Posted by Ross-O on June 23, 2004 at 23:24:32:
In Reply to: I appologize if i was too harsh~ posted by Brad on June 23, 2004 at 21:05:00:
Beth and I just watched an excellent article on NatGeo about the tuna cowboys from Australia who catch 250k fish each year, put them in pens, fatten them up, and then harvest them. Beth made the comment that it was sad to see the open ocean fish all penned up. I felt it but didn't say it. However, I reminded her that we have a half-dozen cans of tuna in our kitchen cabinet. We discussed if it was sad enough to never eat tuna agian?!?
The tuna cowboys also did some good stuff. They try hard to stay within the catch limits imposed by the government. They wrangle blue sharks out of the cages by hand. They do everything they can to get the more aggressive mako's & such out without killing them. They mentioned that they constantly check the nets so that the fish are less stressed and don't get hurt trashing against the sides. The fish double in size while in captivity, so they can't be treating them too bad.
There's lots of grey area out there and sometimes I think it boils down to "better choices" instead of the "absolute right choice" which is largely unknown.
Brad, I admire your passion, your sense of adventure, and the stance that you've taken. Any man who freedives Cortes Bank at night by himself from a tiny hand built skiff has my eternal respect :-)
Cheers,
Ross-O