There's an article on Mongabay from last year about GFW's project to study IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing) that I've talked about on other social platforms. It's also worth a...
Exemplary
There's an article on Mongabay from last year about GFW's project to study IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing) that I've talked about on other social platforms. It's also worth a read. And I just want to quickly point out that Oceana is one of the co-founders of GFW, they deserve credit in addition to "Google's money did a thing."
It's not just in local waters, either, there's substantial over-fishing and "labor abuses," to use an incredibly generic term that doesn't begin to describe the human rights abuses happening, in the Mediterranean and Black seas and around protected areas just outside the Galápagos Islands' marine protected zones where Chinese fishing vessels have regularly been found. This isn't just about fisheries management and regulating which countries get access to which resources, it's about people's reliance on a seemingly unlimited supply of fish and aquatic life ranging from sea cucumbers to shark fins. Those stocks of fish aren't naturally restocking as fast as the unregulated fishing, shark and manta finning, illegal trawling, and by-catch (becoming wasted catch) are depleting. Things like deep sea mining also have an impact.
The numbers on stock depletion that I've read are really scary and whether we want to own up to the problem or not, it's clear that China and other countries are willing to send fishing fleets to any ocean and sea that they want to in order to secure pricing stability and food security right now. They're taking what they can while they can get it because they see that the writing is on the wall and their growing populations need that food security to continue to a point where they can shift towards alternatives (like pork).
This all boils down to food security and food scarcity has very real knock-on effects on food prices, inflation, civil disorder, human migration, and other things that generally change the status quo faster than most people are comfortable with (and at higher cost) than if we just, you know, lived within our means and our planet's means. It's really important to support Oceana, GFW, and other organizations that are raising awareness of food security and environmental concerns. Even if it's just sharing this information with your friends, family, and colleagues and encouraging them to make wise decisions about what they eat. But it's perhaps even more important to support legislative and diplomatic efforts to curb over-fishing and bring some balance back to our consumption and the consumption of our neighbors.
That article on the crimes of the Chinese fishing industry is some of the worst stuff I've read about the modern world. I feel compelled to do something, both because they are destroying the...
That article on the crimes of the Chinese fishing industry is some of the worst stuff I've read about the modern world. I feel compelled to do something, both because they are destroying the oceans and because of the horrors they visit on the crew members. I really feel that someday, China's reckoning will come and it will be fierce.
Has that article been posted to Tildes? It needs to be shared as widely as possible, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't think it has been posted here yet, and it's not too old (Oct, 2023) so it's probably worth posting when there isn't news elsewhere. There are a few things like that which I'd like to...
I don't think it has been posted here yet, and it's not too old (Oct, 2023) so it's probably worth posting when there isn't news elsewhere. There are a few things like that which I'd like to share, or see shared (you're welcome to), on a few places to help re-spread the word on the state of the fishing industry. It's important to raise awareness not just of the humanitarian angle, but of reducing consumption, saving money, and supporting organizations that are pushing for positive changes in our consumption. I've held back a little bit because I saw there was some drama with Sea Shepherd Global, but now that the Captain Paul Watson Foundation is up, and Oceana and some other NGOs are in the news, it's probably worth doing the rounds again.
I recall a few years ago there was a big deal made in the press about how de-shelling and de-veined shrimp imported into the US is often done by hand in countries like Thailand with "lax labor laws," which is a polite way of saying "there's no oversight or punishment if child labor is used."
So I've stopped eating shrimp and I've reduced my consumption of fish. I try to buy local when I can, although as any vegan will tell you, that doesn't mean the animal is treated better. But what we can do is reduce consumption where appropriate. It's also just more cost effective to eat less fish which, per pound, is generally going to cost more than chicken, pork, or beef. What the emissions and such are like, I don't know, but given the fishing industry right now it's probably not well understood.
In other news, recently South Korea announced an end to dog meat production, an initiative headed by a number of animal welfare groups with similar initiatives in Vietnam and China. So that's cool.
Yes, I also stopped eating shrimp a few years ago due to slavery concerns, especially with the Thai industry. I also try to avoid seafood as much as possible because from what I have read, almost...
Yes, I also stopped eating shrimp a few years ago due to slavery concerns, especially with the Thai industry. I also try to avoid seafood as much as possible because from what I have read, almost all ocean fishing is truly tortuous for the fish and farmed fish basically just live in disgusting shit water. I hear tilapia in particular is farmed in a sustainable, humane manner, though.
I also just kind of can't get over the thought of how many parasites fish have, even though I know the flash freezing laws should protect me and people who eat fish tend to be healthier. It's still really gross once you learn how many nematodes you are likely to consume...
All wild animals are full of parasites. The fruit and vegetables you eat are host to fly eggs, various fungi, and all sorts of generally benign organisms. Wash your produce, cook your food, don't...
All wild animals are full of parasites. The fruit and vegetables you eat are host to fly eggs, various fungi, and all sorts of generally benign organisms.
Wash your produce, cook your food, don't think about it too much.
