Rewilding the Sea - Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life - page 247

bluefin tuna - now as endangered as tigers and rhinoceroses - the
Japanese government, much as it has done during negotiations over
whaling, bought the votes of enough poorer nations to block the
attempt. As if to underline its contempt for efforts to protect this mag-
nificent animal, at a reception a few hours before the vote was taken
the Japanese embassy served bluefin tuna sushi to its guests. 50 At the
same meeting, Japan also managed to defeat attempts to regulate the
international trade in corals and to protect some of the sharks that are
hunted for their fins.
The demand for bluefin tuna, like that for rhino horn, shows no
sign of declining as the fish becomes rarer. Rather, the fish is simply
becoming more expensive. In 2012 a single bluefin was sold in Japan
for £470,000. 51 The restaurant owner who bought it said he bid so
high in order to 'liven up Japan'. He won the undying gratitude of his
customers by selling cuts from the fish at below cost price.
We rightly deplore the apparent unconcern with which this species
is being driven to extinction. But it is not a world apart from the hab-
its of liberal, well-educated people I know in Britain - friends and
relatives among them - who, despite widespread coverage of the
impacts of unsustainable fishing on television and in the newspapers
they read, continue to buy species such as swordfish, halibut and king
prawns, which are either in dire trouble or whose exploitation causes
great ecological damage.
To meet this demand, the world's continental shelves are being
trawled, destroying their sessile lifeforms - the trees of the sea - at
150 times the rate at which forests on land are cleared. 52 In other words,
every year half the global continental shelf is trawled. At this rate, it is
impossible for the delicate animals destroyed when nets, beams, rakes
and chains were first dragged over them to re-establish themselves. As
farming and some varieties of conservation do on land, fishing reduces
complex, three-dimensional habitats to featureless plains.
Until recently, much of the seabed was protected by the fact that it
was rocky, and would damage any nets pulled over it. It provided a
sanctuary for species extirpated elsewhere. But the rockhopper equip-
ment developed in the 1980s and now used widely has made almost
every hidden corner accessible. Those of us who enjoy exploring the
shoreline are advised not to turn over rocks, for fear of crushing the