FROM THE CROWE'S NEST

A Gift Horse's Mouth

In times of adversity, one looks to others for solace and advice. Sometimes when the situation is too adverse or devastating one does not know where or who to turn to. The magnitude of the devastation and loss of life from the tsunami has been staggering; it is possibly the world’s most devastating natural disaster. Fortunately, the residents of the affected areas did not need to look for help too far or wait too long; there was an immediate outpouring of support and help from nations around the globe.

In times of disaster, there have always been some who try to profit from another’s misfortune. The case of the fishing communities affected by the tsunami may be a case in point. Much of the fishing that took place there was a community-based fishery. Fishing there was done on a small scale in local communities, much like what takes place along the coast of Maine.

The offer by some European Union nations to send some of their excess capacity boats to replace the loss of the local fishing fleet should be looked at hard and long. What replaces that which has been lost should not be a fleet of large corporate industrial-style boats. What was there before the tsunami is what should be restored. We should not replace the fishing communities that were lost with the latest modern corporate quick-fix solutions; instead, we should rebuild the fishing communities that were lost. This also applies to the infrastructure of the fishing communities (waterfront access, labor and processing facilities).

To have a rebuilding effort turned into a re-development effort where the local communities lose their access to their livelihoods would be criminal. The privatization of a working waterfront to beachfront resorts is something that is all too much of a present day reality.

By replacing community-based fisheries with an industrial-style fishery, the entire socio-economic character of the region would change. The loss of the fish, the loss of the jobs, the loss of social interactions of a community would disappear. A way of life could become eradicated permanently, under the guise of a humanitarian cause.

An old adage is that you should never look a gift horse in the mouth. The offer of replacing grassroots fishing organizations with large-scale foreign fleets is one gift horse that should have its mouth looked into.