The Last of the Bluefin Tuna? • Hacker News Board

Re: The Last of the Bluefin Tuna?

#21

Post by billswift » Sat, Nov 14, 2009, 10:32 PM UTC

physcab wrote: post #2

From the Monterey Bay SeaFood Watch application I have on my Iphone... "Rating: Avoid - All populations of bluefin tuna are being caught faster than they can reproduce. Bluefin is being further depleted by ranching operations that collect small bluefin and raise them to full size to sell primarily to the sushi market" Best alternatives are: Albacore (U.S Pacific), Bigeye, Skipjack (Troll), Yellowfin.

If you eat canned fish, try Jack Mackerel. It's cheaper and in my opinion tastes better than canned tuna or salmon.

Re: The Last of the Bluefin Tuna?

#22

Post by rrhyne » Sun, Nov 15, 2009, 6:05 AM UTC

akamaka wrote: post #11

rrhyne wrote: post #9

All fish are being caught faster than they can reproduce. I've experienced it first hand having fished offshore for 20 years. In those 20 years, I've seen stocks decline drastically across many, many species. Cut your fish consumption to 1/5 of your current consumption now, or you are the problem.

No, don't cut your consumption, that's just burying your head in the sand and lowering prices for someone else. This isn't a situation like reducing the amount of trash you throw out, where every little bit makes a difference. (throwing out less trash doesn't incentivize other people to throw out more.) The only solution to protecting a limited shared resource is through agreement (government regulation and internati…

I really hate I didn't come back and reply to this. Since when is contributing to the problem less, burying your head?

I agree share resource is the answer, but it'll never happen. YOU however can make a change today by not going to all you can eat sushi.

Re: The Last of the Bluefin Tuna?

#23

Post by akamaka » Mon, Nov 16, 2009, 5:28 PM UTC

rrhyne wrote: post #22

akamaka wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, don't cut your consumption, that's just burying your head in the sand and lowering prices for someone else. This isn't a situation like reducing the amount of trash you throw out, where every little bit makes a difference. (throwing out less trash doesn't incentivize other people to throw out more.) The only solution to protecting a limited shared resource is through agreement (government regulation and internati…

I really hate I didn't come back and reply to this. Since when is contributing to the problem less, burying your head? I agree share resource is the answer, but it'll never happen. YOU however can make a change today by not going to all you can eat sushi.

Limiting the use of the resource will happen one way or another, whether is through government control or mother nature not providing us more fish.

Pretending that eating less fish is going to make a difference in the long term is ignoring the fact that most people aren't going to follow your advice. Consumption of expensive foods is growing around the world, so if demand for fish is lowered in North America, that will drive down the price and allow people in poorer countries to consume more fish, resulting in an economic equilibrium.

The best thing we can have is very high domestic demand for fish, which will bring large earnings to the domestic fishing industry, and motivate them to secure their livelyhoods in the long term by pressuring the government to take action against less ethical foreign fisheries.