My predecessor, Lindsay, has done a stellar job of wading through the fishy puns so I fear from now they will be scarce. However, I will endeavour to keep it light and fluffy (or smooth and scaly) while I explore some of the topics and issues that I feel are worth some attention (whilst offending as few people as possible!)
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| Photo: David Falconer |
This may be a little off piste, but it’s something that I have pondered for many a year, and after giving my first Wild Oceans talk last month, the subject was raised; Fishy Welfare. Don’t worry, I am not an animal rights activist about to stuff my views down your throat, but I am keen to explore the idea which is so apparent with our land creatures but seems to escape the fishy world altogether.
To illustrate this point, I would like to call from my memory banks an interesting conversation I had with a vegetarian (you may have some idea where this is headed). I often ask why people are vegetarian as the answers are interesting and vary greatly between individuals…my biggest question always stems from vegetarians that eat seafood.
When queried about this concept, my willing vegetarian responded with ‘because fish aren’t cute and fluffy’…this intrigued me as it highlighted the fact that we have very little regard as a nation, or a race for that matter, for the welfare of our seafood. Is this because fish are not cute and fluffy? If you have ever seen a juvenile trunk fish (or pea fish as I like to call it, which illustrates its size nicely) or a stunning school of mackerel, or the multi-coloured fins of a gurnard (I shall now pause while you click over to Google Images!) you can surely appreciate how awesome these creatures are!
Being a diver, I am very fortunate to have witnessed the beauty of many marine species first hand, but does the fact that many don’t have this access, mean we view them as commodities rather than animals? We like to cluck about free range chicken and eggs, and are saddened by images of poorly kept creatures in cages…but not a tear is shed for the gulping faces of fish in a net;
Therefore my musing is…we are becoming more and more concerned about the sustainability of our seafood, but will we ever be as concerned about the welfare as we are for our cute and fluffies? SHOULD we be as concerned…? And if the answer is yes, how is this possible on the scale we now need to supply? Maybe it is something we have slipped under the carpet as populations have grown, demand has exploded and welfare cannot be a consideration in order to keep up with demand? I would be very interested to know your thoughts and views on this!
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| Courtesy of WWF |
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| Courtesy of WWF |
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| Courtesy of WWF |
