Fishermen vs. Wal-mart

Some recreational fishermen have decided they're going to make Wal-mart blink. Angered by the Walton Family Foundation's funding of ocean conservation (thanks WFF!), the Recreational Fishing Alliance is calling for a boycott of Wal-mart stores.

 Why would this fishing group oppose ocean conservation?  Seems nonsensical, doesn't it?  Conservation means more fish, but RFA thinks that's not OK if it means creating no-fishing areas. 

As if taking on Wal-mart isn't enough, the RFA is already supporting a boycott of Safeway, the 2nd largest retail grocery chain in the US. 

Spending by anglers does matter, but it's hard to believe that these Quixotic moves will have an impact. Will we really see the "nationwide protests" that RFA expects?  Or is the campaign more about driving traffic to the button on the RFA's website (top left)? 

A quick search of the news provided no evidence of boycotts or protests against Wal-mart by fishermen. In fact, it looks like anglers will have to wait in line to get attention for their boycott, behind other groups that are targeting Wal-mart for other reasons.

Here's a group calling itself "Boycott International," a group who's reason for being is to organize boycotts in "recognition of the power of individuals in situations where governments have chosen to, or are unable to, influence companies that exploit children and/or violate basic human rights of their workers."

Watch this space for news about retail giants crumbling (or not) under the pressure of anglers upset about ocean conservation harming their "right to fish." 

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Greenpeace fish head protest

What do you do if you want to save fish? If you're Greenpeace, you dump 5 tons of fish heads in front of the government Fishery Department.

What is the connection between fish heads and better government? According to Greenpeace:

Dead tuna heads for deadbeat tuna managers.

Paris, France — What does it take to get the governments responsible for the imminent collapse of the East Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery to wake up and do something? What about a mock "Pirates of the Mediterranean" poster of the responsible ministers in pirate gear in The Economist? How about more than 10,000 emails? OK, how about several tonnes of dead tuna fish heads dumped on the doorstep of the French fisheries ministry?

What do you think? Will this protest be effective? Hard to say, but here's the
National Fisheries Institute response, with an astute critique:

But further along, far from the pun-riddled headlines, reports also say a Greenpeace delegation met with staff members of the agriculture and fisheries minister. But because of Greenpeace's insatiable appetite for inappropriate and illegal publicity stunts (used later to raise funds for the organization) no one is talking about its meeting with agriculture ministry staff. No, they're talking about dead fish heads on the ministry steps.

Once again the messenger has succeeded in upstaging his own message.

Is it true that the tuna head protest was primarily to gain attention and raise money? Well, at the bottom of the webpage describing the action, Greenpeace said:

Donate
Ads in the Economist and dead fish heads don't grow on trees. Help us continue to command the attention of decision makers by giving whatever you can.

This is a fairly tight linkage between a protest action and an appeal for donations, making it easy for critics to accuse Greenpeace of focusing only on the money.

Bluefin tuna are in deep trouble, and serious action is needed. Protests may help bring attention to the matter, but is it the right kind of attention? What do you think?

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Fishing protest not for the squeamish

Here's a sharply-pointed protest against shark fishing.

Artist Alice Newstead had her back skin pierced with shark fishing hooks and suspended herself by the hooks from the ceiling of a cosmetics shop on London's trendy Regent Street.

Onlookers gasped to see the extreme piercing on display, complete with some blood trickling down Alice's back from the piercings.

"I am doing this because the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out the shark population. I have had my torso, legs, arms, stomach and knees pierced before so that I could hang from them, so this is no big deal."

There is a small picture included here. Click the link in the first paragraph to see a closeup photo if you want a more graphic view.

What do you think? Will this raise awareness of a conservation problem? Or, will observers merely gawk at an example of extreme behavior? I think it may work in the context of Regent Street, but it won't translate well to a general audience...it's too severe for middle America.

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