Apparently, unless Fairfax is now taking on The Civilian in the field of satirical news, the Minister of Conservation Nick Smith and fishing magnate Peter Talley are planning a fishing museum in Nelson. And the Minister considers this "ambitious new plan" a suitable way to launch his re-election campaign.
Assuming this is not [SATIRE] (where is that satire tagging Facebook app when you need it - was that just satire as well?) I do hope the first exhibit in the planned fishing museum will be a tribute to the former scallop fisheries of Nelson and Golden Bays; trawled to oblivion and now dead and gone. Perhaps on a more positive note we can finally relegate bottom trawling, fisheries labour abuse and shark finning to the museum as well? And I mean really truly relegate them, like with a proper law against shark finning, not the half arsed one you just announced, Minister...
Oh, and I can't wait to check out your endangered bycatch exhibition next time I'm in town, it sounds awesome. All those incredible seabirds, seals, dolphins and other creatures that were foolish enough to get in the way of the fishing industry. Thank goodness for taxidermy, eh?
But if you really want to have a world class facility, Minister, you'd better get your hands on one of those last 55 Maui's dolphins quick smart. I can see that being a star attraction for the kids that will never have a chance to see one alive once they've gone extinct. Good thing you've still got a fleet of trawlers and gill-netters operating in Maui's dolphin habitat to get hold of one! What were those 70,000 public submitters and scientists from the International Whaling Commission thinking when they urged you to ban net fishing to save Maui's from extinction? We've got a museum to fill here folks, get out of the way!
Got ideas for Nick Smith and Peter Talley's planned fishing museum? Favourite fisheries that are no longer... Best examples of endangered bycatch... Fishing methods that really should have been relegated to the history books long ago? Share them here!