Making better world members – the IB learner profile

On Boxing day and close to a new year, I think a little self-reflective post is in order. The end of a year is always a good time to enjoy what has passed, and dream of what is to come, and I feel it is a shame that I never really take the time to think enough about what has changed – around and within me – in the year. We should all give a few moments to think back on what we have achieved, what we have gained, and what we have lost.

Now that I have (two) blog(s), I have a good excuse to sit down and do this thoroughly and share it with anyone who might feel the same, or different – likewise, I urge you all to do the same! The best way to search your soul could be to tell others about yourself, explain your thoughts, describe your history, and illustrate your dreams.

In this post, I will not torture you by going through all or most of my calm, not very eventful life. I only want to focus on a single thing: my development as person in this world. So, this will be both about how the way I view the world has changed, and how this new perception has influenced me as a person.

The University of Bristol (where I began to study this semester) has a barely noticeable tab on its student webpage that encourages students to pursue what they call a Personal Development Plan (PDP), which aims to – through rigorous reflection and self-evaluation – evoke the student’s strengths and weaknesses and to produce a plan to help the student promote his/her talents and work on his/her shortcomings. This all sounds very good, but the whole purpose of it, they say, is to enhance the student’s employability – to make one more attractive on the job market.

I wouldn’t object to that! But, I have had a hard time motivating myself to go through all that paperwork to tick squares, rate my confidence in a set of skills from one to five, make up some sort of plan of how to improve a prioritised bunch of my weaknesses. I have never been much for reflection, I admit, and this system is not helping at all.

Fish farming – good or bad?

Fish farming can solve or alleviate many problems in today’s society, most notably starvation, but there is the question of what the consequences may be, and if they are worth it. I will just give you some food for thought (pun not really intended) about this issue, which might not be as clear-cut as one thinks.

This post is more speculative, or theoretical if you will; it is not solidly fact-based, as I have not done in-depth research on the topic. I merely present my thoughts and ideas on the subject, and warn you not to take everything I write for certain!

Fish farming, or aquaculture, is basically growing large amounts of fish or other aquatic organisms in a controlled and (usually very) restricted area, either with or without chemical aids to enhance growth rates and overall yield.

Aquaculture accounts for about 50 % of the world’s seafood today, including both marine and freshwater animals. It is thus a hugely important global food source; what happens within this branch can have a strong influence on food around the world. This also shows how well-established fish farming is in the food production business, so what we need to ask ourselves is whether we should promote and develop it further, restrict it, or maybe abolish it completely. I will not give my opinion yet; first, I want to present the pros and cons in a neutral fashion, and conclude by evaluating which weight the heaviest.

You should note already that this is essentially an issue of practicality versus ethics – do the practical advantages of aquaculture outweigh the ethical dilemmas it produces?

The main practical advantage of fish farming is its efficiency in food production. So many people around the world are starving this very moment. Fish is a highly nutritious food source, rich in protein, good fats and vitamins, and is therefore a key part of any healthy diet. However, many argue that farmed fish is less healthy than free-living, caught fish, which tend to be poorly exercised and stuffed with chemicals I have no clue what they do. Though, this strikes me as painting the picture in black and white, since there are many ways in which free-living fish can catch parasites, diseases, infections and environmental poisons – lead being a notable example! Still, let us accept the view that aquaculture produces food of lesser quality. After all, many of the free-swimming fish that get ill naturally die and sink to the ocean floor and never make it to our table, while it is more likely that whatever screening processes the fish farmers make to inspect the quality of their fish before selling them makes a mistake or two and lets some bad fish through.

However, those favouring this viewpoint are missing something very important: overfishing has severely reduced the natural fish stocks. Recall that aquaculture generates about half of our fish; it is not only because it is a successful method in itself, but also because wild-caught fish is in sharp decline. Fish farming provides an essential alternative. It can help feed more mouths and give the natural fish populations room to recover. Consider that the starving people in the world will not be picky about the health of their fish. Indeed, the more nutritious food they are given, the better, no question, but I think that in this case the need for quantity is vastly greater than the desire for quality. Again, remember that 50 % of all fish food comes from aquaculture. Think about what would happen if we cut that away in favour of the healthier wild fish: the wild catchment rates would have to increase dramatically to meet our ever-increasing food demands, and the natural fish stocks would plummet beyond any prospects of recovery within our lifetime. In other words, we would have good food for a short while, and then all be starving. So, aquaculture is a viable strategy in the long run. When it all comes around, two farmed fish probably fill your stomach better than one wild-caught.

Thus, I think that the practical advantages of fish farming are rather clear. However, I do not wish to encourage expansion to the effect that all our fish is farmed. I imagine a scenario where farmed fish constitute the base of seafood, with wild-caught fish is an alternative for those that have the option to prefer it!

