Under the Sea (Little Mermaid)

Most of us rarely think about life in the ocean – it is an unseen world for the most of us. Then we hear about millions of barrels of oil being spewed into the Gulf, and we realize on some small scale what must be going on in that unseen world. We see the occasional photo of an oil-soaked bird, a dolphin washed upon on shore dead, and feel a certain sadness.  But the reality below the waterline is beyond our comprehension. I remember when I was a small child out on a boat, asking where to put a small bit of trash. One of the men on board lalughed and said, “This is the world’s biggest trashcan all around you.” I thought it was shocking even then, but little did I realize how very destructive such an attitude would become. We have literally turned an entire world full of living beings into dead zones, plastic islands, trash barges, and a toxic soup. Maybe Nemo was our last attempt at interjecting light hearted fantasy into that mysterious world of the deep.

Discovery News – Quest

Some people believe the oceans will be completely fished to extinction by 2050, a datte that is growing ever nearer. It is astounding that his projection would garner so little attention as so many of us are busy burying our collective heads in the sand. As dismal as this scenario is for us, for aquatic animals it is even worse in the here and now. As humans develop ever more wasteful and productive means of quickly emptying the ocean of all life, as humans despoil and pollute her waters and pillage her bounty,the prospect of staying alive in the ocean means survivng a continual onslaught from floating plastics, to toxic oil spills to commercial overfishing. Amid all of this destruction is the disturbing element of bycatch, animals who are caught on longlines and in commercial fishing nets who are killed as a byproduct of commercial fishing. They are discards, not profitable and may be tossed back into the ocean, dead or alive. Unfortunately, many are severely injured and may be tossed back into a lingering death. Most will never again be part of the reproducing populations so needed to replenish the oceans with life itself. It is estimated that the number of marine animals callously killed as bycatch reaches into the billions each and every year.

Fish Are Friends Not Food (Nemo)

Most efforts to decrease the number of animals caught as bycatch emphasize release methods.  Some gill nets are clear filament and are invisible to all forms of marine life, as they are tossed out to sea to entrap as many animals as they can.  Some are bottom trawlers and are laid out to be later brought up quickly, ensnaring anyone unlucky enough to be in their vicinity. Longlines also catch many animals that are discarded. Birds, turtle, fish, dolphins, whales, sharks, seals and many other species of animals are killed by commercial fishing operations in numbers that are never calculated. If someone was devising a plan to wantonly destroy the ocean as quickly as possible, it is doubtful they could do a much better job than human beings are doing today, even as we face a growing human population and ongoing resource pollution, including waste from animal agriculture on such a scale that thousands of square miles of dead zones increase every year at the mouths of rivers like the Mississippi in the US and in other nations as well. While some fisheries have begun using things like Turtle Extruders which may allow some turtles to escape the nets, they will still spell death for most of the animals that are thus ensnared. It is enough to make you lose your vegan lunch. If you need a good cry, Google Bycatch Photos and weep. The losses are in the millions of metric tons, each and every year.

A few statistics from the World Wildlife Fund:

• Over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year, making bycatch the single largest cause of mortality for small cetaceans and pushing several species to the verge of extinction.
• Over 250,000 endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles are caught annually on longlines set for tuna, swordfish, and other fish, with thousands more killed in shrimp trawls.
• 26 species of seabird, including 23 albatross species, are threatened with extinction because of longlining, which kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year.
• 89 per cent of hammerhead sharks and 80 per cent of thresher and white sharks have disappeared from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean in the last 18 years, largely due to bycatch.
• Shrimp trawlers catch as many as 35 million juvenile red snappers each year in the Gulf of Mexico, at least they did  before the oil spill there, enough to have an impact on the population.
• Billions of corals, sponges, starfish, and other invertebrates are caught as bycatch every year.

Deep Blue Sea, Snatam Kaur

In just one year, 1992, a single French tuna fishery noted the following bycatch in 25% of their vessels: 330 striped dolphin, 114 common dolphin, 13 long finnned pilot whales, 10 bottlenose dolphins, 1 Russo’s dolphin, 1 sperm whale, and 2 fin whales. This is a statistic from the Fisheries and Aquatic Department in the UK and is not meant to single out the French. Such statistics are found around the globe and represent a true and utter decimation of ocean life, yet we continue to go on our way, decimating sea life, year after year.

