The McCarrison Society - deframcrawf1

deframcrawf1

from Michael Crawford:
Consumers can only make the sustainable choices desired as part of the vision if they have relevant information and there perhaps needs to be an aspiration that consumers be better informed about fish and fish products. Do you agree - or is this also hopelessly idealistic?

Yes, education is essential, but the decision makers also need to be educated.
Please note that the epidemiology regarding the health benefits is not about fish. It is about fish and sea food. There are important differences when it comes to nutritional benefits in particular and sustainability.

Moreover sustainability is not just about better fishing or fish farming it is about restoring the marine food chain and enhancing its productivity.

In opening the Aquaculture conference in Edinburgh last week I made the point that the marine food chain takes off in earnest in the estuaries.
The estuaries in the UK but not just the UK, Europe and most of the world are polluted to the point that this origin is almost now non-existent. It took less than two centuries to kill their immense productivity. The demise of the sea food and fish is not just over fishing it is also the destruction of the food web. Moreover it is not only the estuaries. The surfers in winter of the English and Welsh coast complain of ear infection and turds floating by because of the lax control of industrial and sewage outflows. The Firth of Forth, once renowned for its pubs and bordering restaurants for its sea food is dead. In 1965 a brand new yellow Department of Environment notice was erected "Warning Mussels Unfit for Human Consumption" The crabs, lobsters and scallops were long gone.

The Scottish coast line last week was accused of being one of the most polluted in the EU
This is not dealt with [by DEFRA or the responses so far].

The [Consumers' Food Group] document states: "We are not so sure that the [DEFRA] objective that 'economic returns will be maximised' is appropriate to the vision"

I agree. The vision must include restoration of the marine food web.

The first priority is to energetically restore the estuaries, fresh waters and coast line to cleanliness.

The second and dependent priority is to develop the knowledge to enhance the coastal food web. In part this will happen with clean rivers and estuaries but active intervention will also be needed. The Polynesians had techniques worth exploiting as a means of sustainable fisheries without caged farming systems dependent on feeding.

The third priority is to develop the means to enhance productivity in deep waters.

The oceans occupy 2/3rds of the planet's surface, every square millimetre of which has the potential for photosynthesis and fixing global warming carbon. By contrast only one third of the land mass has a similar potential which is tiny by comparison.

The lessons learnt for the restoration of the king crab at the Smithsonian should be applied more widely.

This all needs to be done in conjunction with more intelligent fishing policy which at the moment is the out of date approach of the hunters and gatherers of 50,000 years ago.

Spending money on visits to Mars is fine but it will not feed us. Money of that size and more needs to be spent on the fresh water and oceans.

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written by Jan Katzen-Luchenta, May 11, 2007

Michael, I totally agree. This is not idealistic. It is about consumer education and real homeland security. If we do not protect the source of evolution itself, our oceans, what will we have left? My father always told me that success = lots of perspiration and it is the scientists who are taking this on. It is sad that the world has come to a point where science needs to recreate creation but the lesson is huge.

http://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pdfs/ak-sg-06-04.pdf

In January, 2005, a group of scientists doing cutting-edge research on stock enhancement of King crabs and lobsters came together for an International workshop. The workshop focused on three major themes; technical issues such as feed, temp, walter filtration, alternative approaches, and management and social issues. Scientists simulated conditions in which larvae survive; 24 hour water filtration systems, fresh, frozen, or enriched artemia (tiny shrimp - high in lipids, unsaturated fatty acids)) as feed, housing together yet minimizing cannibalism, and then releasing the juveniles back into the ocean. Scientists agree there is much to be learned about how this artificial means of rearing might affect their development and survival rate.

Hmmm. this sounds a lot like the boat we humans are in.

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