One billion people rely on fish as an important source of
protein. - WWF
An international group of ecologists and economists warned
that the world will run out of seafood by 2048 - Washington Post
The
looming collapse of fisheries threatens the most important source of food for
250 million people. - The Earth's Carrying Capacity - Bruce
Sundquist
According to the UNFAO, about 70 per cent of our global
fisheries are now being fished close to, already at, or beyond their capacity. -
The Earth's Carrying Capacity - Bruce Sundquist
As many as 90 per cent of
all the ocean's large fish have been fished out. - WWF
one per cent of
the world's Industrial fishing fleets account for 50 per cent of the world's
catches. - CNN
Government subsidies of over $15 billion a year play a
major role in creating the worlds fishing fleets.- WWF
The global fishing
fleets are 250 per cent larger than the oceans can sustainably support.-
WWF
Only 0.6 per cent of the worlds oceans are designated as protected.-
WWF
A Greenpeace report states that 40 per cent of the worlds oceans
should be placed in nature reserves. - MSNBC
In 2004, 13,000 new marine
species were discovered, according to the Census of Marine Life. - Census of
Marine Life
Japan has caught $6 billion worth of illegal Southern Bluefin
tuna over the past 20 years. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Over
the past 50 years World consumption of tuna has increased tenfold, from 0.4
million to over 4 million tonnes. - Environmental Justice Foundation
In
2000 tuna long liners set 1.2 billion hooks catching untold number of turtles,
seabirds and sharks. - WWF
Fifteen species of sharks have seen their
numbers drop by 50 per cent in the last 20 years. - National
Geographic
Illegal fishing is worth up to $9 billion a year. - Illegal
Fishing.info
Troubled Waters.
Solution?
Simple. Do not be part of this madness at the end of the human consumption chain at the stores.
Yes. If you dig deep into this mess you will be surprised to find that the fishing industry is now part of the world´s transnational mafia.
Fishing companies have been penetrated by the organised crime and are using fishing or overfishing to do heavy laundering money. They use thousands of phantom firms conveniently registered in tax havens for this purpose.
Putting aside the exceptions, the fishing industry - in cahoots with the container shipping industry which has also been infiltrated by the mafia - is implicated in the following illegal activities:
Illegal fishing,
Human trafficking,
Kidnapping humans to enslave them on fishing vessels or on fish processing plants,
Human jerky, human meat and organs trafficking,
Bushmeat trafficking,
Ivory trafficking,
Rhino horn trafficking,
Diamond trafficking,
Gold trafficking,
Coltan trafficking,
Rare earths trafficking,
Strategic minerals trafficking,
Wildlife trafficking,
Marine mammal parts trafficking,
Endangered mammal furs trafficking,
Illegal hunting trophies trafficking,
Fuel trafficking for narco-boats and narco-submarines,
Luxury cars and auto parts trafficking,
Airplane and helicopter genuine and fake parts trafficking,
ElAguilucho
Cenizoes la
rapaz europea que ha tenido un mayor descenso en su población en los últimos 15
años. Es una de las pocas rapaces que cría en el suelo, eligiendo prados
naturales. La expansión de la agricultura sustituye este tipo de vegetación por
praderas cerealistas, en armonía con modalidades de cultivo ancestrales que
ofrecían un lugar perfecto para la nidificación de los aguiluchos. Esta armonía
se rompe con la llegada de la agricultura productivista, donde se sustituyenvariedades de cereal de ciclo largopor lasactuales de ciclo cortopara recolectar a mediados de junio.
En estas fechas las aves se encuentran en plena época de desarrollo de pollos y
son incapaces de volar, por lo que son atrapados por las cosechadoras, dándoles
muerte o dejándolos mutilados.
El Aguilucho
Cenizo está protegido por la legislación europea, clasificado según el Libro
Rojo de los Vertebrados en España comoVulnerable a
la Extinción,
por la destrucción de su hábitat natural, y es responsabilidad de la Junta de Andalucía
protegerlo para evitar que la especie desaparezca
definitivamente de nuestros campos.
La Junta de Andalucía activó un Programa Regional del Aguilucho
Cenizo, con el que se localizaban los nidos y se marcaban para evitar
que las cosechadoras afectasen directamente a las nidadas. Sin embargo, el Programa Regional del Aguilucho Cenizo
lleva parado desde 2011, y los aguiluchos han sido abandonados a su fatal
suerte.
Reclamamos
a la Junta de
Andalucía que busque una solución al problema, que se
reactive en 2015 el Programa Regional del Aguilucho Cenizo, conveniando
fincas con presencia de la especie y subvencionando variedades
de cereal deciclo largopara evitar afecciones fatales a las
poblaciones Andaluzas.
Tu firma es importante para salvar al Aguilucho Cenizo (Circus pygardus)!
