‘Moving Sushi’ Expedition grows awareness of illegal fishing worldwide

Mike Markovina and Linda Schonknecht are the fearless duo that make up the Marine Resource Expedition – also known as “Moving Sushi” – which has been travelling across the African continent, Europe and Asia, documenting illegal fishing and producing a documentary aimed at raising awareness about positive effects of marine conservation.

The cross-continent expedition starts and ends in Cape Town, South Africa. The route, which commenced in April 2008, covers 42 countries over approximately 22 months.

“The world’s oceans are in deep trouble,” Markovina points out.  “From the northernmost reaches of the Arctic Circle to the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, the seas are being stripped at an unprecedented rate.

“Since the 1900s, many species may have declined by nearly 90%, and unfortunately it does not stop there. Every aspect of the ocean is being mined for its resources. For example, coral reefs are being destroyed by dynamite and cyanide for both food and the aquarium fish trade, which is suggested to top a billion dollars a year.”

According to Markovina, the challenge of managing global marine resources is impossible without the appropriate knowledge and research.

“By focusing on the positive and motivating aspects of marine conservation, the Marine Resource Expedition hopes to inspire action and generate awareness of the importance of our marine heritage.”

Navigating Africa, Europe and Asia (and their relevant waterways) is not an easy task, which is why Avnic Trading, official Garmin distributors in South Africa, became involved as a sponsor of the expedition.

Getting around

“We’re extremely passionate about both conservation and the outdoors, which is why we jumped at the opportunity to help Mike and Linda out on their expedition,” says Fraser McHenry, sponsorship and communications manager for Avnic Trading.

“What these remarkable two people are trying to accomplish is extremely important for the future of our marine resources, and by providing them with the necessary technology to help them find their way around the continent, we’re hopefully making their extremely difficult jobs just a little bit easier.”

Avnic Trading provided the Marine Expedition with two Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx navigation devices, which is one of Garmin’s most popular outdoor and marine GPS units.

“This GPSMAP 60CSx features a removable microSD card for detailed mapping memory and a waterproof, rugged housing for marine use. The microSD card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment. Users can load map data and transfer routes and waypoints through the unit’s fast USB connection,” McHenry says.

“In addition, this unit features a new, highly sensitive GPS receiver that acquires satellites faster and lets users track their location in challenging conditions, such as heavy foliage or deep canyons. The GPSMAP 60CSx also incorporates a barometric altimeter for precise elevation data and an electronic compass that displays an accurate heading while standing still,” he adds.

“We really have to express how important these GPSs have been to us and our expedition thus far,” says Schonknecht.

“We’re just a few months into our expedition, and already we have been through some of the most testing terrain and one of the worst roads in West Africa.

“From the border post of Namibia and Angola (Ruacana) – where we crept along a dirt track going 1km/h with no real indication on any map book where we were – to dragging the car up and down what can only be called a glorified hiking trail in Congo, we probably would not have progressed as far as we have, if we had not had these GPSs,” she adds.

What can you do?

There is a clear and ever-growing need to raise awareness about unsustainable fishing in the waters around Africa, Europe and Asia.  And this starts with both educating consumers about the seafood that they are eating at their favourite restaurants and lobbying governments to police their surrounding oceans more effectively.

Already, organisations such as the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative have set up SMS systems giving consumers the ability to check if the fish on a restaurant’s menu is endangered by sending an SMS classifying them green (safe), orange (over-exploited) and red (highly endangered), by simply texting the fish name to 079-499-8795.

“No matter how small your contribution is, even if it’s checking to see if the fish on the menu is endangered and not ordering it if it is, you’re making a contribution to helping preserve our marine resources,” Markovina concludes.

You can follow the Marine Resource Expedition online at http://www.marine-expedition.co.za as Mike and Linda continue their travels from Africa into Europe and Asia.

An interest rate cut on the cards?

A number of economists are calling for an interest rate cut come the next monetary policy meeting with the reserve bank.  But will a drop be good at this time of the year?

I’d hazard a guess that a drop in the interest rates, although a very welcome relief for consumers and a possible benefit to the country’s ailing economy, would send consumers into a credit binge this festive season, perpetuating the cycle of over-indebtedness, a huge current account deficit and possibly an increase in inflation as we head into 2009.

Now, I’m no economist, but this is my inner logic speaking.  I think we’re all dying for some financial relief, but perhaps it’s a case of taking one for the team to ensure long-term stability…?

Goodness knows, the economy could use a little perking up, but perhaps 2009 is the year to do that…

Banks taking NCA to its limit?

So I don’t know about you but my work colleagues seem to have made it onto some “spam-me list” that the major banks in South Africa have in their possession.  And yes, you guessed it, they’re being offered all sorts of loans, insurance products and being sent reminders that they have all sorts of obscene amounts of money available on their credit cards to spend before Christmas.

The biggest culprits are Absa and Virgin Money in this case.

Since the inception of the  National Credit Act (NCA) back in 2007, it was deemed illegal for banks to offer up all sorts of credit to people that either (A) couldn’t afford to pay it back and (B) didn’t want it to begin with.  The infamous cold-call which usually went to the tune of: “You have been pre-approved for an XYZ credit card with so-many thousands of rands credit limit,” was finally put to an end.

Or so we thought.

Banks like Absa and Nedbank (SAA Voyager) have been hard at work cold-calling unsuspecting consumers “inviting” them to apply for credit cards, which is a clever twist on the traditional pre-approval call.  It’s technically not illegal because they’re not offering you credit on the phone – they’re merely inviting you to apply.

Sneaky sneaky.

But the cherry on the cake came last week as myself and a number of colleagues were bombarded with SMSs from Virgin Money SA to “remind us” that it’s free to swipe our cards and, if you didn’t opt out on the first SMS, another SMS came a day later saying: “…you have so many thousands of rands available on your Virgin Money Credit Card to spend so get swiping…”.

I appreciate the fact that banks need to make money and that they are businesses that have responsibilities to their shareholders, but you have to ask if these organisations are pushing it just a little bit when it comes to what is legal and what is not in relation to the NCA.

The Act was brought in to stop South Africans taking on too much debt and to avoid the ongoing credit binge that consumers seem to have embarked on since every bank, clothing store, cosmetics company, airline and corner fish-and-chips shop launched a Visa- or MasterCard-branded credit card.  They seem to be finding loopholes and technicalities that allow them to continue offering credit in attractive ways.

Good for the banks, but not really all that good for the consumer.

Either way, consumers need to be on the ball to ensure that they don’t get caught out while they are in the euphoric shopping mode that this time of the year puts us all in…