[Marxism] A world without seafood is nearer than you think

[Pat Costello <pt_costello@xxxxxxxxx>]

No tuna, no salmon. No oysters, no skate. No cod and chips

Imagine a world without seafood for supper. It's nearer than you think.

Andrew Purvis


Are fish to disappear from our plates entirely? 

As I step off the train at Heysel, in the shadow of the notorious football 
stadium, the vast art deco structure of the Palais du Centenaire rises like a 
cathedral. With its four soaring buttresses topped by statues, the Palais forms 
the centrepiece of the Parc des Expositions in Brussels - a trade-fair complex 
built in the 1930s to commemorate a century of independence from the 
Netherlands. This is the temporary home of thousands of fish products from 
around the world as 23,000 delegates descend from 80 countries for the annual 
European Seafood Exposition - the world's largest seafood trade show and a grim 
reminder of man's dominion over the oceans.

"If I wanted people to understand the global fishing crisis, I would bring them 
here," says Sally Bailey, a marine programme officer with the World Wide Fund 
for Nature, one of the more moderate NGOs combating the exploitation of the 
seas. Last year, one of the more militant groups - Greenpeace - managed to 
"close down" five exhibitors trading in critically endangered bluefin tuna, by 
deploying 80 activists to drape their stands in fishing nets, chain themselves 
to fixtures and put up banners that read: "Time and tuna are running out".

Their main target was the Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japanese car manufacturer 
that is also the world's largest tuna trader, controlling 60% of the market and 
accounting for 40% of all bluefin tuna imported into Japan from the 
Mediterranean. The other companies were Dongwon Industries (Korea), Moon Marine 
(Taiwan/ Singapore), Azzopardi Fisheries (Malta) and Ricardo Fuentes & Sons 
(Spain).

full:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/26/seafood-overfishing



      

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