According to Wikipedia, the total number of fishing vessels in the world is now about 4.6 million. That is an awful lot of very effective ships vacuuming up every living thing for miles around their perimeters on a daily basis. About 20 to 30% of the global catch is done by illegal and unregulated fishing boats. With about 2.5 trillion fish caught globally each year, they don’t stand a chance against our efficiently. I’m not sure proving we can catch everything in the ocean is anything to celebrate. Greenpeace estimates that every year, more than 640,000 tons of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea. 6% of all nets used, 9% of all traps and 29% of all longlines (fishing lines that are several miles long) remain as physical pollution dumped at sea. It took me a while to figure out that mankind is trying to replace all the living creatures of the ocean with plastic trash. Victory will soon be at hand. I wonder what kind of fish will be the last one standing.
Spring
My annual spring drawing. There are a few flowers in Brooklyn.
Seaspiracy
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll empty the oceans by 2050 and we’ll all die.
You should teach a man to cook lentils.
Conspiracy
The documentary, Cowspiracy, is the reason I became vegan five and a half years ago. You can give it a viewing on Netflix or Amazon Prime. A life changer.
Squirrel
My newest squirrel logo.
Chimpclop
Animals have a keen instinct and are under no illusions that we are doing everything to push them all to extinction. Unfortunately, slowly but surely we are succeeding. Even Chimpanzees, who humans love to dress up just like people, are under stress for survival. I guess the pandemic has made us feel like we are just trying to survive too. I would have to say that I’m not much help at all. In fact, I’m useless. The only thing I do is write dumb snippets and post them to the instaweb to make myself feel bad.
Deer Fish
When we do damage to the land, then that in turn reeks havoc on our oceans. That’s because the sea bone is connected to the land bone.
Sale
I put some originals for sale on Etsy. Look for The Tommy Kane Store by tkane9 on Etsy, obviously. About a dozen sold already. Sorry about that.
Industrial Fishing
Most people don’t like to think of the oceans as being in peril. It’s much nicer to think of them as self-sustaining. There still seems to be plenty of fish. I can get sushi whenever I want. Heck, I can even buy takeout sushi boxes at any 7 Eleven or Trader Joe’s. The World Wildlife Fund reports there are half the number of fish in the ocean as there was 50 years ago. That would be 1970. So, it would be helpful to the pretty ocean if we all cut down on the number of fish that’s consumed. So instead of daydreaming about how full the ocean is of endless schools of fish, think more about the glass being half empty. Watch the documentary, SEASPIRACY on Netflix starting March 24th.
My Imagination
It's fairly obvious that frogs and goldfish can fly in my imagination.
Seaspiracy
Seaspiracy, a must-see documentary will be available on Netflix starting March 24th. I’m always going on about how badly farmed animals are treated for our consumption. This film shows the evil side of the fishing industry and their treatment of our oceans.
The Essex
I constantly read books. I always have one going. Just finished, In The Heart Of The Sea. It’s about a whaling ship that is sunk by a 40 foot sperm whale in the 1800’s. Then the torturous three month survival of two dozen sailors in three tiny rowboats as they sail thousands of miles under impossible conditions. Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick as a result of hearing about this true life event and actually befriending the captain.
Frankenstein Plant
While dabbling in horticulture, I often wondered if I could create my own unique species of plant. Using very unscientific methods, I chopped up various exotic seeds and then gorilla glued bits and pieces of each into a single super seed. No one thought this could possibly germinate, especially me. Lo and behold it actually worked. Now I grow these in a big terrarium in my hallway closet. Damn things don’t even need sunlight.