Discovery News Seaturtle Report – Turtles as Bycatch

In the eastern Mediterranean, a monk seal which was found that had died with osteoporosis. The young female was only half its normal weight and its bones were light and brittle. Instead of the usual spoils of fish and other marine animals inside its stomach, it had only sea sponges, sea grass and parasites. There is the primary and unnecessary loss of life that comes from the coveted marine life sought after my mankind, but there is also a secondary loss of life through bycatch and finally, through the devastation of the natural marine environment, leaving some poor animals like this monk seal to try surviving in damaged habitat without anyplace left to hunt or forage for decent food. The mercury levels in many animals is so high that it has been determined to be toxic for human consumption — and not healthy for the animals either. Some animals are killed outright because they need to feed off of fish, such as the dolphin slaughter in Taijii Japan, popularized by the recent documentary film, The Cove.

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and will be sited in a few of the following examples of bycatch disasters:

• Seabirds pay a very high price. Albatross are down 65% over the past 65 years, and are now declining further by 4% annually.
• Olive Riddleys, the second smallest turtles, are losing their lives with longlines.
• The Monk Seal, once exploited for oil, are now losing the battle for existence due to loss of habitat and overfishing.
• The Vaquita, a CITES  endangered cetacaen, is now down to only a few left, less than 200. Gillnets are the biggest threat to these animals. Now, more ar dying as bycatch than there are new births to replace them. They are near extinction.
• Another CITES animal is the Dugong near Northern Australia.  Because they survive on seagrass found near shore, they often drown in fishing gear. They are also near extinction.
• Common Murie account for a high level of bycatch: nine thousand per year in the Baltic Sea, 22,000 off Newfoundland. Gillnets are a big threat to these creatures, resultin gin s\a high mortality rate.  Worse still, their habitat is shrinking rapidly, limiting their chance to stage a comeback.
• The North Atlantic Right Whales have been depelted by years of whaling. In the East North Atlantic, they are already believed extinct with only a few remaining in the Western NA.
• The Australian Sea Lion was hunted through the twentieth century and is now listed as threatened. Gillnets and lobster traps are part of the dangers that claim so many of these anima lives.
• Scientists fear that the Northern Right whales, some Humpback whales and quite a number of other endangered stocks of smaller and larger whales, such as the Irrawaddy dolphins in the Philippines (approximately 50 animals), Hector’s dolphins from New Zealand (approximately 100 animals), the La Plata dolphins from South America or the Vaquita porpoises in the Gulf of California (scarcely 500 animals) and some porpoises will soon be extinct, despite the fact that they are no longer hunted.
• An added problem for many animals, such as the dolphins in the Black Sea and the West Pacific (Korean) grey whales, is the almost complete destruction of their habitat.
• Harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea provide another sad story. The approximately 1.60-metre-long, snub-nosed, black and white porpoises suffer particularly from gill net fishing (for cod and flatfish) and drift net fishing (for salmon and cod).

Discovery clip – Bycatch

Marine animals also have to overcome other manmade disasters on a daily basis. There is the oil that has been spilled over the past several years into their habitat, made worse by the addition of disbursements; there is the routine leakage of toxic substances from maintenances of large ships, the large amount of plastics gathering in the oceans, the runoff from animal agriculture, chemicals and other toxins. Elliott Norse, President of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute of Washington, checked 300 Albatross chicks on Midway Island, 1600 km from the nearest land. Each chick had plastic in its stomach.The amount of animal suffering caused by man is beyond comprehension. We have invaded, polluted, pillaged, and destroyed. Until there are enough people who respect all forms of life, these problems will continue unabated.  If you are not vegan, please go vegan. If you are already vegan, please spread the word about these unseen animals that are paying such a hugge price for our hubris and our folly.

