Imagine a World Without Seafood for Supper -- It's Nearer Than You Think

Imagine a World Without Seafood for Supper -- It's Nearer Than You Think
By Andrew Purvis, The Observer UK
April 29, 2009

http://www.alternet.org/environment/138874/imagine_a_world_without_seafood_for_supper_--_it%27s_nearer_than_you_think/
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/138874
http://www.alternet.org/story/138874/

As I step off the train at Heysel, the vast art deco structure of the Palais du Centenaire rises like a cathedral. With its four soaring buttresses topped by statues, the Palais forms the centrepiece of the Parc des Expositions in Brussels, Belgium - a trade-fair complex built in the 1930s to commemorate a century of independence from the Netherlands. This is the temporary home of thousands of fish products from around the world as 23,000 delegates descend from 80 countries for the annual European Seafood Exposition - the world's largest seafood trade show and a grim reminder of man's dominion over the oceans.

"If I wanted people to understand the global fishing crisis, I would bring them here," says Sally Bailey, a marine program officer with the World Wide Fund for Nature, one of the more moderate NGOs combating the exploitation of the seas. Last year, one of the more militant groups - Greenpeace - managed to "close down" five exhibitors trading in critically endangered bluefin tuna, by deploying 80 activists to drape their stands in fishing nets, chain themselves to fixtures and put up banners that read: "Time and tuna are running out".

To read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/138874/