reply to post by On the level
But whales are not at the bottom of the food chain.
Often when a 'critical' species like plankton decreases in numbers, a small change in numbers causes a large problem, quickly. This is because it
props up the rest of the food chain, when one link fails or weakens, the effect travels up the food chain. Think of mercury poisoning - it gradually
ends up at the top of the food chain - us, sharks and other predators.
Nature is much more fragile than you think. How many cans of tuna do you think we can keep pulling from the ocean? If you have ever heard of Tsukiji
fish markets in Tokyo, you will understand where I am coming from.
Being a video jockey (VJ) I had to get footage there. I got to the markets around 5am and shot 3 hours of footage. It is the largest fish market in
the world, the amount of captured sea critters is amazing. You can very easily get lost there. Double, triple, quadruple or more stacked boxes of fish
for hundreds of meters if not a kilometer in each direction. The market is a bustling, blade runneresque melting pot of any fish you can think of and
many you probably have not. There are 3 wheeled delivery vehicles packed with tuna, boxes, ice blocks or anything else you can think of scurrying down
tight passageways. Fish tanks filled to the brim with fish and crabs, distribution boxes packed with crabs and fish still squirming or moving (some
still alive and covered in breadcrumbs
- typical Japanese style).
The tuna room at the far end of the market is massive, roughly 100-200m wide by 40m deep with hundreds and hundreds of frozen tuna, which are
inspected and bid on each day.
This really opened my eyes - with 6bn plus people on the earth, how can we sustain this much wreckage of the sea?
Trawlers destroy the ocean floor and plant life with weighted nets, indiscriminately catching species, many of which we do not eat. Long line fishing
techniques and netting catch many a bird, dolphin or shark each year.
The solution which has been trialed here in New Zealand is protected zones, these are immensely helpful in re-juvinating the sea. I have snorkeled in
the first protected zone which is called Goat island, or Leigh. The abundance of fish was simply amazing, grand daddy snapper the size of your leg,
giant crayfish larger than some peoples thighs!
I will attach some frame grabs to simply show the size of this single fish market. No doubt most cities have a few smaller ones.. multiply this one
out for each reasonable coastal settlement and the numbers get mind boggling.
Okay I'm having issue with Sony software currently. Will download a large update and try again tomorrow!