Fishing monopolies

An investigation by Greenpeace last year revealed that 29% of the UK’s fishing quota is owned by five families, all of whom feature on the Sunday Times Rich List. A single Dutch multinational, operating a vast fishing ship, holds a further 24% of the English quota. The smallest boats – less than 10 metres long – comprise 79% of the fleet, but are entitled to catch just 2% of the fish.

The same applies worldwide: huge ships from rich nations mop up the fish surrounding poor nations, depriving hundreds of millions of their major source of protein, while wiping out sharks, tuna, turtles, albatrosses, dolphins and much of the rest of the life of the seas.

The same applies worldwide: huge ships from rich nations mop up the fish surrounding poor nations, depriving hundreds of millions of their major source of protein, while wiping out sharks, tuna, turtles, albatrosses, dolphins and much of the rest of the life of the seas.

What makes all this so frustrating is that regulating the fishing industry is both cheap and easy. If commercial fishing were excluded from large areas of the sea, the total catch would be likely, paradoxically, to rise, due to what biologists call the spillover effect. Fish and shellfish breed and grow to large sizes in the reserves, then spill over into surrounding waters. Where seas have been protected in other parts of the world, catches have grown dramatically.     As a paper in the journal PLOS Biology shows, even if fishing was banned across the entire high seas – as it should be – the world’s fish catch would rise, as the growing populations would migrate into national waters.

George Monbiot

FIRE BRIGADE REPORT

Jake, Kirsty and family.

Did you see the Martinborough Fire Brigade on TV ? Our Medical First Response team in training featured on both TV3 and Prime news, if you missed it go to our Facebook page and you can find a link there. Our innovative Medical esponse  also featured in the FENZ Volunteer National Newsletter along with lots of photographs, so we are certainly creating a stir.

Our  Medical First Responders are now out doing clinical placements with our training partner Wellington Free Ambulance in preparation for our “go live” scheduled for October, and of course we are still looking for more people in multiple roles, so if you are interested in being a :

• MEDICAL RESPONDER – If you have a Nursing, Emergency Medicine,  Paramedic or similar background (you may qualify for a short familiarisation course), and want to contribute to your community, we would love to hear from you . We anticipate you would only spend 2 – 3 days a month on call along with a single night a month training. 

• FIRE FIGHTER – If you ever thought about seeing what happens when the siren sounds and see the team rushing in, have you thought being a fire fighter might be interesting ? We would love for you to pop down on our Tuesday training nights, we are especially interested if you are available during the week days to respond.

Act now,  email our Chief –  Jacob.hawkins@fireandemergency.nz … Continue Reading

Did you know

PRINTED IN 1912 in the American magazine Popular Mechanics:  ‘The furnaces of the world are  now burning about 2,000,000,000 tons of coal a year. When this is burned and uniting with oxygen it adds about 7,000,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere yearly. This tends to make the air a more effective blanket for the earth and raise the temperature. The effect may be considerable in a few centuries’ 

“ONE OF THE greatest dangers to democracy is the growing gap between  those who can win elections and those who can run the state” Henry Kissenger

MODEL T FORD motor cars started rolling off the assembly line in August 1908. The sturdy black four cylinder cars cam in two versions tourer and roaster both retailing at incredibly low prices $825 and $838. Ford’s major backer was Detroit coal dealer Alexander Y Malcolmson .

“JUST BECAUSE you don’t take an interest in politics doesn’t mean that politics won’t take an interest in you” attributed to Pericles

THE GLOBAL wealth gap widened during the Covid pandemic, swelling the ranks of the world’s millionaires by 5.2 million as the rich cashed in on surging stock and house prices. The figures, detailed in the annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report, capture how emergency interest rate cuts and government stimulus measures often benefited those least in need of state support, helping their assets grow in value despite the economic downturn. … Continue Reading

Councillor Comment

Well, this is the first time I have been able to attend a Council meeting, and report on this the same day.

The meeting started with Cr Pip Maynard paying tribute to 2 stalwart members of our community who had recently passed away.  We remembered Lani McGregor and Alan Styles, both of whom had contributed greatly to the Marae and the Community.

We then had 4 presenters make oral submissions to Council – Lee Carter, Daphne Geisler, Warren Woodgyer and John Errington.  All made mention of the increase in our rates and the impact this was having, especially on those with fixed incomes.

Along with the presenters, we had approx. 50 people who came to listen and support those who were making presentations.  We thank you all for your thoughts, suggestions and generally caring for our community.

Innovating Streets: As you will see the road in front of the Square, opposite the end of Kitchener Street, has started to be painted and over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, the painting will be completed and the planter barrels, raised platforms and seats, will be installed. … Continue Reading