{"id":692,"date":"2006-12-21T02:48:18","date_gmt":"2006-12-21T07:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=692"},"modified":"2018-08-19T20:39:11","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T00:39:11","slug":"thursday-december-21-2006-thinking-of-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=692","title":{"rendered":"Thursday, December 21, 2006 \u2014 Thinking of Fish"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"06-12-21<\/a>

A young Marsh Arab. The \u0639\u0631\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0647\u0648\u0627\u0631\u200e (\u02bbArab al-Ahw\u0101r) \u201cArabs of the marsh\u00ades\u201d live in the exten\u00adsive delta of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq. Their tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal lifestyle, based on fish\u00ading, is strik\u00ading\u00adly sim\u00adi\u00adlar to that of the ancient Sumerians.<\/p><\/div>\n

There is final\u00adly start\u00ading to be some report\u00ading in the media on an issue of supreme impor\u00adtance: the oceans are being destroyed at a spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar rate. This dis\u00adas\u00adter is every bit as seri\u00adous as the prob\u00adlem of cli\u00admate alter\u00adation, to which it is con\u00adnect\u00aded. It is a hun\u00addred times more seri\u00adous a prob\u00adlem than ter\u00adror\u00adism. You will notice that I have not phrased the issue in the neb\u00adu\u00adlous, blame-evap\u00ado\u00adrat\u00ading way that has become cus\u00adtom\u00adary. I have not said that \u201cwe\u201d are destroy\u00ading the oceans. We are not doing this. It is being done by spe\u00adcif\u00adic peo\u00adple: the gang\u00adsters of the world\u2019s dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adships, the elect\u00aded deci\u00adsion-mak\u00aders in cor\u00adrupt\u00aded and half-func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcies, and a host of cor\u00adpo\u00adrate crim\u00adi\u00adnals. The cor\u00adpo\u00adrate pow\u00aders are not sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adble from gov\u00adern\u00adment. All cor\u00adpo\u00adrate pow\u00ader is in some way a man\u00adi\u00adfes\u00adta\u00adtion of gov\u00adern\u00adment pow\u00ader. The pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial Bush fam\u00adi\u00adly, for instance, is among the oli\u00adgarchs that have accu\u00admu\u00adlat\u00aded for\u00adtunes through dev\u00adas\u00adtat\u00ading the seas. A small num\u00adber of peo\u00adple, who cer\u00adtain\u00adly have no legit\u00adi\u00admate claim to these nat\u00adur\u00adal resources, grow wealthy. In the process, they are rapid\u00adly destroy\u00ading some\u00adthing that is essen\u00adtial for our survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scale of destruc\u00adtion is almost beyond com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsion. On the con\u00adti\u00adnen\u00adtal shelves, drag\u00adnets scrape clean all the ben\u00adth\u00adic ecosys\u00adtems every two years, and have destroyed an area 150 times larg\u00ader than all the world\u2019s for\u00adest clearcuts. Drift\u00adnets over two hun\u00addred kilo\u00adme\u00adtres long scoop up every\u00adthing ran\u00addom\u00adly. Many of these nets are aban\u00addoned, and are inde\u00adstruc\u00adtible. They will con\u00adtin\u00adue to suck up and destroy fish point\u00adless\u00adly for an indef\u00adi\u00adnite peri\u00adod. All around the globe, fish stocks are col\u00adlaps\u00ading, not on a timetable of cen\u00adturies or decades, but of years. It is not hum\u00adble fish\u00ader\u00admen who are doing this \u2014 they have almost all been dri\u00adven out of the seas and onto the wel\u00adfare rolls. It is oli\u00adgarchi\u00adcal and polit\u00adi\u00adcal pow\u00ader that does this. Lunatic waste and destruc\u00adtion that would nev\u00ader be per\u00admit\u00adted on land, any\u00adwhere, is com\u00admon\u00adplace on the sea. Because it exists in a state\u00adless no-man\u2019s-land, any\u00adone with brute pow\u00ader can get away with anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are only just now begin\u00adning to under\u00adstand the cru\u00adcial role of seafood in the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of our species. About a hun\u00addred thou\u00adsand years ago, we expe\u00adri\u00adenced a sud\u00adden surge in com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adty of behav\u00adiour. Art, and per\u00adhaps spo\u00adken lan\u00adguage appeared. Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy began to accel\u00ader\u00adate and diver\u00adsi\u00adfy. Pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly, the human tool-kit had remained almost sta\u00adt\u00adic for near\u00adly a mil\u00adlion years. The first areas where these new fea\u00adtures appear are close\u00adly asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with sea coasts, and with fos\u00adsil evi\u00addence of human con\u00adsump\u00adtion of a vari\u00adety of seafood. It is now sus\u00adpect\u00aded that DHA<\/span> and oth\u00ader sim\u00adi\u00adlar nutri\u00adents, which abound in seafood, played a crit\u00adi\u00adcal role in the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of the human brain, and that an exploita\u00adtion of marine resources trig\u00adgered this sud\u00adden evo\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary leap.* It coin\u00adcides with a dra\u00admat\u00adic spread of human beings across the plan\u00adet, a spread that could only have occurred if human beings had devel\u00adoped boats. Forty thou\u00adsand years ago, for instance, human beings were capa\u00adble of under\u00adtak\u00ading a long open sea voy\u00adage to pop\u00adu\u00adlate Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Few his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans have yet grasped the impor\u00adtance of fish\u00ading in the human sto\u00adry, or even noticed that the major\u00adi\u00adty of ear\u00adly urban cen\u00adters began as fish\u00ading vil\u00adlages. A fish\u00ading vil\u00adlage requires sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded sys\u00adtems of social co-ordi\u00adna\u00adtion and co-oper\u00ada\u00adtion, employs a com\u00adplex tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy that under\u00adgoes con\u00adstant refine\u00adment, and hous\u00ades peo\u00adple who trav\u00adel con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable dis\u00adtances from their home base. Oceans, lakes and rivers pro\u00advide chan\u00adnels of long-dis\u00adtance com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion. And inhab\u00adi\u00adtants of fish\u00ading vil\u00adlages con\u00adsume a high pro\u00adpor\u00adtion of \u201cbrain food\u201d, rich in the spe\u00adcif\u00adic fat\u00adty acids that stim\u00adu\u00adlate the high\u00ader func\u00adtions of the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure\u00adly these fac\u00adtors should excite the inter\u00adest of his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans, but there has been rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly lit\u00adtle study of fish\u00ading com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties in his\u00adto\u00adry. Check out any large uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty library, and you will soon notice the dis\u00adcrep\u00adan\u00adcy. There is a curi\u00adous blind spot among his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans about fish\u00ading and fish\u00ading vil\u00adlages. Look at the ear\u00adli\u00adest known urban cen\u00adter of urban civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion, Sume\u00adria, from which much of our com\u00adbined human her\u00aditage can trace itself. Read any book about Sume\u00adria, and you will get the impres\u00adsion that civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion sprang up when farm\u00aders thought up ways to increase the yields of grain in a desert land\u00adscape. These ear\u00adly farm\u00aders are assumed to be direct descen\u00addents of the ear\u00adly farm\u00aders in the dis\u00adtant hill coun\u00adtry, who have left an archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal record of their suc\u00adcess that pre\u00addates the city-based irri\u00adga\u00adtion farm\u00ading of Sumeria.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would ven\u00adture a some\u00adwhat dif\u00adfer\u00adent sce\u00adnario. The urban life of Sume\u00adria devel\u00adoped from vil\u00adlages in the marsh\u00ades and bays at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates. We have a pret\u00adty good idea what these vil\u00adlages were like, because very sim\u00adi\u00adlar vil\u00adlages have sur\u00advived in the same place, inhab\u00adit\u00aded by the cul\u00adtur\u00adal\u00adly dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive \u201cMarsh Arabs\u201d, who have pre\u00adserved much of this lifestyle for thou\u00adsands of years. The Marsh Arabs have retreat\u00aded into their maze of marsh\u00ades when\u00adev\u00ader land-based empires and