Big fish are found deep not because of age, climate, or prey, but because of us
Once upon a time rivers were clear and full of fish. There was no need for anyone to get in a boat and head out to sea to catch fish. Essentially the fish &#x27;came to us&#x27; (not that they saw it that way).<p>With the advent of farming the rivers became full of the soil washed off the land and were no longer clear. Fishing now needed a boat.<p>At first this fishing was easy, however we ate the big fish and made various fisheries a thing of the past, case in point being the Newfoundland Grand Banks, once famous for cod but no longer.<p>So what do people eat now instead of &#x27;cod and chips&#x27;? This amuses me as there is no problem for them. They get some other fish shaped object - &#x27;battered&#x27; - and make judgements of how tasty or otherwise it is. Maybe this fish comes from another hemisphere, perhaps it has some unusual name, maybe it tastes &#x27;different&#x27;. Marketing conquers all though, this mystery fish caught somewhere off Antarctica will have a fancy name as if it is some deluxe, exotic variety. It is as if the &#x27;chef&#x27; went out of his way to offer something more exciting than &#x27;humdrum cod&#x27; specifically for them, charging them more for this &#x27;nouvelle cousine&#x27; in the process. No discussion of what happened to the cod will be mentioned although the despicable newspaper that will be read with the &#x27;faux cod and chips&#x27; will talk about the evils of the E.U. and the Spanish fishermen invading &#x27;our&#x27; shores.<p>Soon these fools will be eating the scummiest bottom-feeding detritus that can be scooped from the ocean&#x27;s depths. They will do it if not every day but as the mood takes them until the day they die. Discussion will be made on how well the faux-cod is cooked and how lovely it was. The thinking won&#x27;t go much further than their bellies and bowels.<p>Meanwhile, driving in their cars and going on their cheap holidays, these consumers, whom the world&#x27;s economy depends on, will be pumping untold tonnes of carbon dioxide into the oceans, acidifying them to make life in the seas quite intolerable for our friends with gills. The cruise boats they holiday on and the container ships that bring them their cheap junk from China will also make so much noise in the oceans that any fish with ears will not be able to hear anything but the sound of diesel internal combustion engines.<p>There is no penalty for complicity in this madness. However, the cost of stepping outside of it is quite high. If you don&#x27;t eat your fish or your beef or your mechanically removed horsemeat then there is not a place at the table for you. Unless you have got a good excuse. But nobody says they are &#x27;allergic to beef&#x27; or &#x27;allergic to fish&#x27;. You can only be allergic to peanuts. Much like how folks in the mafia have to have slaughtered someone to get a space at the table, so it is with meat and fish, to be accepted by your peers you have to partake in the ecocide.<p>There are those that are vegetarian and wanting to live life differently. But these people are somewhat drowned out by the vegan crowd, many of whom have entirely different motivations. This new vegan crowd are more likely to have an eating disorder that has nothing to do with saving the planet. Plus they can&#x27;t get five minutes into a conversation without wanting to tell all that they are vegan. Their fanaticism plus the cost of their fake-meat products, e.g. that organic almond milk flown in from California, is no example for others to follow.<p>We will see if the meek inherit the earth, maybe the fatties scoffing all the fish are going to be going extinct shortly after they have scoffed the last plastic-infested jellyfish they can find in the oceans.