01/29/08 Picking Our Oceans Clean

I am simply amazed when I reflect on the bulk of seafood sitting at this very moment in every supermarket and restaurant in the world. How can the seas continue to produce so much! Fish and shell fish are one of the few food sources we still harvest and sadly most people don't comprehend that our oceans aren't an endless resource. While the United Nations attempts to combat over fishing by banning drift nets and working to halt bottom trawling, it is a drop in the bucket when countries like Japan, China and Russia disregard sanctions and continue to pick the oceans clean. Some feel that the only agency able to strong arm compliance is the Word Trade Organization given the fact that many of the worlds fishing fleets receive major subsidies from them. Reducing these subsidies could help create compliance and the WTO has promised an initial draft for new trade rules by this November. Our oceans fisheries are on the brink of destruction, and if we continue to allow big factory ships to remain at sea for years a time, unloading catches on refrigerated vessels that dock at ports where inspection is minimal at best it won't be long before many species of fish are gone.