, urging a strong decision by the WTO to change the rules that underly the unfair and unsustainable fishing trade.
Experts say that 29% of commercial fisheries might already be beyond repair. But most of the world's marine ecosystems can recover, if we get our policies right. The very fact that so few people are paying attention to this issue means that our actions will have more power. The fishing crisis is an example of where our global economic system doesn't work--not for people, and not for the earth. But by joining together to fix it, we can create an example of how global democracy should work: human beings, rich and poor, taking action to renew a world full of life.
Raise your voice and spread the word."