A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
of Creation, every day, 100 plant and animal species are lost to deforestation and the about 27,000 species a
year are lost.
Take the example of fish. Eating fish is good for health. Fish used to form 25 percent of our diet. Now it is a
fraction of that. Some of us take supplements to compensate for this loss. Yet, we throw vast quantities of
dead or dying fish back into the sea: nearly a third by weight in the North Sea, 1.3 million tonnes annually or
13 per cent catch in the North Atlantic and 75 % of red fish worldwide. Of those thrown back live, only about
1% survive. 75% of remaining fish are under severe threat.
Under EU rules, some 40% to 60% of the fish caught are thrown back dead into the sea – think about how
fishermen feel about that! Norway, not a member of the EU, has a sane, strictly enforced policy. Fishermen
throw nothing back; they are forced to land all fish for sale; but they are severely fined if they exceed the
limits. Now the EU is considering adopting the same policy. There is a lesson here – remote, unaccountable
bureaucracies get it wrong - work out policies with those on the ground or, in this case, on the sea!
Earlier this year I was on holiday in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. I regularly went down to the beach early in the
morning to buy fish, caught a few hours before. We cooked it in the evening. It was so different from the fish
we have grown used to in supermarkets, no unpleasant smell and delicious. I chatted to the elderly
fisherman who sells fish for his younger colleagues. He told me they fish just off the coast, mainly using lines.
There is only one trawler left now as a result of the EU policy. He said there are plenty of fish and small scale
fishing does no harm to fish stocks. It is the big vessels with huge nets that have caused the problems. He
said the policy of throwing back good fish makes no sense. Fishermen had the backing of local MPs, judges
and other influential people who made representations; but it made no difference. The committees don’t
include fishermen. Brussels and Westminster don’t listen to fishermen. Nor do the inspectors who enforce
the policy or the authorities. Soon, only the big fleets will be left. As for MPs, “you might as well have fish
crates sitting in their seats for all the difference they make”!
Humans, to survive, need all diverse species – the web of life! We are part of intricate, interconnected
relationships between Planet Earth and all living things. For a sustainable future, we need to treasure and
cherish this ecological diversity of which we are a part. Surely we must recognise that other creatures have
rights too, as has been acknowledged recently in Ecuador. Satish Kumar, like Gandhi, says all nature is holy;
all life has intrinsic value. Everything is interconnected. We are who we are in relationship to others. We
need to respect different peoples, cultures and religions – and abandon violence in every form – thought,
word and deed – including violence towards other animals and the planet of which we are a part. Ecuador
has recently legislated to grant constitutional rights to nature.
We face degradation of the earth, increasing pollution, growing shortages, not only of fossil fuels, but food,
agricultural land and water and a colossal waste problem. Already scarcity is leading to conflicts. We need to
abandon the idea that we are the masters: everything is there for us to exploit and the fate of other peoples
and species is relatively unimportant.
“We have to make people realize we’re destroying the basis of all our lives.”
Winfried Blum, secretary-general of the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS).
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