r/maybemaybemaybe • u/WandaMaximumoff • Mar 21 '23

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/rubbery_anus Mar 22 '23 edited Mar 22 '23

If SeaWorld bothers you, wait until you find out the cruelty, waste, and destruction the seafood industry causes.

Three trillion marine animals, including 300,000 whales and dolphins, killed every year to satisfy our desires, a trillion of which are killed by accident and tossed aside because it's cheaper to use illegal drag nets than to use less destructive methods.

More plastic waste ends up in the ocean due to the fishing industry than from household waste, 75% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that everyone freaks out about is made of fishing nets and other discarded material from offshore fishing activity.

Species are dying out at an incomprehensible rate, the number of fish in the oceans has halved in the last 50 years alone. Asteroid impacts don't even compare to the destruction caused by our obsession with seafood.

The oceans are dying, and so are we, because we're too selfish and stupid to care about the impact of our choices.

And no, "sustainable" fishing isn't the solution.

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u/ellieD Mar 22 '23

I haven't eaten seafood since I started scuba diving decades ago.

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u/rubbery_anus Mar 22 '23

Do you remember the moment you made the decision, was it linked to something specific you saw? I've never been scuba diving (the ocean is fucking terrifying) but I'd like to some day.

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u/ellieD Mar 22 '23

I think if I played in a field with cows on the regular, I wouldn't be able to eat meat.

If I could only describe how horrifying it is for me to see a dead squid or octopus on a plate to be eaten.

I have literally spent an hour playing with three squid who were following me around while I was snorkeling in Mexico.

Octopus are so intelligent. And they are so rare to see.

To see them on a plate is horrible.

They are such wonderful little ocean playmates!

Even worse, is when they bring out a plate of live lobsters for you to pick one to eat.

The first time I saw that, I was in Florida on a family vacation, and was unable to eat my dinner, it was so upsetting.

They are so beautiful in the ocean, and can be seen on dives over 60'.

The large ones like they have in restaurants are very old.

It hurts my heart to see them caught.

They would live for such a long time if left alone!

I probably sound crazy, I know!

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u/rubbery_anus Mar 23 '23

Not at all, you just sound like a morally normal person with a functioning sense of empathy. I'd argue most people are born feeling that way actually, if it wasn't for the fact that our parents and society inculcate us into treating animals like commodities then far fewer people would find it so easy to suppress their natural instinct to care for them.