c. 2000 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) What would Plato, Buddha and Jesus do about the world’s dwindling fish stocks?
No joke.
A Canadian government research body, with the support of religious groups, has just spent more than $150,000 finding an answer to this unusual question.
Their surprising conclusions may provide a model for resolving the world crisis in fishing, particularly in North America, where stocks of salmon, cod, lobster, shrimp and herring are threatened by a devastatingly effective high-technology fishing industry.
Sounding almost comical in its eclecticism, the team studying the dilemma includes environmentalists, economists, biologists from the department of fisheries and oceans, artists, philosophers and religious thinkers.
Together they recently published a book linking the multibillion-dollar business of fishing with the often-ethereal heights of ethics and spirituality.
The cross-Canada research project is the brainchild of professor Harold Coward, who heads the Center for Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. The team has produced a book titled “Just Fish: Ethics and Canadian Marine Fisheries” (ISER Books), edited by Coward, Maritimes-rooted social scientist Rosemary Ommer and University of British Columbia fish biologist Tony Pitcher.
Believe it or not, Canadian government officials have been converted to the approach. “It took some time for some of the government scientists to understand what ethics had to do with fish,” Coward said. But now, he says, they’re hooked, so to speak. But why would the Unitarian Church, Atlantic Episcopal Assembly, Catholic archidioceses of Vancouver and Victoria and the United Church of Canada help research the ethics of fishing? Religious people are disturbed, like many, about the future of once-proud families in dying coastal communities. They’ve heard the stories about how a father and his child could easily catch a coho only a decade ago off Vancouver while now it takes a minor miracle. The churches, as well, fear humans are wreaking incurable damage on God’s creation. Coward and others discovered the world’s ancient religions offer ethical guidance for our peculiarly modern ecological emergency. They found Buddhism saying that, since everything exists in interdependence, we need to give up our selfishness and protect the Earth, since we can’t live without it. Similarly, Taoism sees nature as part of humans’ existence “and thus humans must learn to respect the rhythms and life cycle of the migrating salmon.” Hinduism teaches God is immanent in all things, and since God is present in fish, we have to think twice about misusing them. A similar ethic of respect for nature resides in native Indian spirituality. Islam, meanwhile, portrays nature as good, not corrupted and fish as part of Allah’s creation, which is marked by beauty. Since Canada is officially a multicultural society, Coward believes society needs to know what different faiths might have to say about how nature should be treated because public policy is based on religious pluralism. It’s easier to get Hindus, for example, concerned about the wellbeing of fish if you can show them their scriptures would want them to be, he said. Religion remains a powerful influence for Canadians, particularly the majority steeped in the Judeo-Christian tradition. That’s why “Just Fish” stresses relevant biblical lessons. Coward and his team are especially drawn to the biblical ideal of the Sabbath, the day of rest and reflection, which suggests regularly giving fish a reprieve from human predators. They also favor the notion of jubilee, a Hebrew ideal focusing on restoring relationships with people and the Earth, and by extension, the seas. They envision more marine protected areas. What, then, can Plato and other great philosophers contribute to the discussion of fishing? Plato said justice implies harmony, in society and nature. As a result, “Just Fish” concludes justice means protecting the ecosystem’s delicate balance. “Just Fish” suggests even Europe’s most famous market economist, Adam Smith, would tend to agree with the ancient Greeks that self-restraint is necessary when it comes to fish. As Smith said in the 18th century: “Man ought to regard himself not as something separated and detached, but as a citizen of the world, a member of the vast commonwealth of nature _ and to the interest of this great community, he ought at all times be willing that his own little interest should be sacrificed.” Underpinned by such high-minded values, the “Just Fish” team explains in detail how the ethic of justice can be brought to the ecosystem; to the fair distribution of fish; to the sustainable production of sea creatures, and to the restoration of the once-teeming oceans. DEA END TODD
