Good news!
France's Minister for the Environment has announced today that he will be asking for an international ban on the catching of bluefin tuna. If the motion is approved, the ban should be effective by the end of 2011.
French environmentalists were quick to jump the gun and demand that the ban take effect right away, but the French Ministry wants to give France's tuna fishery time to recycle itself. Fishermen are up in arms, as always, claiming that they are victims of the environmental and animal rights' movement.
While I feel for the fishermen who will lose their jobs, the inevitable extinction of the tuna -and other fish- will have similar consequences, on top of the disappearance of important species. The question is, should the job loss happen overnight, or should it be drawn out over a couple of years, while fishing towns whittle down to nothing, fishermen grow too old to train for new jobs, and fish become scarce?
While I feel for the fishermen who will lose their jobs, the inevitable extinction of the tuna -and other fish- will have similar consequences, on top of the disappearance of important species. The question is, should the job loss happen overnight, or should it be drawn out over a couple of years, while fishing towns whittle down to nothing, fishermen grow too old to train for new jobs, and fish become scarce?
It's a small step, and though I doubt every tuna fishing country will be signing on, it's a small glimmer of hope for the majestic bluefin. I just hope that saving the bluefin does not come at the price of other tuna species.
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