Let"s Kill Krill

OK, I'm not into posting much. I'm not smart enough to keep things going and haven't got the ability or patience to "combat" nay sayers. But I've just finished watching a show on TV called Hugh's Fish Fight. Actually, I didn't think I would want to watch it, but to keep my beautiful wife happy, I just went along with it.

Boy am I glad I did. It really opened my eyes to the huge potential there is to completely wipe out the food chain.

My attention was peaked when I saw him on a "modern krill trawler". Tons and tons of the stuff was being processed. They had their own science tech on board to measure the fatty acid content of their catch to see if was sufficient for human consumption. she took about 800ml ( a guestimate on my side), stuck it in a blender, and then used about 50ml of the mash to get a couple of drops to measure the fatty acid content. All that dead krill for such a tiny bit used.

Added to that, out of the total catch, only about 20% remains after the water is removed.

He then experimented in the galley to cook up "battered krill munchies" and the ship's cook used it in a seafood soup. Apparently it was not much different to any other seafood soup and the battered crunchies were a big success.

so here we have this floating processing machine sucking up the base line product for almost all larger life in the ocean.

Am I off the mark here or could there really be a threat?

Anyway, back to the TV show. The actual load of krill on that particular trip wasn't good enough, so close to the whole catch was destined for pet food or commercial fish pellets.

He then took a trip to part of antarctica controlled by Britain. We got to see the remains of the whaling industry where they used to process whales and that only finished due to the "massive drop in whale population" and the industry collapsed.

so there we have it, human greed and the chase for the almighty dollar or yen or pound or euro (you get my point?) means that, imo, there's a huge potential for we humans to rape the ocean of krill to a point of possible no return.

Just imagine, we take out the smallest member of the food chain. There go the whales, there go the little fish, there go the medium fish. The oceans head towards an ecological desert. (I have seen something similar where acres of bush are replaced with pine plantations. Walk along the pine rows and there's nothing. No birds, no lizards. A thriving ecosystem replaced by .... trees and nothing else .......... but at least there is timber to be soaked in poisons to keep insects out)

Apparently you can already buy packaged/tinned krill in Japan and a couple of other asian countries, you can already buy "krill capsules" (he paid over $40 for a bottle of them) to help relieve arthritis, colesterol problems, improve concentration and the list goes on so the sales lass said in the show.

so please ats'ers, give your take on this.

Personally, I think it's too late. The gate is now open and the horse has bolted. I can see many more floating krill factories in the future

My take on the future ............. not much chance of life just chugging along until the biggest virus on earth is removed.

sorry in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes

Most people don't realize that we are in the middle of the Holocene extinction event, it started at the end of the ice age, continues to pick up speed, and it's intertwined with human development. No other species on Earth has had the impact on natrual habitats that we have. Exponential growth in a finite Universe is pretty much impossible, but on a long enough time scale, all of our survival rates are zero (Including the Earth, which will be consumed by our local Star one day in the far, far future). Enjoy the ride while you can, because none of us are getting out of here alive

reply to post by greatfriendbadfoe


You make a very valid and brilliant point actually..

Our technologies, industrialised in a trawler like this completely speed up the process of vacuuming up what keeps the world turning.

It's sad actually to see, especially as the whole point of the 'big fish fight' (Hugh's campaign) was the preservation of fish stocks.

When man lived in synergy with the world then natures larder accommodated the demand....... Now mankind is just a virus or parasite stripping the planet........

I strongly believe in Gaia theory and think that sooner (rather than later) life on this little blue rock will become a lot harder than we can imagine..

Rgds

PDUK

You have made yourself perfectly clear. If you want to share something, simply post it along with your arguments.
You don't need to discus with others. But try to stay open for any reasonable explanation.

I feel terrible sometimes about what people do. Not getting back as far as the last ice age. But our presence is causing extinction. Every but since we started the industrial age the number species that go extinct every decade gets higher. The last century is filled with animals we know for sure, existed. We got to see the last specimens and documented it. The more you get closer to the 60 of last century the more extinction is taking place.

I have created a thread once about that exact topic. I'll link you to it. I tried to add pictures of species and show our part in their demise. I started with the last ice age, to show the undeniable link we have in the process.

The shocking reality of modern day extinction.

To answer your question.

