[GhostUser]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades.

If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science....ap/index.html

Unfortunately, it seems like most of the focus of this article is on the fact that we won't have aquatic animals to eat, not the fact that they will eventually be extinct.

 

[Eclipse]

It's so sad that this is all totally unnneccesary because people don't need fish meat.

 

[Tuffenoughtoroc]

Well, people seem to have no problem driving certain types of birds to extinction, why should fish be any different? How sad.

 

[Amy SF]

Hey, thanks VJ for posting this. I was thinking of doing it myself.

Do you suppose that when all this happens, people will think "maybe I can get by without eating these animals, and eat a more plant-based diet"?

Nahhhhhhhh <--- *skeptic*

 

[GhostUser]

No prob.

Yeah, I'm also skeptical. I doubt people will even care. If they do care, it will most likely be because they won't be able to eat fish sticks or crabcakes anymore.

 

[Eclipse]

Fishing is more then killing fish, marine mammals, sea birds and sea turtles are also involved.

I think the person who called it the worst regulated form of hunting hit the nail on the head.

When I explain to people why I am against eating fish meat, I put forth an example: You have these people who were hunting deer and they swept the landscape catching all sorts of animals and destroying the landscape.

Then they'd go get the deer and toss all of the injured and dying animals back. Something like that.

 

[synergy]

I was also coming into post this.... So sad!

 

[Tuffenoughtoroc]

What is it going to take to get people to change? I fear marine life will be devastated and afterwards people will think: boy do I miss the beauty of the ocean. Too bad we couldn't do more to save it.

Such a scary thought.

 

[nat*star]

I am willing to bet people now will be like "Well thats bad, but its at the end of my life time" and it will be too late for the people it will affect to do anything about it.

Look how hard it is to get whalers to quit whaling.

 

[Eclipse]

Whaling is still going on, it did not stop.

 

[Ludi]

It doesn't matter how many warnings scientists give us. I just wonder if our culture will ever learn "Enough."

 

[veggielove]

Maybe this will be enough evidence for the pescetarians to see how eating fish is harmful.

 

[epski]

"Seafood."

Screw that. Marine animals. They're individual beings, all trying to get through their own lives without getting turned into food. Granted, many of them will become food for other species in the ocean, but it's clear that humans should beg off eating our ocean neighbors if we want to care about the lives of others and restore our planet. Man, do I dislike that term.

I know no one here used it. That's just my rant against the use of the word for the article.

 

[Irizary]

I hate the word "seafood" too. It seems so arrogant that the only way we can see them is as "food." It should be "sea life."

I also really hate the word "livestock." It really makes clear how useless the animals are to us as sentient individuals - they're just reduced to "stock," or a supply of merchandise.

 

[Eclipse]

Another thing is if you say seafood, one assumes you are taking about animal meat and yet seaweeds are clearly seafood too.

 

[Tuffenoughtoroc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nat*star

I am willing to bet people now will be like "Well thats bad, but its at the end of my life time" and it will be too late for the people it will affect to do anything about it.

Look how hard it is to get whalers to quit whaling.

I've heard so many people say that it doesn't matter because they will be dead when it happens anyways. Global warming for example. People don't care because they won't live to see the ice caps melt and various species go extinct. Way to look after future generations as*holes!

 

[Alli]

Dammit, did anyone pay attention during Finding Nemo?

This really gets to me. It is terrible that only a small percentage of the population actually care enough to do something about the environment-and even then, they are only one person, and already doing the best they can.

Sickening and depressing.

 

[peace]

For most people, even five years from now seems impossibly long. "Out of sight, out of mind." "I'll worry about it when it comes." 2048 isn't even fathomable.

Most people just want to keep on living their lives in the way they are comfortable, and warnings about marine depletion, or global warming, or anything else won't phase them.

 

[Ludi]

The amazing thing is a lot of those same people probably have children, or neices and nephews, or know the children of friends. I don't have children, but I weep for the future.

 

[troub]

The web of life is becoming more and more unraveled each day.