Yup the general rule of thumb with aquariums is that if a bigger fish can get its mouth around a smaller fish that eventually it will.
If we as humans eat fish then we are saving the lives of smaller fish.
The most common fish that most people eat and encounter is tuna. Bluefin tuna can weigh well over 1000 pounds per fish and they school. Yellowfin tuna, Albacore tuna, and blackfin tuna are very large fish. A tuna fishing boat can catch a lot of fish in a hurry if they haul in a school of these fish.
It takes a lot of prey to support even a single tuna in the wild for a year. Harvesting a tuna probably saves the lives of millions of smaller fish. Tuna are usually referred to by scientists as the tigers of the fish world and they consume millions of smaller fish. Tuna have voracious appetites and they migrate across oceans to search out food sources to accomodate their hunger. They travel swiftly and can cover broad expanses in the search for foodsources to accomodate their size and nutritional needs.
Tuna dont reproduce slowly. A single breeding tuna can release millions of eggs several times per year. The tuna population is more limited towards the amount of prey in the ocean available to eat rather than the number of breeding individuals available to reproduce.
Whereas a cow will usually produce a single calf if a rancher is lucky a school of tuna can repopulate virtually the entire ocean in a breeding season.
To help matters the Japanese raise tuna until breeding age and then release them into the ocean to populate the oceans.
While environmentalists proclaim tuna an endangered species that is being threatened by overfishing it can be found on almost every grocery shelf in every town in the country for under $1 per 6 ounce can.
In 1990, Senators John Kerry and George Mitchell sponsored and helped pass legislation which required the United States and its fishermen to abide by the quotas set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas or ICCAT. This resulted in US fishermen having to abide by laws set by International Policy makers rather than the United States and its elected officials. Quotas for the United States have been established and enforced and the "imaginary" problems of overharvesting bluefin tuna and other related species have already been addressed by heavy handed conservationists that care more about fish rights than the economic viability of the fishing industry. The US congress has its hands tied in the ability to regulate the tuna industry until our participation in ICCAT expires. If ICCAT established a quota of zero tuna fishing for a year then tuna helper sales would take a hit and there isnt anything the US congress could do about it.
Despite Peta's claims, you will save the lives of more fish by eating tuna than you will by choosing another meal.
Indeed most fish consumed by humans exists as a larger variety of fish which has consumed thousands if not millions of pounds of fish before it reaches our tables. The second most frequently consumed species of fish behind Tuna is probably Cod and they can reach up to 75 pounds and are a very large commercial fish. When you cook that 20 pound turkey this thanksgiving and groan at leftovers for a week imagine how much protein a fish 3 times the size of the turkey can and does produce.
Except for Salmon, most fish served as a foodsource for humans would continue to consume large amounts of other marine resources if not caught and harvested.
The argument of being nice to fish is a moot point since almost all fish exist as both predator and prey. Outside of killer whales which are Apex predators all fish pretty much exist as predator and prey. To catch and consume a larger fish pretty much saves the lives of smaller fish. Salmon caught before they spawn and die are the exception.
The argument of protecting fish from overharvesting and extinction is counterbalanced by the sheer numbers of eggs that fish can spawn and the rapidity of reproduction of these species.
Marine pollution is a far greater threat to the species of fish in the ocean than is commercial fishing.
Peta is a ridiculous organization.
Happy Motoring All,
Bugshu
