An Update on Fish

Things are moving pretty fast in the campaign to stop unsustainably caught fish from being served in Oxford, but here is an excellent article (the economist again) about the economic benefits of marine reserves. As mentioned below, Britain has only one marine reserve (Lundy Island), which makes up about 0.002% of our waters. The government has been discussing a Marine Bill for some time now, but it did not make it onto the draft legislative programme that Gordon Brown outlined in July, nor onto the Queen's speech this month, despite thousands of letters of support for the bill, and strong pressure from environmental groups. The interests of the fishing industry have consistently been focused on short term benefits (Hurry while stocks last), and the government doesn't appear to be taking any action to preserve biodiversity for the future, which shows why consumer led action to dry up demand for unsustainably caught fish is so important.