Ocean Economy and Blue economy. I want to voice out my opinion on this matter as I think most Mauritians need to know that blue economy means protecting the maritime environment whilst using the oceans to create jobs and promote sustainable businesses. Some Mauritians may already know a lot about this topic.
On the other hand; ocean economy is our economic exploitation of the maritime environment, which however does not conform to the values of a ‘blue economy’, as the economic use of maritime resources and the sea often does not focus on a sustainable maritime environment.
It is clear that we can no longer keep plundering and pillaging our oceans the way we do. With fish stocks in decline all over the world over in the past few decades, governments have been slow to react and actually do something to stop the decline of our oceans. There is simply too much money at stake for some governments to let go, but that comment is only aimed at governments that do not care about the future of its people and oceans because all they want is their share of the bounty. Which sums up the attitude of the political dynasties.
Trawling and dredging with huge nets that literally drags everything in its path out of the ocean for decades has its consequences. Some of what was forcibly taken out of the oceans end up on our plates and some are thrown back in the sea, usually dead or harmed in such a way that it would be better off dead. Decades of commercial fishing with drag net that can be miles and miles long or wide or both, we now find ourselves with depleting fish stocks around the world and that is why at the moment 50% of all fish consumed by humans comes from aquaculture.
Aquaculture is the way to satisfy this insatiable appetite a lot of humans have for fish and at the same time help decrease commercial fishing or better still; cease commercial fishing for a few decades and allow our ocean to restore itself. Aquaculture is definitely growing around the world and I bet that there is no way of someone finding out if the fish they are eating is a fish that swam freely once or was reared in a cage in the sea. Once the fish has been tossed in a few spices, marinated, cooked or fried etc. and becomes a dish, the fish will look and taste like any fish.
Beware though. In food systems attempting to increase human food supplies, our experience dictates that there are environmental consequences elsewhere. Although there are some aquaculture species that are fed vegetarian feed, domesticated species like salmon are fed wild fish meal and fish oil. Taking fish from nature to feed a farm fish hardly makes sense. According to a year 2000 paper in the journal: Nature written by Naylor et al. it was estimated that 3 kilograms of forage fish is needed to produce 1 kilogram of edible farmed fish.
The fish farming business has surely become more efficient since the year 2000. But more recent studies show that the exploitation of the world’s forage fish is having a direct effect on marine food chains. Approximately 20% of what is fished from our oceans today is now forage fish and the vast majority is used for aquaculture feed. Does that make any sense at all?
Pollution is another issue with aquaculture. As if we are not polluting our seas enough already with human excrement, plastics, chemical fertilisers, pesticides etc. aquaculture produces wastes in the form of fecal matter and uneaten feed. The farming of marine fish, crustaceans and even bivalves produce waste. These wastes that are largely nitrogen-based can cause oxygen depletion in coastal environments and a net loss of marine productivity in certain coastal areas. The use of antibiotics, antifoulants, and pesticides are also problems that aquaculture can introduce into the marine environment.
Aquaculture has also caused habitat loss. By far the greatest threat to mangrove swamps comes from the rapidly expanding shrimp aquaculture, which offers a high economic return. Shrimp are farmed in tropical and subtropical ponds that are frequently sited within the confines of coastal mangrove forests. Pollutants accumulate in ponds over time. Diseases also lead to pond abandonment. This process resulted in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres of mangrove forests – ecosystems critical to the production of wild fish and the protection of the coast from storm surges.
In 2009, a new shrimp disease called Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) arose in China and spread throughout Southeast Asia. In 2013, losses from EMS totaled more than $1 billion.
Just like in any type of farming, may it be vegetable or animals, the farming of species in our ocean is a vector for disease proliferation in the marine environment. Disease transfer in salmon aquaculture is the most reported from what I can read on online journals. This disease: infectious salmon anemia was first detected in Chile in the 1990s. It has since been detected in oceans around the world. Poor biosecurity has helped speed the transfer of the disease from ocean to ocean. Sea lice are another side effect from aquaculture.
In my opinion, we as a civilization have to reduce our consumption of animals and fish. The Wuhan virus has shown us that poor hygiene will lead to bad consequences. We are clearly struggling to feed the world. Some say that the food distribution in the world is not equitable but what is equitable in a capitalist world. Both dynasties that now have run Mauritius for approximately 25 years have been satisfied with their ‘business as usual’ mantra and they have made it clear that for as long as they are in power that is the way it is and will be. Well, we all know where that leads.
Just like the other articles I have written for Citoyens News, I am a harsh critic of our political dynasties and rightly so. In a changing and challenging environment, we now have to take decisions that may not make economic sense but decisions that definitely make environmental sense.
There is a plant called: Industrial Hemp that makes both environmental and economic sense but when you have a political system that is fueled by imported cheap hard drugs that can be sold to hooked Mauritian customers for huge profits dynasties will find it hard to move away from something that easy. Do dynasties have the will to change? Mauritians hope that they will change but we have years of proof that they will never change.