hordes have threat\u00adened them. Recent\u00adly, Sad\u00addam Hus\u00adsein attempt\u00aded to exter\u00admi\u00adnate them, by drain\u00ading the marsh\u00ades, but for\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly did not suc\u00adceed. This kind of vil\u00adlage life is pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly based on fish\u00ading. It may or may not involve spin\u00adoff activ\u00adi\u00adties of ani\u00admal hus\u00adbandry and agri\u00adcul\u00adture. In most cas\u00ades, it\u2019s dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to dis\u00aden\u00adtan\u00adgle these \u201cnon-fish\u00ading\u201d activ\u00adi\u00adties from fish\u00ading. I sus\u00adpect that the famil\u00adiar irri\u00adgat\u00aded farm\u00ading of grains was an exten\u00adsion of marsh fish\u00ading, with delta fish\u00ader\u00adman explor\u00ading and expand\u00ading upstream, devis\u00ading ways of farm\u00ading beyond their orig\u00adi\u00adnal habi\u00adtat. It is note\u00adwor\u00adthy that every Sumero-Akka\u00addi\u00adan city, even far upstream, main\u00adtained a \u201cmunic\u00adi\u00adpal swamp\u201d to pro\u00advide the reeds and oth\u00ader marsh prod\u00aducts essen\u00adtial to their economies. The agri\u00adcul\u00adture of the delta and riv\u00ader flood\u00adplains may have been a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly inde\u00adpen\u00addent devel\u00adop\u00adment, only slight\u00adly influ\u00adenced by the type of agri\u00adcul\u00adture that devel\u00adoped in the moun\u00adtain vil\u00adlages of the Lev\u00adant and Zagros, which is usu\u00adal\u00adly cit\u00aded as the antecedent form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coastal and delta agri\u00adcul\u00adture based on gath\u00ader\u00ading fish and using them to fer\u00adtil\u00adize crops is com\u00admon to many ancient soci\u00adeties. The thick\u00adly pop\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded native Amer\u00adi\u00adcan farm\u00ading vil\u00adlages on the east coast of the Unit\u00aded States and Cana\u00adda, for instance, were com\u00adplete\u00adly inte\u00adgrat\u00aded into a large-scale men\u00adhaden fish\u00adery, which was essen\u00adtial to grow\u00ading their corn and squash. The men\u00adhaden (the word is bor\u00adrowed from the Nar\u00adra\u00adganset lan\u00adguage) is a fil\u00adter-feed\u00ading fish that process\u00ades the phy\u00adto\u00adplanc\u00adtons in the sea and forms the bot\u00adtom of the ani\u00admal food chain in the Atlantic. When Euro\u00adpeans set\u00adtled the coast, they dupli\u00adcat\u00aded and retained this inte\u00adgrat\u00aded aqua\/agriculture of the native coastal vil\u00adlages. The Pil\u00adgrim cler\u00adgy\u00adman Fran\u00adcis Hig\u00adgin\u00adson remarked, in 1630, that \u201cthe abun\u00addance of Sea-Fish are almost beyond beleev\u00ading, and sure I should scarce have beleeved it except that I had seene it with mine owne eyes.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cen\u00adturies of land-based empires, usu\u00adal\u00adly of horse-wor\u00adship\u00ading aris\u00adtoc\u00adra\u00adcies rul\u00ading inland agri\u00adcul\u00adtur\u00adal peas\u00adants, have drawn our eyes away from the sea. Even where we know that most trade trav\u00adeled the seas, and that the fish\u00aderies pro\u00advid\u00aded much of the pro\u00adtein to seden\u00adtary pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions, fish\u00ading has usu\u00adal\u00adly been treat\u00aded as a mar\u00adgin\u00adal activ\u00adi\u00adty, and has not been dwelt on when describ\u00ading his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal soci\u00adeties. Inter\u00adest in the sub\u00adject has been con\u00adfined to a hand\u00adful of spe\u00adcial\u00adists, and their find\u00adings have sel\u00addom found a place in gen\u00ader\u00adal his\u00adto\u00adries and his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal theories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mod\u00adern indus\u00adtri\u00adal soci\u00adety has shift\u00aded its focus away from the sea. Even coastal cities do not focus eco\u00adnom\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly or polit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly on the sea any more, and many coastal areas have been allowed to decay into pover\u00adty (the Cana\u00addi\u00adan mar\u00aditime provinces being a strik\u00ading exam\u00adple). Over the last cen\u00adtu\u00adry, seafood has become steadi\u00adly less impor\u00adtant in the diet of North Amer\u00adi\u00adcans. I sus\u00adpect