Peruvians Say "Transgenicos? No, Gracias" (GMOs? No Thanks)

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 10:53:04 AM PST

From New Zealand Hoki to Peruvian Anchovy

by: JayinPortland

Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 20:00:00 PM PDT

Each year 30 million tonnes of small wild-caught fish -- one third of the global declared catch -- are ground up to feed industrially farmed fish, chicken, and pigs. In light of widespread overfishing and malnutrition, is it ethical to turn one out of every three marine fish into powdered pig feed?

We were dismayed when we heard that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced recently that the process has begun which could lead to the certification of Peruvian anchovies -- a fish which contributes to about a third of the world's fishmeal production.

The Tyee piece is really worth a read, as it sums up quickly and concisely exactly what the problems are with letting the commercial fishing industry regulate itself, and define what is "sustainable" through the Marine Stewardship Council, a creation of the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, which just so happens to be one of the world's largest seafood retailers.  The reasoning for Unilever's participation in the creation of the MSC was that...

[Unilever] wanted to source all of their fish from sustainable sources by 2005.

...and since nations are hesitant to get into defining 'sustainable' fisheries, what better way to accomplish that goal than to create an industry certification scheme with a little bit of environmental credibility (teaming up with WWF) to do your bidding?  WalMart, btw, is also currently basking in the MSC's "green showers" for much of the fish that they sell.

At first, MSC was only able to certify small, actual sustainable fisheries using real science.  Of course, that didn't aid in reaching industry's goals (which are unsustainable by definition - there is simply no possible way for corporations whose only concern (by law) is profit, to be able to work with the earth at the expense of a few pennies for shareholders)... so MSC has lately been acting as a Rubber Greenwashing Stamp for Big (Sea)Food.

There's nothing at all "sustainable" about grinding up millions of tons of fish for animal feed, when such fish could of course just be used to feed people in the first place.  Especially in Peru, where the anchovy caught just off their coast could go quite a way towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition amongst the Peruvian people themselves, in a much more efficient manner than turning the fish into pellets or powder for industrial pig and salmon farms thousands of miles away ever could.

Massacre in Peru in the name of Free Trade

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Jun 08, 2009 at 18:39:47 PM PDT

What essentially happened is that the Peruvian government wants to destroy the Amazon rainforest to use it for oil, mining, and biofuels, and they are attempting to do this in the name of free trade. When the indigenous people protested to protect their rights, they were brutally massacred.

Here is a photo diary of the massacre (warning: graphic). Read a description of the events and what caused them below. We in America need to be aware of the effects our economic imperialism has around the world. Instead of looking to move away from free trade agreements such as the one in Peru, we are working to establish new agreements, such as those in Panama or Columbia. The pork industry, for example, is lobbying very hard for a Panama FTA, so it can open up Panamanian markets to American pork.