David Levy – Trying to Fathom out why we are Hell-bent on Destruction – Dec 2013
I am off to London to take part in a day-long conference, hoping to project Marinet’s voice into a forum where mainly sympathetic voices will be attempting to explain why marine management in this country has become clogged-up, and why too little progress has been made.
This conference is taking place against a background of years of close scrutiny of what is a highly complicated and, in many respects, legal minefield — the consequence of which is that the simple need for protection has been lost.
What has scuppered us and destroyed the momentum, and will continue to do so, is the acceptance of the call for more and more scientific data to justify action. We have fallen for this delaying tactic and, in so doing, have forgotten the urgency of our mission.
I have been trying to gauge the reasons why NGOs haven’t banded together to use their collective voice to muscle forward this message of “the urgent need to act now” to the decision makers, and have come to the conclusion that the government have them constrained financially — whether it be grants for scientific research, offers of a place at the high table or threats to their charitable status if they’re political. This is my assessment and it explains their muted call to action.
Whatever the reason for this inaction, years have passed by and the so-called progress that has been made has not, and will not, arrest the deterioration in EU and our own national waters.
Where the fishing industry still has unbridled fishing rights, as with sea bass, they once again over-fish and drive the stocks towards the level of extinction. This is the current reality.
What drives this lunacy is greed — which has not changed — along with a fish wholesale and suppliers association that insists it has a divine right to provide for the consumer by operating wherever their money is good enough, regardless of the ethics of their actions.
I come now to my conclusion as to why we are hell bent on self –destruction . . . . and in my view it can be characterised by our arrogance.
We have lost our relationship with nature, and no longer question ourselves about our actions. We have this arrogance that we can affect nature, take what we want, and fix the mess we make.
This can be seen every day when we look at our agriculturally uniform fields of green, devoid of nature.
Our arrogance is there in the belief that we can GM fish stocks, and play God with the outcome of our oceans — and politicians will take the pittance these companies offer to put us at such risk.
I could write an epistle on this subject, but it will affect nothing. Today I will sit in a room along with all the other castrated NGOs and end up, as I always do, seeking allies from whatever source they may come.