that this shift has also occurred in Europe. One nutri\u00adtion\u00adist has point\u00aded out that we have been sys\u00adtem\u00adat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly aban\u00addon\u00ading the diet that made Homo Sapi\u00adens suc\u00adcess\u00adful, and adopt\u00ading the diet of the Nean\u00adderthals, who did not sur\u00advive. Nean\u00adderthals, a line relat\u00aded to us, but genet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly not our ances\u00adtors, lived short\u00ader lives, and seem to have been plagued by many dis\u00adeases which are now accel\u00ader\u00adat\u00ading rapid\u00adly among us. The spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar growth of heart dis\u00adease, dia\u00adbetes and can\u00adcer coin\u00adcide with this dietery shift.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly in this state of affairs, eco\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal dis\u00adas\u00adter in the oceans attracts less atten\u00adtion than it should. While the sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant dan\u00adger of cli\u00admate change took decades to become clear to us, there was nev\u00ader any secret about the dis\u00adas\u00adtrous state of the oceans. Fish\u00aderies have been col\u00adlaps\u00ading around the world, and some of the dev\u00adas\u00adta\u00adtion has been so dra\u00admat\u00adic that ordi\u00adnary peo\u00adple can see it with their own eyes, and have expe\u00adri\u00adenced it over their life\u00adtimes. But, while nobody has gone to much trou\u00adble to deny it, it has not made much of an impres\u00adsion on the pub\u00adlic, or filled much media space. In local areas where fish\u00ading is eco\u00adnom\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly impor\u00adtant (such as East\u00adern Cana\u00adda), it enters the news, but usu\u00adal\u00adly only in a local con\u00adtext. And the response to these prob\u00adlems on the polit\u00adi\u00adcal lev\u00adel have most\u00adly con\u00adsist\u00aded of shoul\u00adder-shrug\u00adging, inac\u00adtion, and the assump\u00adtion that these eco\u00adnom\u00adic regions should be just writ\u00adten off.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the fish stocks of the world com\u00adplete\u00adly col\u00adlapse, which they are on the verge of doing, we may find our\u00adselves com\u00adpelled to sur\u00advive on a diet chron\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly short of the fac\u00adtors that played a cru\u00adcial role in devel\u00adop\u00ading our minds and civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion. There is some sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic evi\u00addence that peo\u00adple under-sup\u00adplied with these fac\u00adtors are more prone to aggres\u00adsion and less able to co-oper\u00adate, as well as more prone to the noto\u00adri\u00adous \u201cdis\u00adeases of civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion\u201d. I have not been able to eval\u00adu\u00adate the rel\u00ade\u00advant stud\u00adies, so I can\u2019t say this with con\u00adfi\u00addence. But it does seem at least plau\u00adsi\u00adble. The prospect of a social shift that makes us nas\u00adti\u00ader and stu\u00adpid\u00ader, and thus less like\u00adly to cor\u00adrect the shift, is not pleas\u00adant to contemplate.<\/span><\/p>\n

For myself, I\u2019m eat\u00ading cold-water wild salmon every chance I get. I may not be able to in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

[* see: 14854.(David Marsh) Role of the Essen\u00adtial Fat\u00adty Acids in the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of the Mod\u00adern Human Brain and 14855.(M. A. Craw\u00adford, et.al.) Evi\u00addence for the Unique Func\u00adtion of DHA<\/span> Dur\u00ading the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of the Mod\u00adern Hominid Brain ]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is final\u00adly start\u00ading to be some report\u00ading in the media on an issue of supreme impor\u00adtance: the oceans are being destroyed at a spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar rate. This dis\u00adas\u00adter is every bit as seri\u00adous as the prob\u00adlem of cli\u00admate alter\u00adation, to which it \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-au-blog-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=692"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9317,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692\/revisions\/9317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}