David Levy – The Benefits of Empire – Mar 15
by David Levy
Marinet Ltd, Chair/Director
We should be proud in these desperate times that our ancestors established the greatest Empire the World has ever known. Today the benefits are realised through our Commonwealth and foreign connections and all the historic friendships we have made around the globe.
So it is a positive move to create marine reserves around our territorial waters in those distant islands and lands that Great Britain still retains its influence. Pitcairn Islands and Chagos Islands already delivered as reserves, and how many more opportunities?
We can lead the world once again, protecting pristine oceanic habitats and reef species just because of our past history and those organisations who still remind us of what is possible.
Foremost amongst those organisations is the Zoological Society of London whose formal structure has delivered a sound policy of conservation and protection in the natural world. It spawned the Godfather of environmental education, Sir David Attenborough. So they are very relevant to modern man and should be listened to in matters of overseas influence.
Why is it we can behave so well in foreign climes, but act so irresponsibly in our own home seas?
My evaluation is that our politicians, and the Ministries responsible, are so entrapped by the actions of our neighbours in the fight for fishing rights that they have lost both the ability to do what is right and the sense to follow the law. Add to that the failure to exercise our national right to enforce what is in our best interests in our territorial waters, and there you have the mesh of issues which, if we could get real sense to prevail in all these spheres, would mean that we could leave something beneficial for future generations.
Alas the way we are currently going, it seems as if foreign ships will invade our marine reserves as global fish stocks collapse, and we will have no Navy to enforce anything worthwhile, whilst our home waters will be degraded beyond help.
