Preserving our Fish Stocks
 Environmental challenges were the theme of World Maritime
Day 2007. Ted Richardson, National Director of AOS
Australia, spoke to Vatican Radio about the need for a
responsible attitude to the resources of the sea. This is a
transcript of Ted’s interview.
Q: Australia’s National Director of the Apostleship of
the Sea, Mr Ted Richardson, is concerned there is too much
plundering of fish stocks, too much self centredness in
consumer demands, the “Get what you can now and forget about
the consequences later” mindset.
A: We don’t take care of our environment. We’ve got a lot
of problems and we are a global planet that is 75% covered
by water. We need to keep in mind that if we destroy our
marine environment then we have nothing left. The little bit
of land that we are living on cannot sustain the global
economy. It cannot sustain our way of living or our lives.
There is too little land available for a planet that is
covered by mostly water.
Q: In fact, the theme for this year’s World Maritime Day
seems to be concentrating on current challenges, but what
about preparing for the future challenges? After all, the
experts are saying global warming is expected to increase
the size of the oceans and seas for one thing and I would
imagine as fresh water comes more scarce in some areas, more
people could be seeking a livelihood on the sea. So what
should policy makers be considering when thinking of the
future?
A: Exactly. As the world warms up, we are going to have
less land to live on and we have to be very careful on how
we utilize these resources and they are very valuable
resources for our future, for our generations to come. The
sea can provide us with a good living in the marine
environment as far as our sea stocks and our fish, but again
we have to be very careful on how we harvest them. We cannot
say “Let’s go out and catch all the fish we can catch and
make a dollar today and not plan for tomorrow.”
Fish farms also have to look at their future. They can
harvest a lot of fish and they can breed them and grow them,
and send them off to market, but at the same time, are they
doing damage to the environment in the concentrated area?
What’s happening with the waste products from the fish
farming? Where is it all going? What’s happening to the
marine environment around them?
We have to look at the global currents. How our currents
work. The world conveyor that moves the currents around the
world has even changed. It has slowed down. Why has it
slowed down? This is something that we have to seriously
look at, because that also provides the nutrients that keep
our planet alive. It keeps the fish stocks alive. We need to
understand, I think, where we are coming from as a global
family and what we are doing. I think we are still living
for today and not for tomorrow.
There are many different things that we can change and
have the ability to change. Whaling has always been a sore
point with most Australians that we tend to allow whaling to
take place. We’ve stopped it. We’ve ceased whaling in
Australia and many countries around the world have ceased
whaling, but Japan goes out and harvests the whales for
[research] and other countries are now saying well if they
can do, why can’t we? Pretty soon, all our whale stocks will
drop off. We are just starting to recover from what we did
in early part of this century with whales. We used the oils,
the bones and everything from them, but we almost decimated
the entire whaling population. It’s come back. It’s healthy
at the moment, but it needs to be a lot healthier, because
if we are going to start whaling again, we are going to take
out that beautiful resource. It is going to be abused and
used and not left for the future. There is not going to be
proper management of our fishing stocks and our environment.
It is not just whales. It’s all sorts of fish. There is a
lot of fishing going on in the South Pole. Boats from South
America are going for the different fish down there. We are
policing them and chasing them. We are chasing Indonesians
out of Australian waters, who are taking fish stocks from
around Australia.
Sharks are another thing. Killing a shark for its fins,
come on. This is a beautiful creature and we are destroying
them and in some places there are a lot of sharks that are
just about on the edge of extinction because someone wants
their fin for a soup. I think this is just poor management.
We haven’t educated people on what they are doing and the
harm they are doing for their future generations.
Q: So what are you looking for then? Are you looking for
more policing of the opening seas or a combination then of
this education and policing?
A: Both. Yes. You need policing. You need Governments to
take responsibility for their fish stocks and they need to
have a world focus on what we are doing with our seafarers
and with our stocks. How seafarers are being coerced into
fishing and being abused, fishing platforms, and using
explosives. These are all educational things we need to do,
and also need policing to say we are not going to do it. We
are not going to allow this to happen and we cannot turn a
blind eye to it and say that this can continue to happen
because 75% of the world’s covered, so we can just keep
going and it all be there. Well, it is not going to be
there. There are large areas of the world’s waters that
can’t be inhabited by fish. It is way too deep. It is way
too broad. There are no materials around for them to feed
off. Most of the fish feed close to the countries, close to
the shoreline and we are out there going for them left,
right and centre. Whatever you can fill up your boat with
today and whatever means you can use to get them. That comes
into education. It also comes into policing of the maritime
fraternity to say let’s stop this, let’s do something more
to make these stocks around so that the next generation and
the generation after that will have plenty.
Because people are poor, there are those out there ready
to exploit them to get them out working for very cheap
wagers to trap the harvest to catch the fish, to make
somebody else rich.
We need to have laws to make sure that does not happen
that we can’t just do that. We have ample stocks in our
world to feed the poor. We have the resources to feed
everybody. These are people, these are God’s people. They
should be given aid. They should be supported. We have rich
countries around the world that have lots to give, but
restrict on what they are going to give. We just have to
say, everybody deserves the right to a fair life, to a fair
living and to a fair dinner. Why should be somebody be
starving when I can have plenty on my plate? It’s not the
way God wants us to be. I think Pope Benedict is correct
when he says that we have a lot to share and that we should
share. We should be stewards of our environment and of our
planet and say that everybody is equal in God’s eyes. It
does not matter whether you are poor or rich. When you die
what do you take with you? You go into the ground the same
as the next person, the poor man beside you. It is
irrelevant what you have in this life. It is what you take
into the next one that is important and taking your soul
into the next life is what is important.
I think that is what Pope Benedict is saying. We cannot
continue the way that we are. We need to be stewards of our
planet and we need to take care of everybody.
Well, that is certainly what the Fisher of Men would
have said 2,000 years ago and the message is evermore urgent
today, so that we safeguard the planet for the generations
to come. |