Review of UTNE article will be posted from discussion page.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Answers

Ocean Solitare" by Bill McKibben, May-June 98, pages 60-65 & 102-105. REVIEWED by Glenn Tracey. The approach taken by the author in delivering this information about the use and abuse of the global ocean resources is almost a defense of the peoples who have made a vast and seemingly endless supply of codfish virtually disappear. Of course by pointing the finger at the improved technology and business challenges from the "distant water fleet" he feels it is not necessary to address the exploitation of these codfish by the Canadian government and the fisherman of Newfoundland.{I'm just blowing off a little steam.} In all honesty he does try to appreciate the disappearance of a culture while dealing with a problem of serious resource depletion. The fact that the Canadian government closed there shores with a 200 mile ban on foreign fishing fleets would indicate that they were aware of the possibility that codfish numbers were being threatened. Yet this did not keep them from subsidizing the number of boatbuilders and fish processing plants in Canada that enlarged an already huge industry. The result is a collapse of a food source, possible disappearance of another species, and a destruction of the cultures that have exploited this resource. Makes you kind of wonder what could be the results of continued reliance by government on "industry experts" when dealing with natural resources. The relationship that this "fish story" has to education is obvious to any world geography instructor or GreenPeace member. We need to educate all people to the consequences of continued ECONOMIC development, which left unregulated, or in the hands of experts, can result in the loss of habitat and collapse of biological diversity. Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention that the fishing industry is now using the world grain supply, and even better, the so-called "Salmon Chow"{must not be an important part of the ocean} that is being harvested and ground up to provide the fish farms with food to dump into their tanks. That is kind of what this article is doing is making the assumption that by hard work and good management of the resources we have left we can still look forward to maintaining our oceans, which I feel is a scary assumption given the past history of resource exploitation in our society and culture.

Answered by Glenn Tracey (gtracey@d.umn.edu) on November 09, 1998.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1998

Glen It is my belief that if the Canadian Government was not subsidising the boat building industry, then the boats would cost too much for the fishers to buy new boats when needed. Good old economics would take care of the issue, for if the fishers could not afford to fish any longer, then they would be forced into finding another ocupation. Therefore, maybe we should tell the government to stop meddling in our lives, and let suply and demand work its course.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 1998