EU's Bad Policies And Subsidies Causing Overfishing And Disaster In Africa

[NATO AIR]

thank you EU! its not enough for you fucks to colonize Africa and ruin it with your misrule and cowardice, but now you got to screw the Africans some more... YAY for the triumph of greed.

:fu2: EU!

oh and when are you fuckers getting around to admitting you should seriously help the Iraqis and not the Iraqi insurgents and what's happening in Darfur is a genocide?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6464789/

How overfishing hurts African wildlife
When fish supplies dwindle,
hungry Ghanaians turn to bushmeat, putting species in peril

By Maggie Fox
Health and science correspondent

Updated: 8:37 p.m. ET Nov. 11, 2004WASHINGTON - Overfishing by subsidized European fleets off the coast of West Africa is hurting local fisheries and forcing people to slaughter wildlife to get enough to eat, researchers report.

They said the so-called bushmeat trade in Ghana is strongly driven by a lack of fish, and added that the country risked even worse poverty and social unrest — as well as the loss of an irreplaceable natural resource — unless something changes.

Bushmeat includes game such as antelope, but also species such as monkeys and jackals.

The finding, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, confirms accusations from local conservation groups that international fishing is hurting local people.

“This study provides the strongest link yet between a local fish supply with immediate, dramatic effects on bushmeat hunting and terrestrial wildlife,” said Justin Brashares, an assistant professor of ecosystem sciences at the University of California at Berkeley who led the study. “If people aren’t able to get their protein from fish, they’ll turn elsewhere for food and economic survival. Unfortunately, the impacts on wild game resources are not sustainable, and species are literally disappearing from the reserves.”

Potentially devastating results
The result can be devastating, socially and economically, the researchers said. “Recent collapses of mammal populations in some areas of West Africa have been linked to geographic patterns of poverty and malnourishment,” they wrote.

European Union subsidies of European fleets may be in part to blame. “If it weren’t for this financial support, these studies suggest, it wouldn’t be worthwhile for EU fleets to head to West Africa,” Brashares said.

More than half of Ghana’s 20 million people live near the coast, and they rely heavily on fishing.

Brashares and colleagues said they studied census data recorded by park rangers from 1970 to 1998 for 41 species of animals such as buffalo, antelope, jackals, lions, elephants, monkeys and baboons.

Then they analyzed data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization on fish in the region. They found a 76 percent decrease in numbers of mammals, with many local extinctions.

The fewer fish there were year to year, the harder the impact on land animals, they found. Checks on local market prices confirmed the suspicions.

“The fact that fish prices were high when fish availability was low indicates that the link with high bushmeat sales was driven by low fish supply,” said Andrew Balmford, a conservation biologist at Britain’s University of Cambridge who worked on the report.

“Our results emphasize the urgent need to develop cheap protein alternatives to bushmeat and to improve fisheries management by foreign and domestic fleets to avert extinctions of tropical wildlife,” the researchers concluded.

Bushmeat hunting has also been linked to the emergence of dangerous new viruses that may have jumped from animals to people, such as Ebola and the AIDS virus.

The researchers noted that the European Union heavily fishes off the African coast, with financial subsidies for fleets rising to more than $350 million in 2001 from $6 million in 1981.

Some conservation experts say that the fish licensing agreements between several African nations and the European Union and other industrialized nations heavily favor the rich nations.

“These agreements are extremely unfair,” said Daniel Pauly, professor and director of the Fisheries Center at Canada’s University of British Columbia, who did not work on the study. “If you have a very powerful economy negotiating with weak one, then it’s very difficult for weak ones to say no.”

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

 

[CSM]

thank you EU! its not enough for you fucks to colonize Africa and ruin it with your misrule and cowardice, but now you got to screw the Africans some more... YAY for the triumph of greed.

:fu2: EU!

oh and when are you fuckers getting around to admitting you should seriously help the Iraqis and not the Iraqi insurgents and what's happening in Darfur is a genocide?

Let them eat tofu...after all, fish and beef (or in this case, antelope meat) are not necessities to life. mariner told me so!

 

[NATO AIR]

Let them eat tofu...after all, fish and beef (or in this case, antelope meat) are not necessities to life. mariner told me so!

oh yea they think they're better than us, they can go veggie.

 

[Tintin]

thank you EU! its not enough for you fucks to colonize Africa and ruin it with your misrule and cowardice, but now you got to screw the Africans some more... YAY for the triumph of greed.

:fu2: EU!

oh and when are you fuckers getting around to admitting you should seriously help the Iraqis and not the Iraqi insurgents and what's happening in Darfur is a genocide?

WOW! What's your beef with the EU??

This article is depressing, but don't try to tell me the US and other industrialised countries are not guilty of stuff like this. It's just the way the world is: the rich and powerfull (EU, US,...) screw over the the poor (Africa,...) to get even richer. Sad but true... if we would pay them a fair price for their natural resources, they'd be much better off.