There is lots of krill around, since we emptied the seas from most of the animals that eat krill. I expect there will be a lot more around of the stuff you can imagine.

I do believe we shouldn't start to simply start to take a step down on the food scale and fish it out as fast we can.
Horrible results have showed us what happens if you keep on catching everything you can everywhere possible.
Empty seas. We now prohibit large parts to remain protected, so the fish can be safe there and will populate the sea around. But we are a late and still need more to feed the people.

It would be better if we would leave krill alone and try to create the fish to increase in numbers.

The Holocene extinction event isn't just an event. Scientists have already said that the loss of species are numbers that would only be seen at a mass extinction in such a short period of time.

Luckily we also keep finding life at extraordinary numbers and places. But it doesn't mean we just pretend that it's isn't that bad. Like you said, if you change something by removing or replacing species. It could end up with less variety and an empty woods.

We should protect our natural world, because the less variety there is, the more risk this creates if there really happened something that would cause extinction on a bigger scale. It makes it difficult to recover if there isn't anything left to start with.

I say that we have responsibility to our planet that we keep it as healthy as we can. If we can, we should prevent any more species lose their habitat to our needs.

In the end, my world ends in roughly estimate before the end of this century. Way before even. That is our problem. We don't care and let our problems get even bigger for future generations. Eventually we die and we want to have it all. Well some, more then most.

There should be a balance that sustains our needs and the natural world. Is not going to happen soon.
The last remaining people living a balanced life got almost wiped out in America and adapt to our ways in Australia.

Anyway... I shared way to much for just one question. But I feel the same thing you feel, not bringing it up when possible.

Good morning people. Thanks for your input. syyth007, thanks for the info on the Holocene extinction. I agree, we won't get off here alive

PDUK, Yep, he "big fish fight" show was really impactful. We are our own worst enemies, and I agree with you in that sooner rather than later we'll be in for some very hard if not just interesting times.

sinter klaas, thanks for the link to your thread, I'll wander on over and go through it and I agree, we really do just look short term don't we. I'm with you in that I'll be pushing up daisies well before the end of this century so alas, the fight for a decent ecological outcome will be left for today's young pups and future generations.

thanks again for your replies

Originally posted by Syyth007
Most people don't realize that we are in the middle of the Holocene extinction event, it started at the end of the ice age, continues to pick up speed, and it's intertwined with human development. No other species on Earth has had the impact on natrual habitats that we have. Exponential growth in a finite Universe is pretty much impossible, but on a long enough time scale, all of our survival rates are zero (Including the Earth, which will be consumed by our local Star one day in the far, far future). Enjoy the ride while you can, because none of us are getting out of here alive

The platform is Infinity! And any events are irrelevent, for Good and Giving always brings in Good and Gifts, like progression and advancing into the cosmos. So, be good and give.

reply to post by Syyth007


I mentioned this in another thread earlier, we are still in the last ice age....as long as there is ice at the poles it is an ice age. What people confuse as an ice age (where the ice covers a wider area of the Northern Hemisphere) is actually called a glacial age (I think).

I really don't mean to offend you, I only learnt that myself in the last couple of years.

But yeah, we are going to bleed the oceans dry eventually, and putting a ban on fishing near extinct species isn't going to help if we nab their food source.

We need sustainable fish farms, or knock fish off the menu for a few years, let the populations grow again.

reply to post by greatfriendbadfoe


shipping industry's dirty little secret: they run over whales a lot.

whales have a habit of approaching huge ships and they get plowed over a lot.

whales are road kill.

wtf needs the whaling industry?

reply to post by reject


good morning reject. Now that really helps me to start off the day in a good mood. I hadn't even thought of that but I guess it would have to happen and probably lots. I'll have to look up any available research on it.

Have a great day

You know what we need people?
People Predators!

That's right, because we have no predators, our population is out of control and is upsetting the balance of nature.

(enter aliens with cook books in hand)

If humans were wiped out, the planets species would not miss us at all, they would thrive.

Now, if you wiped out the Worm, or the Bee, the Earths species would be in trouble, including us.
Therefore, the lowly Worm and the busy buzzing Bee are indispensable and we are entirely dispensable.

(And Jesus said "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?")
Perhaps they are worth more, maybe just not as much as worms or bees.
(And I have never seen god feeding birds either, unless god is that crazy old man sitting on the park bench in the square.)