I love Fish

First published by the writer at https://paulcronin.substack.com/

It may seem oxymoronic to say you love something that you eat, well sometimes I will resemble that remark. I will live with that and the approbation of all the vegans in the world. What I will not live with is the ongoing razing of fish stocks, especially in the part of the world that we control. The science is clear, fish stocks in New Zealand are in bug trouble. Why have successive Governments failed to do something about it? Sure Governments have played around the edges however they have not made significant inroads. When opportunities arise it looks like major players in the fishing industry have undue influence on government policy.

A decision on the limit of catches of Tarakihi has ended up in court and the court has said that “Fishery’s sustainability (is) sic more important than commercial interests. Using voluntary industry plans to set quotas is just plainly stupid, it cannot be overstated. It is simply giving the keys to shops to ram raiders so that they will feel better. The Court of Appeal has wisely ruled that an approach that prioritises commercial interest is wrong. The minister of fisheries at the time claimed he had an obligation to balance the socio-economic impacts of his decisions against his responsibility to ensure the sustainability of the species. If there is no fishery left then the socio-economics are going to fall through the floor anyway.

The other issue that has become front and central lately has been the failure to ban bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf Fishery. Another socio-economic issue? There are companies that do not use bottom trawling. They are small however they use methods that limit bycatch and allow for high-grading fishing which allows the undesirable fish to be released for another day. It is possible to fish commercially without trawling. This is clearly again the hand of the big players in the industry reaching out.

I happen to know quite a bit about the Hauraki Gulf, having been on a forum that is charged with the protection of the Gulf. I can quote nitrate and phosphate rates, how much silt enters the gulf, and where it comes from. I can tell you how perilous the fish stocks are. The problem with plastics entering the food chain is appearing, however, that is a blog for another day.

The Government intends to create new protected areas raising the current protected areas total 0.3% of the park and new protected areas will increase that to about 6%, in my learned opinion changing something from diddly squat to a little bit more diddley squat is still diddly squat, it is really just another equus fumans stercore!

The biggest issue is that very few people care, around 40,000 people signed a petition against bottom trawling. That a veritable drop in the bucket and does nothing to encourage governments of all ilk to change anything. It is heartening however to see the legal process intervening and calling the plans and policies for what they are. Long may that continue.

I will write about the so-called socioeconomic risks in cutting fishing quotas and show that they are philosophical fallacy and are nothing more than governments bowing to well-resourced and very powerful lobbying by those with a vested financial interest. They don’t care about any societal interest beyond making returns to shareholders as high as possible. They are wrong in that assumption as well.

I will finish with an old comparison, what is the difference between a bucket of stercore and voluntary fishing regulation from the industry? Simply the bucket.

Paul

Spirituality?

I have been to Church twice this week. (once to be a part of the “Worship” team as a singer. The other to mark the passing (some may call it a funeral, others a celebration) of a friend with whom our family has had a relationship of 60 years plus!

On Sunday the pastor spoke of spirituality, how in his opinion people may call themselves atheists or agnostic but many of them are spiritual. Patrick is the pastor at a small Baptist Church I attend. I have a relationship with the people of the church as a corporate that is mixed. Many of them are true blue right-wingers only a hair width away of, well I am not going to use the f-word here, no not the f-bomb. I have never met a true-life fascist.

I have met some who hold fascist beliefs, and I have read the history of fascism and of some of the leaders of fascism. However, a common tranche of thought in fascism is very prevalent. The ruling class maintains control over the masses and is willing to use almost any means to justify the suppression of political dissent ie (something that they believe is wrong. Modern-day leaders who seem to believe in this are the strongmen as they are called, people like Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin. They share an ability to engage in cognitive dissonance in such a way that they probably cannot tell the difference between the truth and a lie. Some of the lies are outrageous.

If you can defend this, you can defend anything,” wrote Russell Moore, a theologian whose actual paid job it is to try to get those in power in the USA to think about a higher power. Moore was speaking of the attack on Capitol Hill where the invaders displayed Jesus Saves signs next to those calling for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, moreover once they had gained access they thanked God for the opportunity “to get rid of the communists, the globalists and the traitors” within the U.S. government. These people use the name of Christians while invoking behaviour reminiscent of the ancient Berserkers that worshipped Odin, the supreme Norse deity, and attached themselves to royal and noble courts as bodyguards and shock troops. Defenders of the Faith.

Putin since he became president has cast himself as the true defender of Christians throughout the world, the leader of the Third Rome. Giles Fraser is a journalist, broadcaster and Vicar who wrote about the spiritual destiny of Vladimir Putin Ukraine a religious war? Sound familiar?

Are these leaders using or actively encouraging the dominance of political religion over professed religion? For many, loyalty to Trump is a blind allegiance. The result is that many Christian followers of Trump “have come to see a gospel of hatreds, resentments, vilifications, put-downs, and insults as expressions of their Christianity, for which they too should be willing to fight.”

Are we immune to this in Aotearoa/ New Zealand, one of the most sickening images of the last election was the image of Judith Collins “praying” at a church, in a highly stylized way. Ugh, really, (she didn’t get elected, does that mean that God was not on her side? National has more fundamentalist Christians at the top now than ever and for them religion is political so expecting National to leave their religion out of politics is just naive.

All this is not an aside from my story of going to church twice this last week. In the first service, the views (albeit slightly veiled) were redolent of Trumpism, whilst the day after, at a traditional Catholic Requiem Mass, the epitome of being a god-loving Christian person was one whose doors were always opened, whose love encompassed her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her great-great-grandchildren. and I knew her deceased husband, one could almost describe her as a saint.

This contrast I struggled with last night, not being able to sleep because I “felt” that the spirituality at the traditional Requiem Mass, far surpassed the evangelical Protestant service the day before. There is like all narratives a back story however I have been a part of both expressions of belief. Does it mean that I will return to the Mother Church, (remember that Putin believes in Mother Russi largely because of the Mother Church of Orthodoxy) whilst Trumpism wears its bible-thumping brand of spirituality as a holy amulet?

People who think you can legislate morality (therefore Christian beliefs) are immature, shallow-thinking bigots, a pox on anyone who seeks to impose spirituality on others by government. Yet I fear that is what I see arising, God save us from the Shane Retis, Chris Luxons, and Brian Tamakis of this world, they are deluded and they preach a gospel of hate. This is not an advertisement for Labour, it is an imploration to look at your personal beliefs, measure them with the words of Jesus and for the sake of humanity leave your religion out of your consideration of voting.

Ps I am no Saint Paul.

K is for Kat

No I am not kidding. Is Kris Kluxon really Klinger in disguise?

https://open.substack.com/pub/paulcronin/p/k-is-for-kat?r=87ee6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The politician who aspires to be the Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand dropped a klanger yesterday. In the scheme of things, Luxon had a gift audience. He got down on the floor and was engaging with the children and then showed his prowess at spelling, I guess in his household his kat gets fed from a kan. His spelling mistakes which will surely follow him all the days of his life. Luxon will be known as the Kat Kan man. Perhaps he has been eating too many Kit Kats, maybe he has been drinking too much of the ACT parties Kool Aid? Perhaps he was trying to be Kool?