Does the recent global recession make it hard to raise funds and awareness?
The economy makes it tough but if fishing was done more sustainably, then we could put a lot more people to work. For instance, retiring some of these 400-foot factory ships that don’t employ very many people and are doing unbelievable environmental damage would actually create jobs. But right now in Washington the topics du jour are the recession, healthcare and the two wars we’ve got going. So this does get pushed down the ladder, even though this issue actually touches on every one of those issues. What’s the good news? That mostly, it’s merely a cessation of unsustainable human activity. It’s not creating some complicated and expensive gizmo. We need to manage our fish stocks, set conservative catch limits and not fish in breeding hot spots. These are basic things. The fact that scientists think that we have a couple of decades to turn things around, if we act now, is the ultimate good news. How can people get involved? Join Oceana and become a Wavemaker or join another ocean conse
