Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

e360.yale.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 202 posts

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#101

Post by superbatfish »

ryandrake wrote: post #43
pingou wrote: post #5

"With a bomb dropped once every 62 minutes, the equivalent of three football fields of reef are destroyed each year, according to Williams." That doesn't sound right.

I love the American measurement units. How many bald eagles of explosives are needed to destroy three football fields worth of reef?

The quote you're referring to came from the study's lead author, a Brit. Presumably he was referring to soccer (which everyone else calls "football"). Furthermore, a soccer field and an American football field are reasonably close in area, so it gets the point across in any case.

However, I will now refer to explosives exclusively in units of Bald Eagles when referring to their mass, and "star spangles" when referring to their energy output.

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#102

Post by orbital-decay »

boringg wrote: post #97
orbital-decay wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blast fishing has been practiced since at least early 20th century. Essentially everyone knows about it and understands how destructive it is, no social media required. Some people just don't care.

Prevalence and availability is changing. Old technique better distribution on how to.

The thought of the fishermen watching tiktok on how to poach is ludicrous. They're perfectly aware about this method and its high illegality. It might be new to some HN readers who aren't going to do this anyway, though.

>how to

Dynamite goes into the water, fish goes belly up, 90% of the catch is lost. It's not rocket science.

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#103

Post by raincole »

ungreased0675 wrote: post #77

It’s hard to believe this is real. Destroying a vibrant ecosystem for a one-time catch is so selfish and shortsighted it’s amazing to me that anyone would seriously consider doing it.

What's so hard to believe? Bomb fishing has been a common practice for decades. And poisoning fishing. And electrocuting fishing. Only first-world citizens would find these surprising in the slightest sense.

The difference between the first world and the rest of the world is that the first world has more sympathy for the non-existing, abstract humans from the distant future.

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#105

Post by epolanski »

parineum wrote: post #34
quietsignal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the selfishness of the farmer or fisherman may in certain light differ from the greed of the capitalist, if one’s family endurance depends on it.

Anything beyond ascetic maximalism will be cast as greed to the naturists and malthusians. There's always someone out there who is going to make the argument.

There aren't many more reasons but greed to destroy ecosystems with bombs and detonators.

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#106

Post by fc417fc802 »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #68
Johnny_Bonk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Casting a net is actually one of the less sustainable ways to fish.

depends on how big the net is. some of those huge trawllers do lots and lots of damage. tempeh can be crazy toxic if spoilt. there is coconut tempeh which is officially banned due to potential for toxic contamination, but which is still super popular -- and routinely kills a couple of people every year.

I'm curious. Do you mean spoiled during the production process (ie was inedible to begin with) or spoiled in storage (ie was edible at time of purchase)?

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#107

Post by WarmWash »

kridsdale1 wrote: post #82
ungreased0675 wrote: post #77

It’s hard to believe this is real. Destroying a vibrant ecosystem for a one-time catch is so selfish and shortsighted it’s amazing to me that anyone would seriously consider doing it.

People will do literally anything if they are hungry enough.

It's more like "People will do anything for money"

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#109

Post by red-iron-pine »

21asdffdsa12 wrote: post #17
voakbasda wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Ahistoric defeatism. Embraces our nature, instead of fleeing for the hills of utopism. Learn to steer it, change it. We accomplished wonders- humanity is calm and peaceful compared to what it once was. The gaming industry and cellphones alone have pacified a species whose footprint is ever shrinking. Literal monks with hypnotic glowing stones, this whole industry is a miracle and has given nature a breather it would…

ever shrinking? mon ami we're collapsing the global ecological system.

soon humanity will be the only footprint that matters.

Re: Bomb fishing is wreaking havoc on Indonesia's coral reefs

#110

Post by lenerdenator »

shevy-java wrote: post #95
BoxOfRain wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a uniquely American thing to be fair, in the UK it's not unusual to discuss area in terms of football pitches or for very large areas, Wales.

The rest of the world has moved on to the metric system. Even NASA did. UK should not hold us back with their shenanigans.

The UK is arguably worse than the US in this regard. The US has mainly stayed with a system that sticks to one measurement across use cases. If I burn fuel at a rate of x miles per y gallons, I purchase it at the pump in gallons. If Tommy Atkins burns fuel at a rate of x miles per y gallon, he purchases it at the pump in liters; there's an extra step for conversion.
Post reply on HN