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THE BLIND LEMMING RACE TO ANNIHILATION By Maarten Hoffmann, Master Scuba Instructor, PADI, BSAC, CMAS In a previous restaurant review when l had the time to be the self-appointed restaurant critic, I admitted that I don’t eat fish. An odd admission for a restaurant critic, and I have been endlessly questioned over the statement ever since; the standard question being, ‘Why? Don’t you like the taste of fish?’ I have a very personal reason for my views, but I will get to that later. It has absolutely nothing to do with my taste buds, as I quite like the taste of some fish. It has to do with a moral imperative.My 20 years’ living in the tropics developing diving resorts, and my blinding fury at the total and indefensible ignorance of all of you who do eat vast amounts of fish.
All fish are endangered, and when they are gone, so is the human race. Long before climate change, nuclear war or ISIS get us, the lack of fish will do for us all. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence, the world still consumes billions of tonnes of fish every day with gay abandon, in a selfish and ignorant lemming charge over the cliff to annihilation. An international team of ecologists and economists has made an incredibly scary prediction. In just a few short decades, the world’s oceans will be empty of fish. While that dire prophecy may seem a little alarmist, the scariest
❛❛ In an attempt to draw
attention to this ecological tragedy, l was ‘requested’ to leave the country and my life was threatened if I ever returned ❜❜ thing about it is that it is backed up with good ol’ science fact. It was published in Science, a publication that, if nothing else, does not publish rumour or emotive stories. Cue terror in the streets? No, just total ignorance.
I took this shot of Hammerheads at El Bajo before you ate them all
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Back in 2006, a study was produced by a man named Boris Worm (whose hilarious name should not detract from his horrible prediction), a man with a PhD from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Along with colleagues in the UK, US, Sweden and Panama, Worm has predicted that by the year 2048, the ocean will be devoid of fish – which, if it
