The blind lemming race to annihilation

By Maarten Hoffmann, Master Scuba Instructor, PADI, BSAC, CMAS

In a previous restaurant review when l had the time to be the self-appointed restaurant critic, I admitted that I don’t eat fish. An odd admission for a restaurant critic, and I have been endlessly questioned over the statement ever since; the standard question being, ‘Why? Don’t you like the taste of fish?’ I have a very personal reason for my views, but I will get to that later.

It has absolutely nothing to do with my taste buds, as I quite like the taste of some fish. It has to do with a moral imperative.My 20 years’ living in the tropics developing diving resorts, and my blinding fury at the total and indefensible ignorance of all of you who do eat vast amounts of fish. All fish are endangered, and when they are gone, so is the human race. Long before climate change, nuclear war or ISIS get us, the lack of fish will do for us all. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence, the world still consumes billions of tonnes of fish every day with gay abandon, in a selfish and ignorant lemming charge over the cliff to annihilation.

An international team of ecologists and economists has made an incredibly scary prediction. In just a few short decades, the world’s oceans will be empty of fish. While that dire prophecy may seem a little alarmist, the scariest

I took this shot of Hammerheads at El Bajo before you ate them all thing about it is that it is backed up with good ol’ science fact. It was published in Science, a publication that, if nothing else, does not publish rumour or emotive stories. Cue terror in the streets? No, just total ignorance.

Back in 2006, a study was produced by a man named Boris Worm (whose hilarious name should not detract from his horrible prediction), a man with a PhD from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Along with colleagues in the UK, US, Sweden and Panama, Worm has predicted that by the year 2048, the ocean will be devoid of fish – which, if it

This one boat catches this amount five time a day – there are estimated to be 4.6 million fishing boats in the world occurs, would effectively end life as we know it on planet Earth. That is 27 years from now folks!

In an effort to discover exactly what would happen to the world if there were no more fish in the ocean, the researchers analysed all kinds of data. What they found was much worse than they suspected. “I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are – beyond anything we suspected,” Worm said.

After doing 32 thorough experiments on a variety of marine environments, the

team of researchers looked at the history from the past 1,000 years in 12 different coastal regions around the world. Then they analysed fishery data from 64 marine ecosystems and how nearly 50 protected ocean areas recovered after their protection.

The news was not good. Overfishing, habitat loss, climate change (yes), and pollution are driving numbers of most species into a faster and faster decline. Keep in mind that this study was published back in 2006, but since then not much has improved. When the study was released, just over 1% of the ocean was deemed protected. As of last year, the World Database on Protected Areas – run by the United Nations Environment Programme – reported that only 7% of the ocean is protected, and much of that is only token protection that isn’t effectively enforced.

“This isn’t predicted to happen,” said Nicola Beaumont, a PhD at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK, “This is happening now”

The team of researchers responsible for the study said that the loss of species isn’t a slow moving phenomenon, either. We’re accelerating the problem even as we talk about fixing it. And it’s not only an issue of food for humans, just in case you’re thinking that no fish only means no more cod and chips. Everything in the ocean plays a vital role; think of it as the greatest balancing act ever, and everything involved depends on everything else to stay in sync.

Human beings are the proverbial brick in the washing machine, if you will. Species in the ocean play a vital role in our own survival; among their accidental benefits to human life is filtering toxins from the ocean and controlling algae blooms, which, if left uncontrolled by nature, can have disastrous effects on the planet. (see the Sargasso issue on page 109).

Of course, mass slaughter and over consumption are not the only problems. Climate change, created by humans, also plays its part. Around 50% of the oxygen we breathe is present in the atmosphere thanks to phytoplankton (photosynthetic organisms that live on the surface of oceans). People often think that trees are the reason we have breathable air, but without phytoplankton, oxygen would decrease by about 50%.

Scientists estimate that the oceans absorb around a million tonnes of carbon dioxide EVERY HOUR. As a result our seas have become 30% more acidic than they were 30 years ago. This increased acidity plays havoc with levels of calcium carbonate, which forms the shells and skeletons of many sea creatures, and also disrupts reproductive activity. These threats have led to the phenomenon of ocean acidification being dubbed global warming’s ‘equally evil twin’. The acidity of seawater will increase dramatically and that would alter the rain that falls on our crops. Our livestock eat grass and crops.

No fish – no crops – no livestock – no humans. Simple.

