Conservation

When people talk about conservation, they're typically referring to the act of avoiding ecosystem degradation, or the decline in number of a certain species. But what is often forgotten is the ethical issues surrounding the fate of organisms that live in those ecosystems. What I mean by this, is that it's not just about how a certain fishing practice might cause a decline in the numbers of a species, it's also about the impact those fishing methods have on the welfare of animals and ultimately their suffering. I feel that marine conservation and animal ethics are intrinsically linked, and it's for this reason that the marine conservation issues addressed by My Marine Connection will often be discussed in the context of animal welfare. For example, the international problem of marine debris is concerning from an ecosystem health and animal suffering perspective.