It was with interest that The Morning Star carried the article, “Askew’s On Board With Ocean Wise.”
This past summer, B.C. had the remarkable sockeye run on the Adam’s River occurring after several years of drastically reduced returns. It is sometimes easy to believe that nature will take care of its own healing if we just let it.
This giant sockeye return has been attributed to the fertilizing effects of a volcanic eruption in the Alaskan panhandle spreading ash in the ocean and causing an increase in phytoplankton levels. Thus increasing the food available in the food chain. It will be interesting to observe whether the ash will impact the run in 2011.
The October issue of National Geographic, however, paints a different picture of the sustainability of global fishing. It states that there are no new fishing grounds left to exploit and that in the past 50 years, the world seafood catch has quadrupled. That means four times more fish are being removed from the world’s oceans now than in 1960.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization concludes, “the ocean cannot sustain the current onslaught.” We must recognize that we might, in the future face a cod collapse on a global scale.
Which brings us to Askew’s, joining an increasing group of stores and restaurants who are purchasing a part of their fish stock from suppliers who follow a seafood conservation program called Ocean Wise.
I commend Askew’s for giving us, the consumer, the opportunity to buy seafood that is harvested under a sustainability guideline. Good on ya.
Ted Melanson
CHRISTMAS GRINCH
It is pathetic that there is an element of our society that feels they have the right to steal what other people have worked hard for.
Someone likely received a beautiful and unique garden stepping stone as a Christmas gift this year and /or a statue of an angel.
These two items were stolen from my yard sometime between Nov. 13 and 24.
Whoever has done so must have had an accomplice on the other side to receive them as the garden stone weighs approximately 25 to 30 pounds.
The garden stone is a beautiful butterfly made of hand cut blue glass, with triangular mirrored pieces at the circumference, which is 18.5 inches thick of solid cement.
The angel statue is whitish/beige approximately 20 inches in height with a little blue bird on a spring down at the right of the ornament.
If anyone sees these items or if you are the recipient of them, or knows who has received them please report it to the Vernon RCMP. There is a file number. To everyone else out there, I hope you had a merry and safe Christmas, and may your new year be free of theft and strife.
S. Sorba
Arts Funding
With regard to Lloyd Atkins’ comments on the Toronto mayoralty race, and the election of Rob Ford, and his plans to lower taxes (Dec. 17, 2010), I was living in downtown Toronto before, during and after his election.
He stated, more than once, that he does not like the arts, part of the engine which fuels taxes in metropolitan Toronto.
All of the magnificent venues, seating many thousands — the grand opera house, the National Ballet, the many performing arts theatres, movie houses, concert halls, the Art Gallery of Ontario with its newly installed U.S. $300 million Ken Thompson art collection donation; the Royal Ontario Museum with its ever-changing, world-class exhibitions, the just-opened Toronto International Film Festival complex with its $22 million entertainment district prime-land donation, the Caribana Festival, and city-wide, all-night Nuit Blanche extravaganzas, the Toronto Marathon and charity balls, an amazing social scene, the fine dining, bistros, cafes, bars, coffee houses, and hotels — all are packed.
They attract millions of tourists to Toronto annually and employ many thousands — all generating millions in city taxes.
Winston Churchill got it right, for during the Second World War when his advisors wanted to cut funding to the arts, he refused, replying, “No, for then why are we fighting?”
B. Sharon Free