Sea Noises, Dr. Roger Payne

FAO Report

WWF Bycatch News

Circle of Life (The Lion King)

Some vegans promote the saying, taken from the peace ideals of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, The World is Vegan is you Want It. But what would a vegan world really mean? Would obligate carnivores somehow be banned or executed? Would there be islands of natural habitat that would permit all animal species to live in a functional biosphere without human intervention? How would those areas of habitat be demarcated? Would humans avoid entering into such areas, or would they dominate and control them? What about domesticates like cats and dolphins? Who has the right to live in the new vegan world? Even now, these are sticky issues that plague many vegans and vegan sanctuaries. I know some vegans will no longer adopt cats because of their need for animal products. While some vegans have transitioned their cats successfully to an all vegan diet, others have had little luck and have reverted back to standard cat food, deeply troubling the conscience of these vegans. Some vegan sanctuaries are refusing the big cats entrance because there is no way to feed these animals without sacrificing their vegan ideals. Such life and death decisions are deeply concerning. What will a vegan world really mean?

Rejection of Predators by Vegans?

I recently saw on a forum a long time vegan stating that only vegan animals were worthy of our favor. What about some of the other carnivores, such as dolphins, who are already captive? With diminishing ocean life, would rehabilitating the captive dolphins to the wild be feasible? As human population reaches its projected height at about nine billion souls, the dwindling of natural resources, lack of water, increasing climate instability, and international conflicts will all become challenges that may pull attention away from saving animal lives. Long ago, Chief Seattle was alleged to have said: What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. The natural world seems designed to balance ecosystems, with carnivores living on the weak, the infirm, and the elderly.  This order kept animal populations healthy and in check and culled out those who were unable to survive. Without that balance, what would become of a vegan world?

Healing Drums

One hundred years ago, in 1911,  another transitional age was moving into the area called Lassen Peak in Northern California, where Native Americans once lived in harmony with nature.  Continually pushed back by the advancement of human populations, hastened by the Gold Rush encroaching on and destroying their living space, the Yahi tribe was finally limited to only a few members, clinging precariously to life deep within a canyon.  One by one, as they died, only one man remained — Ishi, the emaciated sole survivor of his tribe, finally left his homeland and walked into the White Man’s world, was taken and became a living anthropology museum exhibit at the University of California at Berkeley. Ishi lived his last few years as a paid research assistant, as he taught those around him about his previous existence. Ishi had spent most of his life in hiding, simply trying to survive and avoid capture, following massacres of most of his family by US forces and cattlemen. In the end, he witnessed something most of us hope to never live to see: the total extinction of his people and their way of life. Ishi died around 1916, living in captivity only a few years, and dying at about age 54. Some of what he experienced must be a mirrored experience for many nonhuman animals today, as their habitat continues to shrink, their area for migrating, hunting, and foraging becomes severely truncated, and the ongoing press of rising human populations threatens their families and their very lives. Many species of animals are becoming extinct because of man’s short-sightedness and inability to live peacefully with the natural world.

What is the Human Role in Animal Survivability?

I once was privileged to attend a lecture on Raptor Rescue, people who work to save the birds of prey. Attending the lecture were birds who had been savaged for sport: a gorgeous hawk with only one wing, a crippled falcon, and various other birds that could no longer fly or hunt, but were used for educational purposes. What is the fair thing to do if one finds an injured bird of prey? Should they be killed in order to stop ingestion of other animals? If they are allowed to live, who or what would they feed upon? These days, I would object to them being used at all, even for educational purposes, but I am still not certain what is fair and just in these kinds of situations. Education is certainly needed to change the hearts and minds of most humans, but there are troubling questions that require discussion of the human role in preserving animal life.

Totem Dance

There are traits among predatory animals that are magnificent. The vision of a raptor is keen and awe inspiring. The grace of a snake, the majesty of a lion, the ability to leap and pounce of a tiger, the bravery and determination of the wolf, the power of a bear, the perseverance of a penguin, the poetry of a seal in water, the loyalty of a dolphin — these animals are all predators, all must hunt to survive. Yet somehow, it seems to me, the world would be greatly diminished without their presence here. As part of the reverence for other forms of life, these lives too must be considered and respected. It is when they are held captive, or are domesticated, that these questions sting us most sharply. It appears that humans will have to make some changes to save any aspect of nature and to preserve as many animals as possible.