There is a final practical point worth to think about: (farmed) fish may be a better source of meat than cattle and other domestic land animals, since they do not occupy large areas of fertile land (domesticated grazers take up vast fields of soil that could otherwise go to producing crops, fruits and other food or energy products), and they produce far less greenhouse gases (or maybe none at all) as metabolic by-products. Thus, expanding the fish industry by means of developing the aquaculture to supplement not only the natural seafood, but also other food products that are less environment-friendly, could be wise in the long run!

However, we should first consider the ethical issues of fish farming. Fish are, after all, living animals, that feel pain and distress probably not much different from the way you and I. Therefore, I understand that many find the though of raising individuals crammed together in containers, barely able to move as they wish, and being fed food from God-knows-where with all sorts of unimaginable chemicals. I would not wish such a gruesome life for anyone, if I had a say in the matter.

But, as always with ethical dilemmas, it is never black and white. Think about the people that go hungry on this Earth. Think about the poor fish farming entrepreneurs that desperately need to make a business to support their family, as well as give food to their community, and how opposition to fish farming would thwart their hopes. Think about all other organisms in the seas and lakes whose survival depend on the fish community – imagine how many other animals would starve and die when humans deplete the fish stocks, if aquaculture is banned on ethical grounds. Animal rights advocates tend to forget about other consequences beyond animals suffering, just as business people tend to forget about anything that does not fill their pockets. Ethical debates demand all sides to understand all views and take all arguments into account in order to make a fair judgement of what to consider overall right or wrong.

Now, indeed, one wonders what rights we have to impose such an appalling life on other animals – what rights we have to cultivate other individuals to live for the sole purpose of growing to become a succulent fillet on our plate. We should respect other’s lives! No one of us would like to be in the fishes’ shoes, and one should treat others as one wishes to be treaded by them. Having this viewpoint it is easy to neglect all favourable aspects of aquaculture as unimportant, if you only look at it in an absolute sense. It then all melts down to whether the ends justify the means and all those other sorts of clashes between subjective viewpoints that never lead anywhere useful.

Note that I am not saying that I do not agree that fish farming is an immoral activity! I am merely saying that denouncing it completely and definitely on that ground is irresponsible, since the same argument can easily be used against them: consciously condemning millions of people to starvation is also immoral!

What I want to say is that we have a responsibility to explore all aspects of this issue, as it affects the lives of so many individuals – humans, fishes, and other aquatic organisms. 

I will leave my contribution to the discussion there, and give you a few guidelines for more research, in case you found these questions as interesting and important as I do. If you have spare time, or otherwise, I strongly encourage you to go look the facts up for yourself! It is better for you to explore on your own, rather than me telling you what to think! Don’t you agree?

The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO of the UN) has, among many efforts to promote high-quality aquaculture, developed and published a Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, not only providing guidelines for good and viable aquaculture, but also the setting standards internationally for how fish farms should be handled. I have not read it myself, but I would recommend you to skim through it to perhaps get a general idea of what sorts of questions and problems this organisation addresses, and how it intends to solve them.

Below are a few useful YouTube videos by the FAO of the UN. These only give the ‘positive’ side of aquaculture, so watch them with a critical mind.

Next

I forgot to mention in the previous post that the next may be around my own thoughts and ideas on fish farming, which has a connection with the previous one! I will just do a bit more of research before I get on with that.

MSC – Marine Stewardship Council

The MarineStewardship Council (MSC) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation with the objective to promote sustainable fishing – that is, fishing within limits, so that the natural populations are ecologically viable (long-lived). Overfishing is one of the most pressing global issues we must face in the near future, with the fish stocks thinning out after many years of irresponsible fishing, and the human population ever growing. Fish is a key source of basic and nutritious food around the world, and many cultures, most significantly the Japanese, depends on a rich supply of diverse fish.

We all want plenty fish with out food, but if we keep catching more than what can be replenished naturally, the fish stocks are in danger of total collapse. Image from http://www.actionforourplanet.com/#/overfishing/4569962196

The MSC gives the MSC Certificate to fisheries that meet their firm criteria for sustainable and responsible fishing. The fisheries are rigorously assessed against three main criteria:

• are they fishing at sustainable levels?
• does their fishing methods and levels have minimal impact on the ecosystem?
• does the fishery abide national and international regulations and laws?

The assessment is made by several independent scientists, who make detailed checks and match the results against strict requirements. If the fishery meets the standards, it receives the MSC Certificate.

