MAN´S BLOODPRINT: FIRST BRING THEM NEAR EXTINCTION AND NEXT WORRY ABOUT SAVING THEM

By Salvatore Scimino & Gundhramns Hammer
July 22, 2013

Source: ISSF

- Dad, can we go to the ocean to see a tuna fish?, asked the 5 year old daughter to her father.

- I´m afraid that this is not possible anymore. There are no more tuna left in the ocean, replied her father. 

The little girl was a little bit confused because when her father talked about tuna fish it sounded to her as if it was just yesterday when he had been working on a giant factory fishing vessel in the Pacific Ocean.

But nevertheless, she asked her father:

- Dad, what happened to the tunas?

- We people exterminated them. We overfished them, he told her with a knot in his throat.

- Why didn´t you leave any?, she queried.

The father feeling somewhat uneasy, with a voice mixed with sadness and anger he exclaimed:

- Because we are stupid. We never learn and never will. 

- Anyway, it´s getting too late. I think it is time for you to go to bed, he hurried her up into bed.

That night, the little girl dreamed of swimming with a school of tuna fish. She found them in the bay near her home and the fish befriended her. She had a long conversation with the fish. Her friends related to her what had happened to the tuna people.

Next morning she woke up sad. She ran to the bookcase downstairs and quickly pulled out a guide of marine fishes. After leafing through a few pages, she came to a stop. There in front of her eyes was a photograph of a beautiful Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). The bottom of the picture said that it was the last one of its kind.

The newspaper her father had just picked up outside was dated Thursday, 23 April 2032.


This fiction could become soon a reality. Man is working on it.

His "sapiens" insapience is such that he exterminates first and then he asks the questions.

First shoot them, kill them, overfish them, bring them close to extinction and next worry about saving them

Man, the biggest predator that has ever walked on Earth is on his way to exterminating the marine fish stocks. The way he is going pretty soon there will not be a single specimen of tuna, shark and any other commercial fishes left in the oceans.

His ambition is limitless but he lacks common sense, and the few of his own kind that have some are seldom or never listened to or are bluntly ignored.

He almost exterminated the American bison (Bison bison) and it was only yesterday that he killed off the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). A few hundred years ago man hunted the last Dodo bird (Rhaphus cucullatus). The list of animals that he has exterminated is long. 

Man´s bloodprint is long and thick.

Right now in some parts of the world, he is mounting campaigns to exterminate Common Pigeons (Columba livia) and the Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) because he considers them pests when the pest is himself! 

First, man makes the stupid mistake of introducing animal species in a different land or country for sports, homesickness or greedy commerce and later on when the animals escape and multiply in the new environment, the so-called "invasive species", he worries about the offset of the natural balance. 

But what´s more invasive on Earth than man, anyway?

Next he gets busy mass killing them (Video 1). In this mass extermination not only fall the "invasive species" but also the unlucky  native animals that get in the way. 

                                Video 1. Operation Bye Bye Blackbird in the United States.

Sturnus vulgaris has been introduced in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and North America. This species is just one of the many that Europeans have taken with them wherever they go.

In the United States this bird is experiencing an overpopulation due to the numerous cattle feed lots (CAFOs) where there is a lot of animal feed waste. 

So the bottom line of this problem is man himself with his massive imprisonment of cattle in mega-farms. 

In other words, his vice for beef consumption has indirectly caused the Sturnus vulgaris population increase.

Man (Homo insapiens) practices a "animal species management philosophy" of first shoot them, kill them, overhunt them, overfish them and next, when they are on the verge of extinction, worry about them. 

Well, worry about some of them, at least those that have some economic value or aesthetic and/or phylogenetic interest to him. The other might as well go to hell!

Some experts point out that planet Earth is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, as great as the other five or more that occurred in ancient times.

This sixth mass extinction is due to various anthropogenic factors such as:

• Killing
• Overhunting
• Overfishing
• Introduction of exotic or invasive species into new habitats
• Destruction of habitats
• Pollution

No animal is safe. 

African elephants, rhinos and hundreds of other animal species are on his black list of extinction, directly through hunting or illegal poaching or indirectly through habitat destruction, poisoning or chemical pollution.

In the oceans, because of the ever increasing demand for seafood, fishes are being harvested to the last one to feed the overfed humans and pets alike in the "first world" nations.

His sophisticated fishing technology is causing severe damage to marine ecosystems. Fish populations are dropping dramatically. He has put some species on the brink of extinction. 

Is man going to wait until the fish stocks in the oceans are depleted to react and do something sapiens?


End of the line

Man´s negative impact on the world´s oceans is explored and exposed by filmmaker Rupert Murray in his timely documentary "End of the Line" (Video 2).

Text source: YouTube
View original

As the world's demand for fish and other seafood increases and the technology available to commercial fisherman becomes more sophisticated, the annual harvest from global seaports has grown tremendously in recent years. However, the rise of industrialized fishing has not come without consequences, and many environmentalists and oceanographers believe that the current demand for fish and the methods used to fulfill it are taking an irreparable toll on the world's oceans, with some speculating that the seas could be literally fished-out by 2048 if current trends do not change. Filmmaker Rupert Murray offers an in-depth look at the crisis in the world's oceans in the documentary End of the Line, in which experts discuss some of the key factors behind the looming shortage -- increased demand for endangered species, irresponsible methods employed by major fishing lines, lax enforcement of current regulations -- and what can be done to head off the famine before it's too late.

                                                                         SPANISH

                                           Video 2. End of the Line (Salvemos nuestros océanos).


                                                                     ENGLISH:

                                                                    Click HERE

With such a long and thick bloodprint behind him, is man ever going to learn?

References

Kunich J. C. (2006). Killing Our Oceans: Dealing with the Mass Extinction of Marine Life. Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, USA. 245 p.