Save Eco Destinations

"I killed a huge fish, I'm awesome" from fishingkites.co.nz

The dramatically endangered bluefin tuna species has something to smile about today: Britain, Monaco and France are calling for an international ban on its fishing.

Wow. Can you imagine?

I’ve been smiling about this all day! (Imagine the tuna!)

“Ours is the last generation with the ability to take action before it’s too late – we must protect marine resources now, in order to fish better in the future,” Sarkozy said at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), according to Environment News Service.

“We owe this to fishermen, and we owe it to future generations,” he added.

Way cool. (Note to Sarkozy: you owe it to fisherwomen too, pal.)

So, first to raise the flag for the international ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna was the Principality of Monaco. The sovereign city-state launched a formal CITES consultation process earlier this week in hopes of gaining the support of other range States.

by Greenpeace

People—apart from environmentalists—gained awareness about the issue earlier this year in response to the Sundance Festival release of the documentary film “The End of the Line.” The movie describes the pace at which oceans are being overfished and the crime’s catastrophic consequences. It’s based on the book The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat by Charles Clover.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bedirwk95Oc&hl=en&fs=1&]

The film has inspired UK supermarket chains like Waitrose and Sainsbury’s to stop dealing endangered species or only sell sustainably caught fish, and inspired consumers to shop for their food mindfully.

And am I glad! Because even though Greenpeace protests indeed have achieved a whole lot throughout the years, it’s a whole lot easier and less painful to get the point across when you have governmental bodies to back you up. Right, Emma Briggs? Watch the video behind the link to read + watch for yourself.

It seems we need TV to tell us that if we don’t stop being assholes, there won’t be any sushi left by 2048—not to mention no more bluefin tuna by 2012! That’s less than three years.

Wait, scratch that.

“The Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery is collapsing and, unless we take immediate action, the breeding population will disappear by 2010,” said World Wildlife Fund UK (WWF-UK) Marine Programme Manager Sally Bailey.

“We’re urging the government to encourage other countries to follow this lead and ban international trade. It’s our last chance to save this iconic species,” she added.

Image by Sustainability Ninja

Jeepers!

But hey, if movies are what we need to reach people (apart from having protesters chain themselves to supermarket freezers) … then get to work, filmmakers!

(Yes, I know Australia’s successfully bred bluefin tuna in cages. It’s not the same.)

Seriously, it’s times like these that I am the most grateful for organizations like Greenpeace, WWF and even those crazy punks over at PETA!

THANK YOU!

From the tuna and from all of us…

Surely you remember what a mess the world’s coral reefs are in (and shellfish reefs too, although we haven’t discussed that) not just because of fuck-up humans, but also because of global warming. Wait, that’s our fault too (unless you believe that the world was already warming up anyway).

Well, I have some good news: 6 Asia-Pacific countries— Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands—have committed to protecting a stretch of reef called the Coral Triangle, which holds 76% of all known coral species and provides a hot place for tuna to sex it up and make more of themselves.

The bad news is that the agreement is non-binding, say green groups. Plus, not all details have been ironed out.

“[The agreement is] non-binding and it’s not a treaty but as a commitment to each other it’s quite important,” said James Leape, international director general of the World Wildlife Fund. “The most important thing is the political platform that the declaration provides and some were quite explicit about creating new marine protected areas.”

But let’s focus on the positive.

By “protect,” these countries mean that they will collaborate to end illegal fishing/poaching and pollution. This is in their best interest because they are big tuna fishers, so they want to both protect the tuna’s spawning grounds and prevent the “bad guys” from stealing their bounty.

The agreement opens the door for these 6 countries to devise sustainable fishing laws over the next 3 years, according to Reuters. (I know, I know—but remember, *positive*!)

Really positive: it may ultimately be in these nations’ best interest to curb tuna fishing in these areas. Yay. (Yeah, I knew you’d like that one.)

So then, by being eco-smart everybody wins, right? Well, yeah…but the bastards are greedy (no shit, right?) so they need more incentive. The idea is that in exchange countries like the US, who purchases lots of tuna every year, will compensate them, or the 6 countries will be allowed to go nuts in other parts of the Coral Triangle. Yea. As if these tiny and poor nations would be able to keep dirt-poor fishers—and greedy, generally destructive assholes—from poaching anyway. It’s not like officials aren’t hungry for bribes, cuz they are.

Still, it’s a relatively big deal. Check out what this guy said:

“In 30 years of conservation work, I have never seen anything like this: six leaders signing a commitment to protect their marine resources,” Peter Seligmann, head of Conservation International, said in a statement.

It’s something. So let’s buck up and smile for the camera.