The Disingeuous Bastards – When will the ENGO’s start addressing the real problems instead of always blaming it on over fishing?
How We Got Into Such A Mess With Storm water SEATTLE — Gliding through the clear, emerald water of Puget Sound, Diver Laura James stopped when something shiny on the bottom caught her eye. She reached down and picked up a tire-flattened beer can. And then she noticed more garbage — stir straws, bubble gum wrappers, coffee lids, a plastic packet of ketchup — littered across the sound’s sandy floor. “I didn’t understand what I was seeing at first,” James says. “We’d swim along and we’d see this decaying swath – black with dead leaves and garbage. And then it would go back to normal.”
James, who has been diving in Puget Sound for more than 20 years, recalls the day she discovered the source. The giant submerged column she saw from a distance was in reality a dark plume of runoff flowing out of a pipe. “It was just billowing and billowing,” James says. “It just made me feel almost helpless because it’s unstoppable.” She asked herself, “How do we stop something that’s so much bigger than us?” continue
These enviro-fascists really are a cult, I don’t think there is a cure for it.
The problem with declining fish populations is not just “overfishing” but destruction of habitat as well. Protection of fisheries habitat, by improving water treatment and supporting alternative means of dealing with storm water runoff have been the focusof groups like NRDC and the Clean Water Coalition of environmental groups for several decades.
Enviromental groups and the EPA, on the other hand, have been attacked relentlessly by the radical right wing politicians for decades misrepresenting the work of the organizations and fighting funding for the government agencies at local, state and federal levels. For the past two decades fishermen, both recreational and commercial, have begun to work cooperatively with marine environmental groups like Oceana, Pew Environmental Group and NRDC to address common problems with water quality and waste dumped into streams and oceans.
The real answer to James’ question is build a larger coalition for the coastal waters and oceans in groups like the Marine Fish Conservation Network, PCFFA and American Rivers to reach mutual conservation goals while recognizing that no two resource and conservation organizations or groups are going to agree to everything the other believes in or fights for.
I think the real question is whether we have reached enough of a crisis for the fish, fisheries and people who depend on both to stop fighting, calling names and ranting and begin to look for solutions. Series like this one should help us decide the answer to that question.
Thank’s for your comment, Dave.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a warm fuzzy feeling for the anti fish engo’s, or their simplistic approach to fishing issues. History shows the path they have taken, focusing narrow mindedly on the perceived over fishing issue, while avoiding the real issues.
The “can’t we just get along” thing is not on the horizon.
“Divide and conquer” Seems to be a big part of ENGO m.o., they seem to have a bought and paid for group of puppets (formerly fishermen) in each geographical area. With their puppets and a willing lapdog media, the anti fishermen propaganda goes in full swing.