This is why the terrorists hate us!

Awww....gawd......! In last post "PALE" should read PETA.

Apologies.

Dickie

Just read your post and didn't even pick up on the PALE mistake. I knew the point you were making anyway, and was admiring as usual the succinct and pithy manner in which you make your case.

Ludwig

"What is PETA trying to achieve here. ... Can you tell us Bronwyn?"

I'm not a member of PETA and not privvy to the details of the campaign. Certainly, what I'm taking from it is that we should all try a little harder to avoid cruelty to fish. For me, this means looking for alternatives to recreational fishing, both line and spear, and there are many, and being mindful also of the cruelty involved in keeping fish in small tanks.

It also extends to issues of trawling and by-catch being left to die, and then there's fish farming. I'm not knowledgeable about the actual practices involved, but the current case in our area of two-headed fish emanting from a local fish farm, is quite possibly the tip of the iceberg as to what's really going on in some of these factory farming situations.

"I guess you would agree that an organisation like PETA should be putting a whole lot of energy ... into sustainability, for the reasons I outlined in my last post?"

Yes, I do, Ludwig, and as pointed out by Dickie that is very much part of PETA's brief. There are many sustainability issues to consider in regards to fishing and hopefully this campaign will raise their profile too.

I live in a coastal area and I don't know of any of the numerous fish shops here that aren't routinely selling endangered species. The average man on the street cannot differentiate between those that are in good supply and those that aren't. As well, there are many areas in the world now, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, where the mercury content of the fish puts them at levels unsafe for human consumption. Again, the average Joe Blow wouldn't know if the fish he's tucking into is adding to cumulative mercury levels which will eventually compromise his health, or not

Dear Ludwig,

If full-scale nuclear war ever occurred,
there would be nothing left to sustain.

Such a war would shatter the existing world
order, and reshape whatever human history might
be left.

I wish animal organisations like PETA would be more realistic. Next, we can't walk outside because that would endanger the ant-kittens.

People want to eat meat and fish, it's a fact.

I would support a campaign against UNNECESSARY killing of animals, for example as a sport.
I would also support unnecessary cruelty against animals such as ritual slaughtering such as Halal slaughter without stunning, intensive farming or battery farming, and live exports.

I used to be a vegetarian for about 10 years but never lost the craving for meat.
I now am a moderate meat eater but don't eat seafood at all and I buy free-range meat, chicken and produce whenever I can.

Unfortunately, as one poster (I think Ludwig) pointed out, there is no cruelty-free way of catching fish.

People should be able to enjoy their seafood without feeling guilty about the fish's suffering.

Let's just get the message out that killing fish -or any kind of animal- for fun, sport or recreation is simply unnecessary, wasteful and cruel.

pfff, sea kittens. People are happy to kill rats indescriminately, and I've never seen an organisation like this interested in saving rats. People kill rats and then don't even eat them in this country.

I think that if we were supposed to be vegetarian, why are animals made out of meat? Huh, answer that one!