About Africa: I'm not particularly proud of the whole colonisation history and the role my country played in it, but hey, they've been independant for 45 years. Time for them to take responsibility for the problems on their continent and stop blaming us.

Oh, yeah: why should we help Iraq?

 

[theim]

WOW! What's your beef with the EU??

This article is depressing, but don't try to tell me the US and other industrialised countries are not guilty of stuff like this. It's just the way the world is: the rich and powerfull (EU, US,...) screw over the the poor (Africa,...) to get even richer. Sad but true... if we would pay them a fair price for their natural resources, they'd be much better off.

About Africa: I'm not particularly proud of the whole colonisation history and the role my country played in it, but hey, they've been independant for 45 years. Time for them to take responsibility for the problems on their continent and stop blaming us.

Oh, yeah: why should we help Iraq?

You shoudn't. Its just that..for once...ya know, we had hoped you lazy douchebags might actually do something for once just because it was right and not out for profit (guess those oil deals were too sweet to pass up eh?) . But no biggie. It's not like we really need you anyway.

 

[Tintin]

You shoudn't. Its just that..for once...ya know, we had hoped you lazy douchebags might actually do something for once just because it was right and not out for profit (guess those oil deals were too sweet to pass up eh?) . But no biggie. It's not like we really need you anyway.

Why should we help a country that`s afloat on oil while there are many, many other countries worse off? I would rather have my taxmoney go to a country were people need it more to survive (lots of African countries come to mind)

You dont`t need us? That`s good! But I`m sure the US goverment is going to ask for our help anyway soon. I guess we`re going to chip in some money, just because it`s in our interest too to get Iraq stabilised soon.

Lazy douchbags ? The EU just approved a amount of subsidies for the new 10 members (mostly from the old communist countries, you know 'new europe') larger than the Marshall plan. The EU accounts for about 50% of all foreign aid(foreign meaning third world)...

see ya

 

[dilloduck]

Welcome to the board----glad to have some input from the EU

 

[UsaPride]

Oh, yeah: why should we help Iraq?

it`s in our interest too to get Iraq stabilised soon.

Well there ya go. You answered your own question.

 

[UsaPride]

lol, is it another flip flopper?

It's a Liberal thing, we wouldn't understand it.

 

[Said1]

The EU just approved a amount of subsidies for the new 10 members (mostly from the old communist countries, you know 'new europe')

How nice of them to spread it around to the new provinces. I can't wait for all the linguistic issues to hit the fan, not to mention cultural and religious. It's gonna be a real riot.

The EU accounts for about 50% of all foreign aid(foreign meaning third world)

And where pray tell is that "aid" money being spent? In the good ol E of U no doubt. Aid money is not "free" money Mr. Peabody, it usually has strings attached.

 

[Tintin]

Welcome to the board----glad to have some input from the EU

Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Tintin]

Well there ya go. You answered your own question.

What I meant was that we don't feel any moral obligation to help in Iraq (as opposed to Africa), cause as you know it wasn't us who invaded and bombed the crap out of them. So why should we pay to rebuild it?

But we do feel that, now that it happened, it's better to get Iraq back on it's feet quickly, for our own security and economic benefit. We wouldn't want the problems to continue, or even worse, that a civil war would break loose, that could distabilise the region even more... That could for instance start a new stream of refugees our way (since we're closer than you are). Last thing we need is more Arabs...

I don't think the US can do it alone(as someone implied), and I think your president knows this. So I'm guessing that he will be more moderate towards the EU and the UN and will reach out to get more help. Although some of you clearly won't like that...

 

[Tintin]

How nice of them to spread it around to the new provinces. I can't wait for all the linguistic issues to hit the fan, not to mention cultural and religious. It's gonna be a real riot.

I think you're misinformed about the goal of the EU. That's ok, alot of people over here are too... It's not our purpose to blend into one big country where all counries have to assimulate into one language, culture and be dictated from Brussels. It's mainly about economic cooperation that should result in a more prosper Europe. We're far from being a political, let alone military unity.

Each country keeps it's own identity and can pursue it's own interests, to a certain extent. Some countries can decide to take the cooperation even further, but that's up to them. UK didn't want the Euro? Fine we'll do it without them.

The only place where you can have linguistic problems is in the European parlement, but they have enough translators there. Most people speak some English, French or German so there aren't that much communication problems.
Religious? Most of us are christians (or don't care), as long as Turkey stays out!

Sure, there is alot of bickering and yes, we're going through some though times economically. But it's far from being the doom scenario some of you are predicting.

And where pray tell is that "aid" money being spent? In the good ol E of U no doubt. Aid money is not "free" money Mr. Peabody, it usually has strings attached.

I think the EU has set a quota for all members to spend about 0.8% of their GNP to aid to developing countries, that is supposed to be no strings attached. I don't know if many countries meet that quota though...

Now if you're talking about investments made in other countries, of course there will be strings attached. The money we're pumping into the new members is supposed to benifit us all in the long run. They're economies will bloom (hopefully) and they will bring us new labour forces, markets, etc...