6 ms·

I was just reading how fishing industry’s longlines have caught many dolphins and other bycatches. It would be great to be able to give them warnings, or even b

by k7sune 1y ago

I was just reading how fishing industry’s longlines have caught many dolphins and other bycatches. It would be great to be able to give them warnings, or even better, to ask them to keep other big animals away from the longlines.

gazebo64 1y ago
I know this comment is totally innocent but it does kind of bum me out to be at a point in time where instead of addressing our impact on the environment directly, we're trying to make computers that can talk to dolphins so we can tell them to stay out of the way lol
- kuhewa 1y ago
  You don't tend to hear about it and not that there isn't still progress to be made, but there has been tonnes of progress on fisheries interactions with protected bycatch species. For ex the infamous dolphin problem in the eastern tropical Pacific purse seine tuna fishery is down 99.8% from its peak to the point populations are recovering, despite the fishery intentionally setting on dolphin schools to catch > 150,000 t of yellowfin tuna per year. Pelagic gillnets are probably the gear that still have the most issues with dolphin bycatch, and acoustic pingers that play a loud ultrasonic tone when they detect an echolocation click are already used to reduce interactions in some fisheries.
- renewiltord 1y ago
  One of the things I think is amazing is that people will say “here’s a way to make the world better” and others will react with “it’s so sad that you propose making the world better instead of making it perfect”. I think it’s great.
theyinwhy 1y ago
Dear Mr Dolphin, can you please tell the large sharks to not go that way? - No, f... the sharks!
9dev 1y ago
Or, like, we could stop ravaging the oceans by industrial fishing, stop pretending magical technology will save the day, and try to limit our resource consumption to sustainable levels? Humanity’s relationship with animals is so schizophrenic. On the one hand, let’s try to learn how to talk to cute dolphins and chat with them what it’s like to swim!, and on the other, well yeah that steak on my table may have once lead a subjective experience before it was slaughtered, and mass-farming it wrecks the ecosystem I depend on to live, but gosh it’s so tasty, I can’t give that up!
- efitz 1y ago
  Humans are omnivores. I am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to eat other animals. At the same time, I want to be as humane as practical; I don’t want to cause needless suffering to any creature. If I kill a bug, I don’t want it to suffer. Same with food animals. The more like me an animal is, the less I want to eat it. There are a lot of humans. Any action to forcefully reduce the number of humans or to forcefully reduce birth rates is almost certainly way more morally abhorrent to me, than doing what is necessary to feed those humans.
  - tenuousemphasis 1y ago
    Really? You cannot fathom an animal population that has exceeded it's ecosystem's capacity and has no predators so needs to be culled?
    - nandomrumber 1y ago
      Doesn't happen. That situation always auto-corrects as resource availability shifts. What does happen is humans find things like mice / locust / kangaroo plagues inconvenient, so we decide to intervene. It's not like lions get tired of all those pesky gazelle getting up in their grillz and find the need to get about in helicopters thinning the herd.
  - FranzFerdiNaN 1y ago
    > Humans are omnivores. I am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to eat other animals. This is akin to saying ''humans are violent, so i am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to commit violence''. So just be honest: you WANT to eat meat because you like it, consequences be damned. And of course if you truly want to feed as many humans as possible the only solution is vegetarianism or even veganism. Meat is just way too wasteful to be a decent solution.
addicted 1y ago
Or, you know, don’t fish at all so we don’t kill possibly trillions of sentient fish every year for no necessary reason whatsoever? Side bonus, we also don’t kill the highly sentient and highly intelligent creatures you’re concerned about.
- nandomrumber 1y ago
  3 billion people get at least 20% of their protein from fish, and roughly 500 million rely on fishing for a pay check.[1] Those people can all just starve, and you're fine with that? 1. https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/will-there-be-enough-fish-to-feed-the-world-in-2050 https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/will-there-be-enough-f...

by k7sune 1y ago

gazebo64 1y ago

I know this comment is totally innocent but it does kind of bum me out to be at a point in time where instead of addressing our impact on the environment directly, we're trying to make computers that can talk to dolphins so we can tell them to stay out of the way lol

kuhewa 1y ago
You don't tend to hear about it and not that there isn't still progress to be made, but there has been tonnes of progress on fisheries interactions with protected bycatch species. For ex the infamous dolphin problem in the eastern tropical Pacific purse seine tuna fishery is down 99.8% from its peak to the point populations are recovering, despite the fishery intentionally setting on dolphin schools to catch > 150,000 t of yellowfin tuna per year. Pelagic gillnets are probably the gear that still have the most issues with dolphin bycatch, and acoustic pingers that play a loud ultrasonic tone when they detect an echolocation click are already used to reduce interactions in some fisheries.
renewiltord 1y ago
One of the things I think is amazing is that people will say “here’s a way to make the world better” and others will react with “it’s so sad that you propose making the world better instead of making it perfect”. I think it’s great.

theyinwhy 1y ago

Dear Mr Dolphin, can you please tell the large sharks to not go that way? - No, f... the sharks!

9dev 1y ago

Or, like, we could stop ravaging the oceans by industrial fishing, stop pretending magical technology will save the day, and try to limit our resource consumption to sustainable levels? Humanity’s relationship with animals is so schizophrenic. On the one hand, let’s try to learn how to talk to cute dolphins and chat with them what it’s like to swim!, and on the other, well yeah that steak on my table may have once lead a subjective experience before it was slaughtered, and mass-farming it wrecks the ecosystem I depend on to live, but gosh it’s so tasty, I can’t give that up!

efitz 1y ago
Humans are omnivores. I am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to eat other animals. At the same time, I want to be as humane as practical; I don’t want to cause needless suffering to any creature. If I kill a bug, I don’t want it to suffer. Same with food animals. The more like me an animal is, the less I want to eat it. There are a lot of humans. Any action to forcefully reduce the number of humans or to forcefully reduce birth rates is almost certainly way more morally abhorrent to me, than doing what is necessary to feed those humans.
- tenuousemphasis 1y ago
  Really? You cannot fathom an animal population that has exceeded it's ecosystem's capacity and has no predators so needs to be culled?
  - nandomrumber 1y ago
    Doesn't happen. That situation always auto-corrects as resource availability shifts. What does happen is humans find things like mice / locust / kangaroo plagues inconvenient, so we decide to intervene. It's not like lions get tired of all those pesky gazelle getting up in their grillz and find the need to get about in helicopters thinning the herd.
- FranzFerdiNaN 1y ago
  > Humans are omnivores. I am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to eat other animals. This is akin to saying ''humans are violent, so i am unapologetic about obeying biological imperatives to commit violence''. So just be honest: you WANT to eat meat because you like it, consequences be damned. And of course if you truly want to feed as many humans as possible the only solution is vegetarianism or even veganism. Meat is just way too wasteful to be a decent solution.

addicted 1y ago

Or, you know, don’t fish at all so we don’t kill possibly trillions of sentient fish every year for no necessary reason whatsoever? Side bonus, we also don’t kill the highly sentient and highly intelligent creatures you’re concerned about.

nandomrumber 1y ago
3 billion people get at least 20% of their protein from fish, and roughly 500 million rely on fishing for a pay check.[1] Those people can all just starve, and you're fine with that? 1. https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/will-there-be-enough-fish-to-feed-the-world-in-2050 https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/will-there-be-enough-f...