SPEAR-FISHING IS FOR BONEHEADS

Sorry, for the spear fisherman drowned off Sydney, but ..

Those who would protest at the indiscriminate shooting of native birds, seem not to object to the ugly activity of spear-fishing in Australian coastal waters.

I recall as a child, a giant blue-green parrotfish, lying on the sand with a hole in its head at Long Reef, one of Sydney`s northern beaches.

A trusting fish which does not flee a diver, the parrotfish is not tasty eating, so clearly this was slaughter. Now forty years on, you can dive anywhere around Sydney, but you won`t see a giant parrotfish any more..

It`s a mockery to have state road patrols which care for injured wildlife - even snakes -while spear-fishermen continue to kill innocent marine life.

The boneheads even hold competitions to see who can spear the biggest fish!

I have absolutely nothing against spear-fishing in poor African countries where entire families depend on the catch for food.

But it is totally unacceptable in Australia which considers itself a developed, eco-friendly nation.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: Pity the porcupine fish, inedible, but speared for fun....

BOYCOTT RESTAURANTS

SERVING ENDANGERED SPECIES OF FISH

The stocks of several species of fish are seriously endangered due to overfishing caused by demand from unscrupulous restaurants.

While these are located mainly in Asia, notably in China and Japan, several well known London restaurants are serving both bluefin tuna and shark fin soup.

Sharks and bluefin tuna are on the danger list, but while the fishing of both species is condemned by conservationists, neither NOBU`S celebrity haunt in Mayfair, nor the Dorchester Hotel`s CHINA TANG - run by Hong Kong tycoon Sir David Tang - will take them off their menus.

I call for a BOYCOTT of both these restaurants and any others you may come across when dining out in London. Or elsewhere.

About twenty species of shark are said to be under threat. If you see fishermen performing the cruel practice of `finning and tailing` and often throwing the sharks back into the sea to bleed to death, advise the Humane Society International and/or Endangered Species International.

Countries where this practise is rife include: Somalia, Kenya, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Phillipines, the Eastern Arab Gulf states and Yemen.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: Finning a shark, Monbasa, Kenya

Source: Grazyna Bonati www.copix.co.uk