In a press communiqué People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals states that world leaders should have discussed extensively the impact of the invasion of jellyfish. In the UN climate conference in Copenhagen it largely remains untouched. While it might sound like the stuff of a B horror movie, millions of jellyfish—some the size of refrigerators—are swarming coastlines from Spain to New York and Japan to Hawaii.
Scientists believe that a combination of climate change, pollution and overfishing is causing the boom in jellyfish populations. Leaving animals, including fish, off our dinner plates will combat all three problems. According to a U.N. report, the meat industry generates 40 percent more greenhouse gasses than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, ships and planes in the world combined.
Animal factories are also among the causes of ocean “dead zones,” as excrement from factory farms makes its way to streams and rivers and, ultimately, to the open seas, resulting in toxic algae blooms. The commercial fishing industry must also share the blame for the jelly boom.
It is reported by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization that 80 percent of the world’s fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering from overexploitation. And fish farms make the devastation of our oceans even worse, as many farmed fish are fed ocean-caught fish. It takes about 3 pounds of ocean-caught fish to produce just 1 pound of farmed fish.
