http://endoftheline.com/blog/archives/1252 Imagine a world without fish Wed, 16 May 2012 15:37:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://endoftheline.com/blog/archives/1252/comment-page-1#comment-24701 Philip Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:26:01 +0000 http://endoftheline.com/blog/?p=1252#comment-24701 The Japanese public have very little exposure to the overfishing issues , their government is totally in cahoots with the fishing industry , whether it is whaling or tuna etc and if the only political pressure is to ensure the status quo , nothing will change. Its not much better in the EU where the fishing industry commands much too much respect and subsidy by politicians given the small numbers involved and the environmental by-product damage they cause to the marine environment which belongs to all. Its my ocean too and I'm also a voter yet somehow I can't command anywhere near the same compliance to look at marine reserves, restraints on overfishing etc! On the contrary my tax money is used to subsidise this industry continuously. The idiocy is that the Japanese government has done everything it can to ensure their voting public continue to pay outrageous prices for Bluefin . If some had understood that , maybe some political pressure by the public may have resulted in a more constructive approach. At present it seems largely to be a west versus east scenario and they will resist just because they don't want to be told what to do, rather than it makes sense. There's a serious educational challenge to be faced and implemented by all environmental groups in Japan if we are to save our marine environments for our children. The Japanese public have very little exposure to the overfishing issues , their government is totally in cahoots with the fishing industry , whether it is whaling or tuna etc and if the only political pressure is to ensure the status quo , nothing will change. Its not much better in the EU where the fishing industry commands much too much respect and subsidy by politicians given the small numbers involved and the environmental by-product damage they cause to the marine environment which belongs to all. Its my ocean too and I’m also a voter yet somehow I can’t command anywhere near the same compliance to look at marine reserves, restraints on overfishing etc! On the contrary my tax money is used to subsidise this industry continuously.
The idiocy is that the Japanese government has done everything it can to ensure their voting public continue to pay outrageous prices for Bluefin . If some had understood that , maybe some political pressure by the public may have resulted in a more constructive approach.
At present it seems largely to be a west versus east scenario and they will resist just because they don’t want to be told what to do, rather than it makes sense.
There’s a serious educational challenge to be faced and implemented by all environmental groups in Japan if we are to save our marine environments for our children.

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