Using satellite imagery and AI, researchers have mapped human activity at sea with more precision than ever before. The effort exposed a huge amount of industrial activity that previously flew under the radar, from suspicious fishing operations to an explosion of offshore energy development.
The maps were published today in the journal Nature. The research led by Google-backed nonprofit Global Fishing Watch revealed that a whopping three-quarters of the world’s industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked. Up to 30 percent of transport and energy vessels also escape public tracking.
Those blind spots could hamper global conservation efforts, the researchers say. To better protect the world’s oceans and fisheries, policymakers need a more accurate picture of where people are exploiting resources at sea.
There's an article on Mongabay from last year about GFW's project to study IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing) that I've talked about on other social platforms. It's also worth a read. And I just want to quickly point out that Oceana is one of the co-founders of GFW, they deserve credit in addition to "Google's money did a thing."
The scale of illegal fishing happening at a truly industrial scale is extremely concerning. Some countries are using deep sea fishing as a part of "hard labor" prison sentences, forced labor, and tacitly approved human trafficking (this is a great expose if you only read one link!). They are also condoning the practice of transshipment while at sea to obfuscate the source of the catch.
It's not just in local waters, either, there's substantial over-fishing and "labor abuses," to use an incredibly generic term that doesn't begin to describe the human rights abuses happening, in the Mediterranean and Black seas and around protected areas just outside the Galápagos Islands' marine protected zones where Chinese fishing vessels have regularly been found. This isn't just about fisheries management and regulating which countries get access to which resources, it's about people's reliance on a seemingly unlimited supply of fish and aquatic life ranging from sea cucumbers to shark fins. Those stocks of fish aren't naturally restocking as fast as the unregulated fishing, shark and manta finning, illegal trawling, and by-catch (becoming wasted catch) are depleting. Things like deep sea mining also have an impact.
The numbers on stock depletion that I've read are really scary and whether we want to own up to the problem or not, it's clear that China and other countries are willing to send fishing fleets to any ocean and sea that they want to in order to secure pricing stability and food security right now. They're taking what they can while they can get it because they see that the writing is on the wall and their growing populations need that food security to continue to a point where they can shift towards alternatives (like pork).
This all boils down to food security and food scarcity has very real knock-on effects on food prices, inflation, civil disorder, human migration, and other things that generally change the status quo faster than most people are comfortable with (and at higher cost) than if we just, you know, lived within our means and our planet's means. It's really important to support Oceana, GFW, and other organizations that are raising awareness of food security and environmental concerns. Even if it's just sharing this information with your friends, family, and colleagues and encouraging them to make wise decisions about what they eat. But it's perhaps even more important to support legislative and diplomatic efforts to curb over-fishing and bring some balance back to our consumption and the consumption of our neighbors.
That article on the crimes of the Chinese fishing industry is some of the worst stuff I've read about the modern world. I feel compelled to do something, both because they are destroying the oceans and because of the horrors they visit on the crew members. I really feel that someday, China's reckoning will come and it will be fierce.
Has that article been posted to Tildes? It needs to be shared as widely as possible, as far as I'm concerned.
I don't think it has been posted here yet, and it's not too old (Oct, 2023) so it's probably worth posting when there isn't news elsewhere. There are a few things like that which I'd like to share, or see shared (you're welcome to), on a few places to help re-spread the word on the state of the fishing industry. It's important to raise awareness not just of the humanitarian angle, but of reducing consumption, saving money, and supporting organizations that are pushing for positive changes in our consumption. I've held back a little bit because I saw there was some drama with Sea Shepherd Global, but now that the Captain Paul Watson Foundation is up, and Oceana and some other NGOs are in the news, it's probably worth doing the rounds again.
I recall a few years ago there was a big deal made in the press about how de-shelling and de-veined shrimp imported into the US is often done by hand in countries like Thailand with "lax labor laws," which is a polite way of saying "there's no oversight or punishment if child labor is used."
So I've stopped eating shrimp and I've reduced my consumption of fish. I try to buy local when I can, although as any vegan will tell you, that doesn't mean the animal is treated better. But what we can do is reduce consumption where appropriate. It's also just more cost effective to eat less fish which, per pound, is generally going to cost more than chicken, pork, or beef. What the emissions and such are like, I don't know, but given the fishing industry right now it's probably not well understood.
In other news, recently South Korea announced an end to dog meat production, an initiative headed by a number of animal welfare groups with similar initiatives in Vietnam and China. So that's cool.
Yes, I also stopped eating shrimp a few years ago due to slavery concerns, especially with the Thai industry. I also try to avoid seafood as much as possible because from what I have read, almost all ocean fishing is truly tortuous for the fish and farmed fish basically just live in disgusting shit water. I hear tilapia in particular is farmed in a sustainable, humane manner, though.
I also just kind of can't get over the thought of how many parasites fish have, even though I know the flash freezing laws should protect me and people who eat fish tend to be healthier. It's still really gross once you learn how many nematodes you are likely to consume...
All wild animals are full of parasites. The fruit and vegetables you eat are host to fly eggs, various fungi, and all sorts of generally benign organisms.
Wash your produce, cook your food, don't think about it too much.