If we truly want the change we say we desire, and turn things around, why can't we end whaling, trawling and commercial fishing overnightIJ Why cannot we expeditiously ban all the expeditions currently out in the Arctic to drill for oilIJ
Jacques Cousteau (and no matter how you pronounce it, the name still sounds cool!) had said, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever”. A French undersea explorer and a visionary, he spent years out at sea exploring and capturing images and making films about the marine world. The visuals he captured gave many their first glimpse at what lies beneath our oceans, and the diversity and drama seemed endless.
Cousteau, in fact, designed and invented what were probably the worlds first diving and scuba devices which he used to explore the unexplored. In 1968 his television series, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, had reached millions, leaving them spellbound, but it was during this time that Cousteau himself had begun to realise and saw first hand how human activity was in fact rapidly destroying the oceans. There was probably once a time not too far back when the ocean did seem endless and limitless in the bounty it held, but that bubble has burst much sooner than what many may have expected. The ocean did have a breaking point and today we’ve shattered this mega-earth system and cracked the very foundation of life on our planet.
Ivan Macfadyen, a yachtsman for 35 years, had sailed from Melbourne to San Francisco a decade back. He recounted how in 2003 on his trip he had caught a fish a day and always had the company of seabirds, dolphins, sharks, turtles or whales. This year he made the trip again and the ocean seemed unrecognisable. On the 28 days it took to get till the mid-point of the trip in Japan he had caught only two fish, and it was not only the fish that were missing, so were the birds. He felt a drastic change at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef which he felt were now barren and “unquestionably overfished”. On route a boat from a trawler came to them with bags full of fish as a ‘gift’. There must have been a 100 fish in those bags and when he said that there were only two of them onboard and this was far too much fish for them to eat, the fishermen just told them to throw them over the side, because that’s what they would do in any case.
This was the bycatch; they were trawling the ocean and anything except tuna was trash for them and was returned to the sea. Of course, all the fish caught in these giant nest are dead by that time. long lines, gill nets, purse seines and bottom trawlers are continuously and tirelessly practically running a fine sieve through and catching what they and where they can.
No wonder there were no fish, the reefs which are the nurseries of the ocean were being emptied. There was also another thing he noticed: Over the 23,000 miles Ivan covered in his voyage, 7,000 of those were through floating debris and garbage. Oil slicks, broken chairs, toys, plastic and even wooden power poles were strewn across the pacific in such density that in a lot of places he couldn’t even start the motor for fear of entangling the propeller in the pieces of rope and cable. Reality has struck home because there is nowhere to hide now and a remote island of albatrosses is caught in its midst. Midway, a film that has gone viral over the Internet shows the horror that has gripped this island and the albatrosses that breed on it.
The birds are dying in great numbers because they are ingesting plastic. Carcasses stuffed with bits of plastic that are frighteningly familiar fill their bodies and are littered all over the island. Bottle caps, lighters, little ends of toys, pens all find their way into what is now known as the ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’. The fact that we now have a name for it is far from comforting and just about shows the tip of the iceberg. At least 267 marine species have now been documented eating plastic, including barnacles, that are found in the region.
Microfragments of plastic have been found inside the barnacles, but at even this microstage of its life, the plastic passes through their digestive system and is once again in the water. Eventually, pieces of plastic that have been at sea long enough will break into even smaller microscopic particles invisible to our eye but as present as they were from the day they were created.
The solutions offered as always are idealistic and run of the mill with marine reserves and controlled and sustainable methods being flapped around as the ‘only way’. It seems we are in denial and continue to prolong and engage ourselves in conversations that lead to a bit of a green wash and nothing more. Do we need any more reports or research or expert opinions on the health of the oceanIJ What we need today is a braver world that is ready to accept that we messed up.
Perhaps the only way to fix it is by removing ourselves from the equation. If we truly want the change and turn things around, why can’t we end whaling, trawling and commercial fishing overnightIJ Kilometres of rainforests are slashed everyday to grow plantations for palm oil. Why can’t we ban all the expeditions currently out in the Arctic to drill for oilIJ The industry we have become so dependent on has become a behemoth and the argument of the livelihood of millions at stake sounds old and jaded, when what we really should be talking about is multiple billions of lifeforms directly affected by what we do.
Too few have looked for alternatives and we’ve lacked the courage to commit to something for the better good even if it was ‘inconvenient’. The impact of the changing climate is clear and present; the earth and her oceans have taken all they could and given all they can. The motive behind the production and enormous consumption is not hard to see. So what will it finally take for all of us to accept what’s happening, personally, and get up, take a stand and say, ‘Enough’IJ The Pacific and the Arctic might seem quite distant from where you are, but it’s easy to forget our planet has but one ocean. It’s only we who gave it different names.
(The writer is a wildlife film-maker)