Concerning Tuna: Yes Tuna.

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Today's post is provided to you by, tuna. Yes tuna. What is it with people and their callous unconcern for tuna? Do you understand how hard it is to get people to care about tuna? Go up to someone and ask them to save the dying polar bears or pandas, and most people will feel at least a glimmer of concern. Try asking someone to save the tuna. I dare you. It is a steep, upward, barbed wire rimmed, battle to get people to give a lick of concern for a fish. You want to know why? Most people simply can't relate to a fish. Unfortunately. That would make this issue significantly easier to tackle. 

A few years ago, The Cove dominated our minds for, probably a few weeks... Anyway, the world seemed to be outraged about what was happening. Something about dolphins makes people care about them. People were demanding that they be released from captivity, strongly worded articles dominated the media. I'm starting to sound like a don't like dolphins... I do, I really do, and believe me I strongly support ending the Taiji Dolphin slaughter, what I don't understand is why, dolphins should receive more concern than tuna. Okay, maybe I do. But for goodness sake, shouldn't the hundred thousands of tuna being eaten every year get a little more sympathy than they are? You know how many dolphins are killed in Taiji per year? 20,000. Is that 20,000 too many? Yes. Of course. But the net affect of this number is minimal when compared to the 29,000 TONNES of tuna caught per year- and this is just Blue Fin Tuna. Yet, most people think dolphins are cuter and are always smiling, so what do they want to save? The adorable, intelligent dolphin, or the fish? What would you choose? 

Do you know that scientists are predicting the complete collapse of Blue-Fin tuna stocks in 2050? Do you know what they are saying will happen? I don't. Because they have no way of knowing. Removing tuna from the food web will have untold consequences. We are already seeing the effects now. Jellyfish booms anyone? The issue with tuna is that people see it as a staple food item. You go to the grocery store, you dump in a packet of cereal, a couple liters of milk, a bag of potatoes, a bottle of wine, a carton of eggs, and a couple cans of tuna. I think we struggle to associate those cans of tuna with the actual animal, we buy toothpaste and canned tuna from the same store. My toothpaste isn't going to run out anytime soon, so we draw that conclusion out to tuna. Sounds ridiculous, but this seems to be the only logical explanation to describe our behavior. It's either that explanation, or we are all uncaring, callous, self-centered people. 

The fact that people don't seem inclined to save the tuna, makes me even less hopeful for sharks. Their slaughter is currently being ignored because they've had a bad rap for years. Why aren't we trying to help the tuna? Well... They aren't cute and cuddly like polar bears and pandas. So even if somehow, humanity gets over it irrational fear of sharks, we'll still be stuck in a rut because at the end of the day, they too, are a fish. 

Save the fish! Dear. We need to come up with another slogan.