The Third World War

On World Ocean Day 2013 the global ocean is in incontrovertible peril < Sparing a thought for the global ocean on World Oceans Day 2013[/caption]Ocean warrior, Paul Watson, believes: "We are now in the midst of a third world war but this time the mission is to save the planet from ourselves". As bleak as this outlook is I have to agree with it as I see our oceanic weapons of mass destruction being factory ships that drag 40km nets that siphon everything from the sea floor; ships that carry whole forests from one part of the globe to another in a glut of one-time consumption; fishing vessels that engage in shark finning that contributes in no way whatsoever to food security, but which feeds human arrogance and greed; and fishing technology that enables fishing fleets to find fish in deeper and deeper waters in our worldwide "race to the bottom". If future generations are to live on a planet remotely like the one we are living on today, finding food in an ocean that has nourished the human race since the beginning of our time, we have no option but to win this war. It is going to be an epochal battle, the greatest in the history of our species as the stakes are literally the survival of Homo sapiens sapiens.