BP oil spill and the Bluefin. The Gulf Catastrophe's Global Effects

Left: the Giant Bluefin Tuna
“Once they get to full size, there’s nothing that can catch them other than humans” says Bill Fox of the World Wildlife Fund. He is talking of the giant Bluefin Tuna which can weigh more than 500 pounds by adulthood.  The key issue here is reaching adulthood.

The Japanese consume most of the world’s Bluefin, about 80% or 52,000 tons according to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. This giant fish spawns in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico. The debate raging among some scientists now is how much damage has the catastrophic oil spill in the gulf affected the Bluefin population?                             

The Bluefin is an amazing fish that can live up to forty years. The males spawn in the Gulf of Mexico from March to June, around the same time as the spill which began in April. The males spawn at the surface and need clean water to do so. The concern is that while doing so this year, they may have become coated with BP’s oil. The effects will not be easy to gauge for three or four years when the Bluefin born this year will reach adult size according to one scientist. Business Week reports that the Bluefin population worldwide has declined dramatically, as the population of many species have due to overfishing and pollution. One large Tuna in Japan fetched $177,000 dollars---this is a valuable commodity for those capitalists that speculate and invest in food.

All the talk of gulf clean up, which incidentally revolves mostly around cost and the future of BP or the oil industry-----in other words, profits, obscures one basic truth; you cannot “clean up” the effects of such a catastrophic environmental disaster. The effects of these events last for centuries and the damage to the planet’s ecosystem is dire. I don’t believe you have to be a scientist or “expert” to reach this conclusion. It takes nature centuries to recover, and it will never be the same.

Left: What do you think this does to fish?
There are attempts to shift away from our dependence on fossil fuels. Spain and Germany for example now produce almost one third of their electricity from “renewable” sources, like wind and solar power. But this can only go so far, as long as there is money in it. The truth is that Capitalism will destroy the planet if left unchallenged. It has not and never will eliminate the threat to life on earth that its assault on the environment presents.

I find it very difficult to watch any news of the gulf spill on TV as I become overwhelmed with a combination of anger and sadness that the natural world is under such an assault by market forces, and that my grandchildren's future is being determined by moneylenders and speculators.  Like Katrina, the gulf spill is not a natural disaster, it is not one of those “acts of god” that you read about in insurance manuals. The BP spill is a by-product of the market, of the private ownership of the means of production. This is what happens when hedge fund managers and Wall Street Traders decide how human society produces the energy it needs. And let us not forget, 11 workers were killed when Deep Water Horizon went down. This is criminal homicide and it is why a corporation has the same rights as a person in capitalist society; the individuals responsible get off scot free.

It is only by liberating the resources at our disposal from the profit driven “clique” that own and control them that we can take those first steps to developing rational energy policies in harmony with nature.

The economy needs new managers; the planet cries out for it.