If we were to lower consumption it would give us the time to reduce emissions, but at this rate you will have eaten them all long before we get the chance.

In my youth, l lived all over the world but it was whilst developing a Scuba Resort in La Paz on the Sea of Cortez in Baja California, Mexico and living my life Shark fins drying on an apartment roof, replenished every three days

obsessively diving at a site called El Bajo, that my eyes were opened. El Bajo is a seamount, a mountain under the sea that reaches to within 30metres. of the surface having risen from the depths, and famous for schooling Hammerhead sharks. This social display of up to 3,000 Scalloped and Great Hammers circling the mount is one of the most awe-inspiring sights l have ever witnessed. Now bear in mind that with economically vital dive tourism, all fish, but especially the headline act, are worth far more alive than dead. Eat it once and it’s gone or charge people to view it a thousand times. The maths don't lie.

On the way back to the dock, I would often see a Mexican fishing crew on a small island and wonder what they were doing until the day I pulled my boat onto the beach and went to investigate.

Nicola Beaumont PhD , Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK What I found changed my life forever. A large mound of juvenile Hammerhead heads. The stink was appalling and I counted 750 in eight piles. Why just the heads, I wondered, until I questioned one of my dive staff and learnt that their bodies go into ceviche, which is a cheap local dish sold by the hundredweight to tourists and natives alike. They were fully aware they were legally banned from using shark, so they chopped the heads off, finned the carcass and pulverised the lot so that no one would know. A friend of mine dived there last year and over the course of 14 dives he didn’t see one single Hammerhead. Not one...

This is the problem. Take the babies and there are no more of anything. I was so furious I started the Cortez Conservation Club, and after taking guerrilla action day after day – including cutting gill nets, sabotaging boats, handing leaflets to tourists, pestering the authorities and publishing pictures – in an attempt to draw attention to this economic tragedy, l was ‘requested’ to leave the country and my life was threatened if I ever returned. I did leave but only a few miles down the beach into Belize where l continued my rabid actions.

planet’s ever-expanding population, munching their way through the world’s fish stocks at a rate that can never, ever, be replenished.

It’s a chain. Think of a necklace – remove one link and the entire thing falls apart. Now imagine that the links can never be re-created – there we have the problem. No matter how smart we humans are, we cannot replicate a species once it has gone. When one type of fish has gone, it will begin the rapid collapse of the entire system.

Three comments I heard with annoying regularity when I used to lecture on this subject were: ‘You eat cows, pigs and sheep, what’s the difference’?

For any of you out there who might be thinking the same thing, your total ignorance defies belief. We can count the cows and know exactly how many we have. We can help them breed and maintain a healthy lifestyle. You cannot count fish, and when they are gone, they are gone and we will never know it until some lump of lard sitting in a sushi restaurant eats the last one. The second is: ‘Oh, there’s plenty of fish and they will never run out’. The words I have for you on this question I have been informed by the legal team, I cannot print. Total, blindingly stunning, stupendous, embarrassing ignorance!

The third is: ‘No problem, we can survive on farmed fish’. Farmed fish eat their own waste, so go right ahead. Also, it takes four kilos of dried fish to feed one kilo of farmed fish. You do the maths!

It is too simplistic to say ’stop eating fish,’ but for pity’s sake, reduce your fish intake and give them time to recover. It has been shown that if humans ate 50% less fish, the ocean stocks could recover within 25 years. But no, you are all too busy to bother with silly things like this; therefore, you will join the other lemmings and eat them all. What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask, ‘Grandie, where have all the fish gone?’ Your response: ‘We ate them all’.

There might be time. Reduce your fish intake by 50% and show this article to your children. Or die.

Now we have thousands of factory boats across the globe netting 100,000 fish at a time, the Japanese government slaughtering whales, dolphins and every single fish species no matter how foul or diseased. Whilst on the subject, 10 years ago their fishing boats reported a dramatic fall in the catch of Blue Fin Tuna, so favoured by those who like to eat raw fish (Sushi), so instead of investigating and launching urgent research, they simply agreed to a raising of the price of Blue Fin, which sent every ablebodied captain rushing to the boats. Utter madness. This year a world record was set for the sale of a single large Blue Fin Tuna - $3.1 million US Dollars – FOR A SINGLE BLOODY FISH! They will not be content until they have eaten every last one and will then proceed to eat everything else in the ocean. The same goes for every other fish eater amongst this My son Ben and l releasing a Loggerhead turtle, rescued from becoming Turtle soup