Please do not get me wrong. This planet and its terrestrial and marine resources have suffered greatly by humanity's refusal to acknowledge that attention must be paid to conserving the environment. Organizations like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES, the Convention on Biological Diversity or CBD and others within government and the fishery industry are taking huge steps to rectify this problem. I point to the recent self-imposed effort by the Japanese tuna industry to voluntarily decrease the size of its fleet and to close its markets to rogue, flag of convenience vessels as well as its urging other Asia-based nations to follow suit for the sake of the tuna.

But, many groups and individuals seize on shreds of truth concerning environmental problems and weave from them elaborate emotional appeals for uninformed donors to send literally tens of millions of dollars for the protection of the particular species du jour. These groups obtain a patina of scientific credibility by recruiting ideologues with the suitable academic degrees to lend the perception of credibility to their operations that are aimed at nothing less than the end to human consumption of the flesh of any living creature, whether from land or the sea.

I do not exaggerate. Nor must you believe that simply because someone has a doctor's degree in medical or earth sciences that what they claim is accurate. I point to the biologists and physicians working for extreme animal rights groups who claim milk is unhealthy for humans, that meat and fish are equally dangerous to the human diet, and that nothing of benefit to humans has ever been derived from biomedical research on animals. They have legitimate degrees from an impressive array of educational institutions, yet what they say is scientific nonsense. Not that they are dull witted, stupid or uninformed. Quite the opposite. These individuals are among some of the brightest people on earth. They simply have a political agenda that is 180 degrees opposite of that from the rest of us. That agenda is distinctly anti-fishing.

Another point that must not be dismissed or ignored is the fact that the so-called animal rights and extreme environmentalist organizations are incredibly persuasive and very influential among policy makers at every domestic and international level. They know how to play the press, the public, and politicians. And, something that should be remembered is that they are not really concerned with the welfare of any particular species. If allowing the African Elephant, the bull shark, the Atlantic cod or the last of the great apes to perish will serve their ends, mark my words, they will not only let it happen, they will find a way to make it happen. And, they will blame you.

If these groups truly cared about relieving negative pressures on marine resources and if they really cared about the ability of the earth to feed its inhabitants, these groups would be among the most vocal champions of aquaculture. 

But, they are not. They are aquaculture's greatest adversaries. They flood the press with chilling accounts of environmental degradations…some real, many totally made up…caused by shrimp or salmon farming. They attend FAO meetings urging adoption of measures to condemn aquaculture. They lobby local governments to shut down aquaculture operations in India, Thailand, in the Americas, virtually everywhere.