Meeru Dhalwala, Special to the Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, December 31, 2008
This marks my 12th column for this paper, and I've covered many topics
close to my heart. Here are two important issues I want to tackle in
2009.
Seafood
This is a delicious food source that we humans have screwed up. Maybe
it's human nature that we devour what we love to eat and only panic
when it's gone. The problem here is that seafood is almost gone, but
not many people seem to be panicking. Even though there are wallet
cards that tell us which seafood is in good supply and not, and some
restaurants and markets are beginning to serve only non-endangered
fish, I don't see any noticeable improvements here.
If there's one film I recommend that you see in 2009, it's Sharkwater
by Canadian Rob Stewart. We saw this as a family, and then my Grade 7
daughter, Nanaki, invited other friends over on a Saturday afternoon
to watch it. First of all, Sharkwater is overwhelmingly beautiful and
it makes you want to go back to being 18 and study marine biology. In
the words of the seventh graders, it was so "cool."
I think Vikram is slightly in a state of disbelief, but my girls and I
quit eating seafood a few months ago. We did this quietly and we will
eat it for the sake of politeness when dinner hosts are unaware of our
new diet. Nanaki decided on her own to give up seafood -- her
favourite food is sushi -- and we followed. This may not be permanent,
as we're in a state of confusion regarding farmed fish, wild fish, the
different types of fishing methods, and the pollution levels in the
fish. But right now it seems wrong to eat it. If I get e-mails from
seafood distributors or fishermen berating me, I hope some of them
offer clever and practical solutions to avoid a future disaster. I'm
done with denial, and I think fishermen especially have the experience
to help come up with a solution.
As with Proposition 2, there would be financial repercussions if laws
were passed regarding seafood. But passing and enforcing strict laws
that regulate and limit seafood consumption may be our only solution.
It's a better option than having to eventually treat fish like
elephants for ivory -- banning it all together in order to save the
oceans and the fish.
I write the above with excitement and I'm not making myself any
unrealistic promises. Hopefully, next year, I'll write my third New
Year's column for this paper and tell you all about the successes I
had with these endeavours. And I wish you all success in whatever
endeavours you choose to undertake in 2009. Happy New Year.