SAVING THE MONTAGU´S HARRIER, THE MOST ENDANGERED BIRD OF PREY IN EUROPE
TheMontagu's HarrieristheEuropean bird of preythathashadthe biggest declineinitspopulationinthelast15years.It isoneofthefewbirds of preywhichbreedsontheground,choosingnaturalmeadows.Theexpansionofagriculturereplacedthistypeofvegetationwithcerealcrops,which had been in harmonywithancientcultivationmethods and offeredaperfectplaceforthebreedingoftheHarriers.Thisharmonyisbrokenwiththearrivaloftheproductivistagriculture or intensive cereal farming,wherelong cycle cerealvarieties are substituted bythecurrent shortcyclevarieties to be hatvested in mid-June.Atthistimethebirdsareat the heightofdevelopmentin the nests andareunable to fly,so they aretrappedbytheharvesting machines,killingthemorleavingthem mutilated.
TheMontagu's HarrierisprotectedbyEuropeanlegislation,classifiedaccording totheRedBook: Vertebrates inSpainasVulnerabletoextinction due to thedestructionofitsnaturalhabitat,and it is the responsibilityoftheJuntadeAndalucía(Governing Body of Andalusia) to protectittoavoidthatthis speciesdisappears forever fromourfields.
TheJuntadeAndalucíaactivatedaRegionalprogramme oftheMontagu´s Harrier by which the bird nestswerelocatedandmarkedtoavoidthatthe harvesters directlyaffected the clutches. However,theRegionalprogramme oftheMontagu's Harrierhas been inactive since 2011,which means that this species has beenabandonedtoits own fate.
We asktheGovernmentofAndalusia to seek asolutiontothis problem, reactiving theRegionalprogramme oftheMontagu's Harrier in2015,searching conservation agreements with the farmers whose farms have the presenceofthespecies, subsidizingthem for planting longcyclecerealvarietiestopreventfatallosses in theAndalusian populations of this harrier.
Your signature is important to save the Montagu´s Harrier (Circus pygardus)!
If you are thinking of impresing you neighbour with an expensive item, you may fall prey to the snakeskin print fashion trend which is putting some wild populations of reptiles on the verge of extinction.
This trend is spreading like powder all over the world. The demand for reptile skin products is so great that this industry is indeed contributing to the destruction of wild snake populations.
In Indonesia, for example, people have set up a true reptile skin mafia which is behind the big fashion firms at the other end of the line.
And this means animal suffering.
We humans do not have any right to put through hell any snakes, for this is exactly what happening at the snake slaughterhouses (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Horror and cruelty at the snake slaughterhouses in Indonesia. Source: Williams (2015).
"In Vietnam snakes are often inflated with air compressors until they finally
suffocate, elsewhere the reptiles are skinned alive after being nailed to a
tree", explains Rob Williams (2015) in a recent report on The Independent.
Our attitude must change if we want to survive as a species. We depend entirely on the health of the environment.
In the wild, snakes play an important role in the ecosystem´s functioning. Take them away and there will be an explosion of their prey such as wild rodents which will eat the crops. This is already happening in some parts of the world.
So it is a good thing leaving snakes alone.
Furthermore, we must keep snakes from going into extinction.
Thus, an important thing you can do to help snakes is NOT buying any reptile skin leather product.
Not even if it is conveniently labelled "ecologically sustainable", for reptiles in farming exploitations depend on meat coming from animal factories (chickens, pigs, cows, etc.) which are totally antibiospherical by themselves, thereby bringing down the "sustainable" tag.
The following will inform you more about Indonesia´s reptile skin mafia:
This shocking report has already been forcing change at the highest levels of
Swiss politics. Travelling to Indonesia, it reveals the brutal roots of the
world's luxury reptile skin industry.
"Move over leopard, the star animal
print this year is snake!" For the image-conscious elite, snake skin handbags
come at a price, but not with a conscience. Tracing the supply chain back to its
violent origins, it appears even protected reptiles are not safe. In the
rudimentary slaughterhouses instant death is not guaranteed and often the snakes
are skinned alive. Laws exist to prevent this, but they are easily circumvented.
With illegal snake skin supplying the major fashion houses the industry has a
lot of power, which the UN regulating body has failed to control. "Overall the
policy makers involved in this trade must accept that there are a range of major
problems". [Video 1]
Video 1. The gruesome story behind the high fashion reptile skin purses.
An ailing elephant who had been shot with a poacher's poisoned arrow was saved
by a team of heroic vets in Kenya.On September 15th, medics from the David
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Kenya Wildlife Service treated the bull quickly
after it had been felled by an ivory poacher in Tsavo National Park.Once the
deadly arrow was removed and the wound was cleaned, the team administered long
acting antibiotics ensuring that the elephant made a full recovery. Rob
Brandford, Director of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, confirmed that the
animal would have died if it wasn't for the amazing efforts of the emergency
team.
Find out more about the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
here:
