The Seas Are Alive!!!!

[Daniel Rogov]

In 1954, world renowned oceanographer Jacques Cousteau predicted that by 2010 half of the life in the oceans and seas of the world would be dead. I remember that as being the most frightening prediction I had ever read.

What Cousteau has said has come true. Indeed half of the life that existed in the oceans and seas of the 1950's is now dead but what Cousteau did not forsee was that they would be replaced by other life-forms and indeed that has become a reality. None of which forgives the unnecessary slaughter of whales, dolphins, tuna and other fish and seafood forms or the destruction of coral beds the world over, but it does demonstrate how resilient our little planet can be.

Even in the 1950's Cousteau also predicted that the future of mankind would rely on the seas for food and that is becoming more and more a reality. Indeed the future of mankind lies not in soya and not in genetically manipulated crops as was once thought. It lies instead in the depth of the waters that cover so much of our planet. Not too long ago I dined on a meal based almost entirely on plankton and algae. True, not a gourmet meal but packed with all of the nutrients that human beings need and most assuredly edible.

Ah well....this little reflection was inspired by a little piece I found today while purusing the internet. See the piece at
http://www.mail.com/intl/Article.aspx/w ... s?pageid=1 The amusing question that lingers in my mind is whether the creepy-crawly thing pictured in the article will be tasty.....

Best
Rogov

[Doug Z]

i have a book in my library entitled "cod" (author mark kurlansky) which is a delightful 250 page history of the fish and its critical importance to the economies of europe and the americas during the age of discovery.

it is said that once one could walk from europe to new foundland simply by stepping on the backs of the cod because they were so numerous...and now all but gone, fished to depletion.