Friday, May 23, 2008

French Fishermen Finally Forced To Face Reality

French fishermen are caught .They are straddling a dock of rising diesel fuel price and an away- drifting boat of elusive, depleted fishing stocks. The fishermen are protesting the 30% surge in the price of diesel in the past 4 months. They want the price rolled back so they can go further out to sea for the fish that they have depleted from their coastal waters.

Their anger has taken the form of port blockades, sea traffic disruption and acts of vandalism on land. The government has offered a limited subsidy but the fishermen say it's not enough. And so the natural world and its laws are brought into sharp focus. I.E. the using of a diminishing resource to pursue a frgile resource has its limits.

Many fishermen will probably go out of business. And well they should. Their business model and philosophy was flawed from the launch. Fishing for dinner is one thing. But the wholesale slaughter of worldwide fish stocks to a mere 20% of their former numbers is a sin. Let the monkeys eat more snails.

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