How Much Would You Pay?

“May I please have some bluefin sashimi?”

Waiter: “Why yes, it is $200.”

“I will go with the snow leopard … its more sustainable!”

Really, this is what we have come to.  2011 has brought in something I never thought I would see.  A fish, yes just one single fish, selling for $396,000.  Holy Crap.  Let me drop the levity on you here for a moment.  One fish.  Yes just a single animal. One thing that once swam in our fine seas, has become so rare, and valued, that it commands a price tag of almost $400,000.  WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!  This very fish that sold for this fine price in Japans Tsukiji market, was supposed to be placed on the IUCN endangered species list in the spring of 2010.  Why not?  I mean there are only 3-10% of the population of these amazing globe trotting animals left on the planet.  Surely they must qualify for protection.  Well yes they do, but something came in the way.  MONEY.  People do not look below the waves as they do above it.  We have an opportunity to possibly, maybe, hopefully… give this magnificent creature a chance and we are turning a blind eye so a single fish can line someones pocket with $400,000 shiny pieces.  I am a realist and know that at this price, legal or not, people will fish for it.  Its only chance is a complete ban.  We owe it to the the young people we pass every day in the streets and the children they will one day have.  We claim to be the smartest animal on planet Earth…..yet we are the single thing destroying it.  Last time I checked I did not see a zebra flicking trash on the ground, or a toucan raping our seas for the last glimmer of life.  Be smart.  Get educated.  Make a difference.  Please!