Not so Many Fish Left in the Sea?
One third of the world’s fishing stocks have collapsed and many more are endangered but how aware are we of this when we shop for fish? Ella McSweeney explores the role consumers can play in sustaining our fish stocks for the future. It’s predicted that if current trends continue, by 2020 all fish stocks will have collapsed leaving consumers bereft of one of the healthiest forms of food.
Ella meets West Cork fisherman Frank Fleming who is looking at newer methods of fishing sustainably. He currently supplies line-caught tuna to Sally Barnes from Castletownshend who has been smoking fish for 30 years. Sally began smoking wild salmon but as stocks have depleted she has moved to smoking more sustainable breeds of fish such as line-caught tuna. Sally gives Ella some tips and what to look for when shopping for fish and as she points out, while stocks may be depleting there are plenty of different types of fish still left in the sea for us to try.
Building Panic
Darragh McCullough reports on the race to finish buildings on farms across the country in order to comply with the Farm Waste Management Scheme Grant. After one of the wettest years in recent memory, farmers have struggled to construct their buildings and many, like John Claffey in Shannonbridge, are fearful that they may not finished by the cut-off date, December 31 2008.
The consequences of not receiving the grant would be disastrous as costs for these buildings run into the hundreds of thousands. Not only would the debt be devastating, without these buildings many farmers would be non compliant with the Nitrates Directive, meaning the reduction of stock numbers and a grim future. And with coffers nearly empty it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the government will extend the deadline.
Food for Thought for Farmers
Farming has always being associated with a healthy outdoors lifestyle but while new technology has made the farmer’s job easier it’s also having an impact on his health – the dinners might have stayed the same but the activity levels haven’t.
A recent study showed that in the Cork/Kerry region 70% of men aged 50 to 70 have high cholesterol and 50 % of them have high blood pressure so Helen Carroll visited Listowel mart in Kerry with nutritionist Aveen Bannon to find out how farmers can make changes to their diet to help safeguard their future health.
Helen also meets local Listowel farmer Paddy Dalton who had to make those vital changes to his diet and lifestyle after he went through several major surgeries including an angioplasty and a triple bypass. And she spends the day with farmer Tom Enright to find out what a farmer’s activity levels are really like.