Declawing the Cat As Metaphor for Man’s Assault on Nature

Consider the cat.  Humans love their soft fur, their ability to clean themselves, their warmth when they curl up, and their contented sounds of purring as they snuggle on our laps. But less desirable in the domestic cat is their ability to claw furniture, draperies, and occasionally, human friends.  Some people have their cats declawed, trying to save only the part of the cat they like, then discarding the rest. But sadly, not only is this such a painful operation that many vets refuse to perform it, it leaves the declawed cat completely vulnerable, separating him or her from their only protection, their only way to quickly scale a tree or to strike out at an opponent, or to capture a small animal for a meal. By declawing the cat, we are rejecting an elemental part of the cat. Given that there are many animals who do not have claws, this seems particularly troublesome, as if we could design our very own animals to suit our specifications. And this is actually going on in the natural world, too, in our assault upon it — we are taking species that are near extinction, then self selecting for traits, and breeding them to create designer exotic pets.  These animals have not evolved naturally in order to strengthen their survivability, but have been bred for short-term gain, for appearances, often at the expense of the animal’s body integrity. Just look at the mess we have made with dog breeding to see where this leads: some dogs have difficulty breathing, others have eyes that pop out of their heads easily, others have hip problems, and so on and so on. Human intervention has been a disaster for many animal species. Can we leave nature alone? Can we as vegans appreciate the hunters among us, not the human type but those who live in nature and must hunt for survival?

Hungry Like A Wolf by Duran Duran

Predatory Animals in Sharp Decline

Commercial fishing is threatening dolphin survivability. Lions have experienced a marked decline in the last twenty-five years, down to only about 15% of their former population and only a small number compared to precolonial times.  Penguins have decreased in population by over 50% in only the last fifty years. With tigers becoming fewer and fewer, some poachers are resorting to leopard hunting, despite the dangerous decrease in leopards as well. Some scientists are breeding panthers to improve their chance of survival, but habitat preservation is paramount for all of these animals. Seals are declining at an alarming rate, believed due to pollution, climate change, and decrease in food sources. African birds of prey are decreasing, believed due to the commerical bushmeat trade. The war on wolves has been wreaking havoc on ecosystems, according to recent research, as smaller predators attempt to take over the natural balance of nature. Predator fish are also in sharp decline, competing with commercial fishing habits that use nets to scoop up every kind of marine animals–many who are considered bycatch and are simply tossed aside. Pandas, Polar Bears, and the Grizzly are all suffering population decline and stress. ”I’ve never seen bears hungry in the fall before, but last year they were starving,” said British Columbian wildlife guide and photographer Doug Neasloss. “I noticed in the spring there weren’t as many bears coming out, but I felt it was premature to jump to conclusions.” But now, he said, “there just aren’t any bears. It’s scary.” Whale populations as well as many other marine animals have also continued to decline due to human intervention and the resultant collapse of the marine food system.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens

Declawing a cat is tantamount to amputating the outermost joint of each one of your fingers. There are numerous images on the web about the horrific practice, and one vet said he would not do it for any amount of money, others will not do all four feet. There is a very high incidence of complications. Some cats are unable to walk properly, others suffer extreme and excruciating pain. There is something that is patently unfair about debarking a dog or declawing a cat; it is a fundamental misunderstanding of the very dogness or catness of the animals, a rejection of the innate characteristics of the animal and their place in nature.  These practices leave the animal unable to be their most basic and fundamental selves and leave them even more vulnerable to the whims of unreliable human beings. As vegans or people who care about the animal lives, it is important that we do not tolerate such mutilations.  Declawing the cat is a metaphor for what we have done to our fellow earthlings. The root question is this: is there going to be room on the ark for the cat, or any other predator?

Man is Only A Strand in the Web of Life

Back to Chief Seattle, he also is reported to have said: Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. We all know what the current situation is with respect to that web of life and what is happening to animals. If you do not, please listen to podcast, research on the web, or watch films such as Earthlings, go to AbolitionistApproach.com.  But here is the question we need to ask: what kind of web do we want in the future?  What is our appropriate role as a strand within that web? Do we, as merely a strand in the web, have the right to select for only herd animals, only vegan animals?  If we want to build a just planet based on nonviolence, how will we approach carnivores? Whatever you think is just, one thing is certain: It is inherently unjust to declaw the cat!

For further viewing:

Whale of a Decline

Decline of Large Raptors

Grizzlies Starve in Canada

Penguin Decline

Tiger Decline Leads to Leopard Poaching

Seals in Sharp Decline