Comments on: PETA: The Swordfish On The Plate In Front Of You Is Actually A “Sea Kitten.” How Could You!?! http://www.maggieshnayerson.com/2008/11/16/peta-the-swordfish-on-the-plate-in-front-of-you-is-actually-a-sea-kitten-how-could-you/ Recovering Blogger Was Taken Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:55:00 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: suzannah http://www.maggieshnayerson.com/2008/11/16/peta-the-swordfish-on-the-plate-in-front-of-you-is-actually-a-sea-kitten-how-could-you/comment-page-1/#comment-93 suzannah Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:01:24 +0000 http://maggieshnayerson.wordpress.com/?p=486#comment-93 I'm no fan of PETA, but you have to realize that the reason fishermen are broke and there's only one trawler left in Nantucket Sound is because the fishing industry literally took all the fish that were left there. Overfishing is bad for fish, for the economy, and for the billion+ people on earth who depend on fish as their primary source of protein. 90 percent of big predator species - sharks, tuna, swordfish - are gone. Gone! We ate them. If we continue to fish at the rate we're fishing now, all commercial fish species will be extinct or nearly so by the middle of this century. The "sea kittens" stuff is vomity, of course. But as someone who works for a marine conservation nonprofit (disclosure time!), I can tell you the biggest challenge we face is getting people to care. Bluefin tuna aren't whales or dolphins. But guess what! Whales won't survive if we take all the fish out of the sea. The system just doesn't work that way. Meanwhile, the poor individual fisherman has been replaced by multinational corporations that just care about that quarter's bottom line. It's bad all around. PSA over! I’m no fan of PETA, but you have to realize that the reason fishermen are broke and there’s only one trawler left in Nantucket Sound is because the fishing industry literally took all the fish that were left there. Overfishing is bad for fish, for the economy, and for the billion+ people on earth who depend on fish as their primary source of protein. 90 percent of big predator species – sharks, tuna, swordfish – are gone. Gone! We ate them. If we continue to fish at the rate we’re fishing now, all commercial fish species will be extinct or nearly so by the middle of this century.

The “sea kittens” stuff is vomity, of course. But as someone who works for a marine conservation nonprofit (disclosure time!), I can tell you the biggest challenge we face is getting people to care. Bluefin tuna aren’t whales or dolphins. But guess what! Whales won’t survive if we take all the fish out of the sea. The system just doesn’t work that way. Meanwhile, the poor individual fisherman has been replaced by multinational corporations that just care about that quarter’s bottom line. It’s bad all around.

PSA over!

]]> By: links for 2008-11-19 | Geekcentric http://www.maggieshnayerson.com/2008/11/16/peta-the-swordfish-on-the-plate-in-front-of-you-is-actually-a-sea-kitten-how-could-you/comment-page-1/#comment-94 links for 2008-11-19 | Geekcentric Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:02:53 +0000 http://maggieshnayerson.wordpress.com/?p=486#comment-94 [...] PETA: The Swordfish On The Plate In Front Of You Is Actually A “Sea Kitten.” How Could You!?! «... "Nobody wants to eat a sea kitten." (tags: peta politics) [...] [...] PETA: The Swordfish On The Plate In Front Of You Is Actually A “Sea Kitten.” How Could You!?! «… "Nobody wants to eat a sea kitten." (tags: peta politics) [...]

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