{"id":1019,"date":"2011-01-17T13:35:30","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T12:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bxttlines.wordpress.com\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2011-01-17T13:35:30","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T12:35:30","slug":"opinion-why-its-time-for-a-sea-change-in-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/2011\/01\/17\/opinion-why-its-time-for-a-sea-change-in-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Why it’s time for a sea change in politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

SSACN, the Scottish sea angling conservation pressure group, is running a series of thought-provoking articles <\/a>this month on many aspects of the sport.\u00a0 The organisation is a touch-stone for all the key elements affecting marine conservation around our shores and plays an important part in helping to guide official policy in many areas.<\/p>\n

It has asked a number of people across a broad range of interests to select any aspect of the state of Scotland\u2019s marine environment, fish stocks, sea angling or conservation for their views.\u00a0 SSACN<\/a> hopes these will provide new insights, provoke alternative thinking or just simply show how sea angling has a part to play in delivering a greener, fairer, wealthier, healthier and inclusive Scotland.<\/p>\n

My contribution to the series is reproduced here <\/em> . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

FOR AN island like ours it seems more than a little strange that we really should know so little about the waters which surround our shores. There are, after all, nearly 20,000 miles of UK coastline \u2013 more than half of them Scottish.<\/p>\n

We know almost everything about the vessels which sail on them and those humans who work beneath them. Of the creatures for whom the seas are home, however, we know comparatively little; and the farther from the coast we venture, the less we know. How are they affected by their environment; how do they communicate; why and how do populations fluctuate; how is breeding is affected by changes in habitat; what influences migration patterns? The list is exhaustive.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t of course consider ourselves ignorant. Quite the opposite in fact. As a nation of sea-farers did we not conquer the oceans to stamp our authority on half the world and build a glorious empire? The bellies of our warrior sailors were fed by the fearless effort of our fishermen, their commerce oiling the wheels of the economy at home as well as sating the hunger of the masses. It was with a certain amount of justifiable self-confidence that Britannia did indeed come to rule the waves. Once upon a time.<\/p>\n

That bold arrogance lingers on in certain quarters. But today there is a paradox that the huge strides in scientific research and centuries of learning have illustrated just how little we actually understand; the sea remains an enigma. For those who sail upon it and those who tap its bounty, the oceans and waters around our shores for the most part are simply a mirror which reflects so much of human endeavour, yet reveals precious little of itself.<\/p>\n

The sea remains the world\u2019s last true wilderness, untamed and largely undiscovered. It would be wonderful to be able to add also: unexploited. But that, as we are all painfully aware, is not the case.<\/p>\n

For those who remain unconvinced about the fragility of marine ecosystems and the astonishing catalogue of plunder wreaked by man through the ages, you need to read just one book \u2013 Callum Roberts\u2019 astonishing work, The Unnatural History of the Sea<\/a>. It is both a testament to man\u2019s capacity for barbarity and gross self-interest when it comes to fishing, yet also an optimistic vision that remedial action can \u2013 not could \u2013 deliver a truly sustainable future.<\/p>\n

For me, the most troubling aspect of the book was not the documentation of centuries of rampant over-fishing or the chilling description of the technological advances in deep sea trawling which leave the oceans\u2019 inhabitants with few hiding places any more. No, the really disturbing element was the catalogue of political inertia which continues to harpoon conservation efforts at local, national and international levels.<\/p>\n

You can take your pick from thousands upon thousands of pages of policies, strategies, statistics, quota levels, consultation reports, revision documents, studies, investigations, working parties and forums in place in almost any country with a coastline. The effort which accompanies their research and production is difficult to comprehend.\u00a0 The rules which govern the use of our seas create giant webs of enormous complexity which network the globe.\u00a0 And at the centre of each one usually sits a spider in the shape of a politician.<\/p>\n

Here, for the sake of illustration \u2013 if not exactly simplicity \u2013 are the organisations which make up the Scottish Marine Strategy Forum<\/a>, a taskforce set up by the Holyrood government in 2009 to provide ministers with advice on \u201cissues and priorities at a strategic level\u201d \u2013<\/p>\n