This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
Brexit and Puffins?
The Puffin (Fratercula artica) is, perhaps, the UK's most appreciated seabird. Puffins largely feed on tiny sand-eels from the seas around UK coasts. There's ample historical evidence, that Puffin numbers decline, when sand-eel stocks are decimated by overfishing. Laws have, consequently, been brought in banning the mass removal of sand-eels from parts of North Sea waters. Denmark has been most impacted. It generally catches 250,000 tonnes of sand-eels each year. That catch is processed to produce fish oil and animal feed. The animal feed is given to commercially-important (for Denmark), pigs and farmed salmon. Other countries (including the UK) have converted sand-eels into agricultural fertilizer. The EU claim the UK's fishing ban, contravenes its post-Brexit deal and must be lifted (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9rrpn955qo). Puffins, of course, don't get to vote on whether the ban should be removed or not. I thought the EU favoured maintaining/improving biodiversity?
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