The Daily Blog Open Mic Friday 27th November 2015

1. Since hearing more recent reports about the state of the fishing industry in Thailand – how it is virtually, if not actually, a slave labour industry – and noticing that most of the canned fish products on NZ supermarket shelves are labelled “Made in Thailand” I started to wonder if by eating these products I am actually supporting a slave labour industry.
   This bothered me a lot. I always feel a bit guilty about eating canned tuna, or any fish actually, because I am never 100% sure it has not been caught by environmentally damaging or unsustainable fishing practices. The cans always claim otherwise, but can you trust them?
   Well this bothered me so much that I wrote an e-mail to Sea Lord and asked them to confirm that their products were not made in factories that used such horrific labour practices.
   I received a reply the next day (credit to Sea Lord for their quick response) which in a general way confirmed what I hoped was true. They also added some information on the fishing practices of their company – something I had not asked for but was interested to read.
   I am basically satisfied that Sea Lord does not condone labour slavery in the Thailand sea food industry and takes steps to make sure their products are not involved, but I also think they probably do not completely know what goes on there and such practices may also include their products without their knowledge.
   My purpose in this posting is to show that if you have any concerns with these kinds of matters the best thing to do is to directly contact the company(ies) involved and put it to them. In this blog we have had other examples of market pressure leading to successful conclusions: remember how Pak’n Save responded when we threatened a boycott of their stores after they were spotted advertising on Mr Hate Merchant’s(WhaleOil) site? (They withdrew all ads).
   I will post the entire e-mail from Sea Lord if anyone wants to see it.

   • i always try to buy New Zealand especially when it comes to food

2. @ Mike – A question I’ve always pondered is who do the ‘oceans’ actually ‘belong to’ and what swims in it, who does that belong to? Governments? Commercial fishermen? Countries?, me? You?

   • People might say that the oceans belong to everyone, but that is more idealistic than realistic. It seems that when there is something in the oceans that someone wants, like oil or fish or islands then the oceans are claimed as possessions by governments or commercial concerns. When these same oceans have nothing of interest, or when they need to be protected or cleaned up after environmental degradation – then hey presto they suddenly belong to everyone.
     It does seem to go like that, doesn’t it?

3. No doubt … or at least hopefully, the smart Air NZ route planner is cognisant of the Okker rcsism and will be planning their destinations on that basis.
   Suck Perth! although that;s an OK endo point. Better the KL route to Dehli and Mumbai, or perhaps somewhere via China.

   Transit Visas FFS!!! (the ability for a Commonwealth citiaen to walk around an Australian terminal for a couple of hours)/

   There should be no confusion over the difference between flags, and I’m ucked if I know why we continue to tolerate the abuse of what is supposedly that ‘close’ ANZAC spirit.
   The okkers are determined to render it meaningless, and we should reciprocate by withdrawing the NZ from the A AC

   Only problem is we’ve got a leader or two on both sides of the ditch – one of whom is ekshully a bit fik, and on the other one with a big brother complex, and both who’d rather commit to devising ways of making an earn out of it rather than repecting what has gone by.

   Never mind ….. nothings permanent. I suspect both think they can take their earns with them on the mortal coil. Life’s full of surprises though eh?

4. @mike – pretty much spot on….and what crock it is!

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