This is the response of Chronicle-Herald cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon to the ludicrous comment by John Risley of Clearwater Seafoods that "there is zero scientific evidence, not one shred of scientific evidence, that these fisheries do any damage to the bottom environment whatsoever."He was referring to the campaign for a temporary moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters.
Mr. Risley's comment is patently wrong but it is instructive in that it provides a blunt articulation of the naked vested interests at play in the debate surrounding deep-seas bottom trawling.
Mr. Risley is chairman of Clearwater Seafoods, a company that uses 19 trawlers to harvest seafood in Canadian waters.
If Mr. Risley took a moment to Google for peer-reviewed scientific studies on deep-seas trawling and its impact on marine ecosystems, he would find a litany.
But this isn't the point of his comments. Mr. Risley has spoken out to grab headlines. He knows that a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters will put pressure on his company to stop the practice in Canadian waters. Sadly for Mr. Risley, his remarks are so off base that he has discredited himself, Clearwater and fisheries companies that use bottom trawling.
He has also discredited the Canadian government which is refusing to support the proposed UN moratorium on deep-seas trawling. Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn says it would be too difficult to police international waters. Hmmm, this sounds like another of Mr. Risley's comments: "What is the good of adding more laws when the problem is that people are paying no attention to the existing laws?"
Could Mr. Risley's ludicrous comments be a blunt articulation of the Canadian government's position on this issue?
