David Levy – Governments offer us nothing, only a void for the future – October 2013
The news from eminent scientists around the world is unequivocal — our global fish stocks are collapsing at an alarming rate, and the efforts of the world’s politicians is pitiful and unable to stem the tide. It seems that nobody is taking this situation to the United Nations and seeking a unified solution.
Not only do we need solutions, we also need a global force with the power to enforce. What is out there is insignificant, and is ignored by all the global fleets and individuals.
The only possible solution is GPS and CCTV on all ships, and a global force the size of NASA monitoring the actions of everyone on the oceans, paid for by the nations of the world and based on the size of their fleets. Also an international court with real teeth to prosecute, and to “sink” those boats that offend. There is an overcapacity in fleets anyway.
Having just endured the process of the Reform of the CFP, and witnessed the shameful bargaining that is endemic in the EU system, I want to reach out and put pressure on the core reason behind this system.
That reason is clear — subsidies. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund’s subsidies provide part of the upkeep for the whole rotten barrel, and our politicians have tolerated these abuses for years. Our politicians govern — yet, do nothing. They need to be exposed for the Mafia they are, exporting their greed around the globe, allowing boats in the Antarctic to catch krill for food-colouring and fertiliser, all funded by subsidies on the fuel which make the whole trip profitable. It’s an abhorrence.
That is my Marinet message to Richard Benyon and our elected government. Time was when we led the world in ethics and morality. Today you lead us and the world in nothing of value – only profit, which to you is not a dirty word. To my children and their children it is not enough, and offers us only a void for the future.
