Power of 3 - Gone Fishing or Sustainable Scampi: Your Choice!

This blog is broadly and tangentially about learning. Here is something we all need to learn: Our food supply is at risk more than we know.

Take fish. Behind our abundant supermarket counters and some thriving chippies there is a real crisis in the UK fishing fleet. There is only 5% of the fish present in Queen Victoria’s time. As someone who loves fish I find it sad but I am also encouraged this innovative solution to the problem of sustainable fishing in the Clyde estuary. (Economist August 11^th 2012).

1. With no real seafish in the sea lochs of the Clyde, there still a massive market for crustaceans. The nethrops which is usually turned into scampi is in relative abundance.

2. However massive markets attract massive fishing effort. Increasingly Clyde boats are old and knackered and so are their crews. The ludicrous rules on global fishing mean internationally crewed boats from Northern Ireland can suck up fish. East coast fishermen are coming in to fish as they are currently banned from catching cod till stocks recover.

3. The answer is to slow down the fishing effort. Philanthropists are coming in with cash to convert Clyde trawlers to creel boats. Older trawler men retire and so do their boats and the future is secured with less frequent fishing which pushes prices up to more sustainable levels.

That way Rick Stein gets a consignment of langoustines and pubs can continue to serve scampi. There is far too much access to depleting fishing grounds and Governments need to co-ordinate fishing policies and restrict access. The only way to save the industry is to encourage it go to pot!

Next post tomorrow: Free Will or Readiness Potential?