coral blasting
JONATHAN KELSEY
jkelsey at ucb.edu.bz
Tue Sep 22 18:04:14 EDT 1998
> Subject: Re: coral blasting
> As always it is the age old dilemna of offering alternatives. Unless one
> can offer them alternatives, native peoples will do what is necessary for
> short term survival.
>
> J. Charles Delbeek M.Sc.
Dear Mr. Delbeek,
Your statement regarding native peoples, as I think others will
agree, is quite hasty. I think you will find there many
well documented examples of native people conserving marine
resources. I suggest you pick up copies of James McGoodwin's "Crisis
in the World's Fisheries" and "Words of the Lagoon" by Bob Johannes.
Carl Safina's, "Song for the Blue Ocean" also documents some
indigenous peoples efforts at conserving resources.
Examples can also be found in the history of Maine's 'native'
lobstermen. If you would like some specific cites I would be
more than happy to contribute.
I would offer that the fact that the people you refer to are native
people has little to do with resource degradation of this scale.
More often such exploitation comes from forcing small-scale,
artesinal, and subsistence fishers into a capital-based economy. It
is a plague that has devastated even the world's most abundant
fisheries, from Newfoundland cod to California anchovie and urchin.
I've not meant to be rude, but I feel that it is important to see
beyond this strong, hegemonistic, and typically-western viewpoint.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kelsey
Research and Education Coordinator
University College of Belize
Marine Research Centre
P.O. Box 990
Belize City, Belize
Central America
Phone: 023-0256
JKELSEY at ucb.edu.bz
>
> "The fact that my physiology differs from yours pleases me to no end."
> Mr. Spock
>
>
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