Hard to unsee
I started reading “The end of the Line” from Charles Clover, about overfishing.
I expected a tough read. I knew fish populations were collapsing and trawling was destroying the seabed while scooping up tons of sea life.
But it had stayed theoretical.
When we saw the pelagic super trawler in Whalsay, pride of the locals, I just thought it was an unwise investment. Fish populations are declining. Trawling will have to stop.
Then I opened Charles Clover’s book, and the very first paragraph hit me hard.
“Imagine what people would say if a band of hunters strung a mile of net between two immense all-terrain vehicles and dragged it at speed across the plains of Africa. This fantastical assemblage, like something from a Mad Max movie, would scoop up everything in its way: predators, such as lions and cheetahs, lumbering endangered herbivores, such as rhinos and elephants, herds of impala and wildebeest, family groups of warthog and wild dog. Pregnant females would be swept up and carried along, with only the smallest juveniles able to wriggle through the mesh.”
I won’t be able to unsee it. Next time we moor next to a trawler, or attempt to buy fish, if ever I still buy fish once I finish this book, I’ll see devastation.