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Monday, March 12, 2007

Man plans, Cod laughs


There's something fishy about this. Apparently, codfish in the North Atlantic are dying out.

Well, no shit, Sherlock. My fishmonger could have told you that. Cod used to be a staple in poor households that couldn't afford meat, even the cheap cuts. Nowadays, fresh cod is rarer and more expensive than smoked salmon.

But according to the wonks behind this study, it's nothing to do with the fact that we've had half of all boats in Europe out dredge-netting the region for cod for the past forty years.

It's global warming. Isn't it always global warming?

But if it was global warming, then why aren't the cod being found further north, up by Iceland?

This EU-funded research neatly sidesteps blaming overfishing by the European fleet for devastating cod stocks. And anyone who believes its thesis that we haven't wiped out cod simply by eating too many of them will be prepared to let the same boats overfish the next species.

Global warming is becoming a cover story for all sorts of other nasties. It's a classic example of vested interests hijacking the environmental banner for their own reasons.

An ancient Jewish saying has it that while man plans, God laughs. Well, if we plan fish stocks and fishing rights on the basis of this type of junk science, then the last laugh's on us. Apart from the cod, who we'll have eaten to extinction by then.

By the way, that picture of the man with the fish above? That's the size a cod is supposed to grow to. When was the last time you saw a cod that size? When was the last time you saw a cod, full stop?

kick it on kick.ie

4 comments:

Flirty Something said...

that cod doesn't have fingers - obviously deformed by global warming.

? said...

This breaks my heart. We are stripmining the planet and are too fucking stupid to care or see the future for our actions.

Brian Damage said...

I read it in my old geography book that we're actually in the middle of a transitional period between ice ages, so technically, the world should start to cool down soon. Global cooling, then.

Global warming may be real, but it's a simple cop-out on the part of all scientists. Well pointed out using the cod; Donegal Catch cod now comes from New Zealand.

Anonymous said...

Actually theres plenty of cod and other species up near Iceland. most Irish supermarkets and a lot of fishmongers import their fish from Iceland, Faroes, Norway etc. These countries didnt sell out to the EU but are also further north so maybe global warming is an issue. Many Irish boats are dumping cod at sea right now, so cod would be available but EU rules say we must dump at sea so we dont go over our quotas. Its absolute rubbish but we dont seem to care. Meanwhile, we keep importing.