However, the really remarkable thing about the MSC is that it does not end there: it traces the product through the entire supply chain – all the way from catchment to transport, storage, preparation, packaging to selling – and ensures the fish is being handled responsibly, and not mixed with non-certified seafood. Thus, the MSC Certificate confirms that the fish you buy has been handled appropriately, from the water to the shop.

The MSC logotype certifies that the labelled product has been caught, prepared and transported 

according to strict environmental standards, in particular responsible fishing levels,

 so that we ensure a continued supply of fish for future years. 

Image from http://www.orkneycrab.co.uk/news.php?ID=5

I love salmon above all fishes, but it is facing serious overfishing issues (though not close to as much as other fishes). If I buy salmon bearing this logo, I am supporting fishing methods that take care not to drain the natural fish stocks, so I can eat as much as I want with clean conscience! Haha! Picture from 

http://www.wwf.ca/fr/conservation/marine/produits_de_la_mer_durables/ce_que_fait_le_wwf/

Fisheries who feel they are using ecologically sustainable and environmentally friendly methods can volunteer for screening by the MSC process. If they (manage to) receive this mark, their products will be more attractive, as the logotype ensures high environmental quality.

The MSC also actively seeks out larger companies and food chains and strive to impose their regulations on these, in order to make larger impacts on the seafood market. Two noticeable examples are Walmart, one of the larges grocery chains in the US, which had 76 % of their sea food sales coming from MSC Certified suppliers in January 2012, and keep pushing all their suppliers to strive actively for achieving such standards; and McDonals, albeit primarily meat-based, but which still is hugely popular, and has achieved the MSC certificate at least within Europe. Such success stories for the MSC is invaluable, both in terms of reaching closer to true impact on global fishing standards, but also in terms of publicity – if these well-known companies proudly display their MSC mark, it will draw people’s attention towards this organisation.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for the MSC at present is that it is not well known. From what I can tell, it has been immensely successful, and is still growing purposefully, which is fabulous news for the environment. When it comes to opening the minds of the general public to its importance and its quality work and what its mark really means, however, it is not as easy as it seems.

This is where we come in…

Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell anyone you can think of about the MSC and spread its message and methods around. Think for yourself about how important fish is for you, and start looking for which fish venders near you support sustainable fishing.

Here is a playlist with some good YouTube videos about the MSC, which I strongly recommend you to watch when you have a bit of spare time. It gives you the basics of the MSC purpose and method, as well as some striking facts and thoughts to note. (The playlist can also be found on http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP2SgXNUR27CiAqACp-YQ7y8IPrZ7lBx4&feature=mh_lolz)

Preliminary aims

I think the previous post gives a good enough introduction to my purpose with this blog. Next, I will just state a few brief, broad aims for the christmas break and the next term.

• post at least once a week
• post on a new subtopic each time
• mix information with my own thoughts and evaluation
• address questions on various scales – localised to globalised issues

These aims are rather diffuse, but since this blog is in its embryonic stage, I do not know in what direction it may turn, so I prefer to keep it relatively 'free' for now.

With this post, I have partly fulfilled the first aim – I decided to count it, since I have quite a lot of schoolwork to do right now, with exams coming up in January...

Haha, no, just joking! I will try to write the MSC article I promised within a few days.

Brief intro

A proper introduction to this blog will come shortly. I created this site a bit late in the night (oh well...), so I do not quite have the time for that right now. Still, I don't want the blog to be floating postless in the air, so I will give a few points out of my head as it is at this hour...

I am a first-year university student, studying paleontology (the study of past life, basically) at the University of Bristol in England. I have been interested in getting properly involved in environmental and developmental activities, but I am more of a 'thinker' than a 'doer'; that is, I prefer to sit down with a pen in hand and set my mind to work on ideas or plans, rather than handing out flyers or marching the streets in protest. I also hope that my interest in paleontology can help add a slightly different dimension to my musings, to give them an extra spice, so to speak.

I also run a blog on paeontology – Weird & Wonderful – where I basically write about anything paleontology-related that I feel like writing about: anything from field trips to purely factual posts. I will try to keep this blog a bit more focused, and less technical, if I can. Those are my initial intentions for the style of writing; we will see how that turns out, and how it develops in the future.

The main reasons I decided to create an entirely new blog for environmental and developmental discussions are:

(a) to keep the two 'topics' clearly separated, so that there will not be any confusion in the sense of direction of the articles; whenever there is an issue that overlaps both blog topics, I will of course write coupled posts

(b) to enhance publicity for the organisations or charity groups I wish to promote: I will then write posts for both blogs (although the one for this site will be more elaborate), simply to spread their messages more widely, which is what these types of ogranisations need!

Or well... maybe that is a good enough introduction for now?

My plan for the first blog post is to write about the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), a quality label for marine food, certifying responsible and sustainable fishing.