29 December 2005

Eels - Managing land or poisoning it

A "gigantic aquaculture system" farming eels was managed by the Guditjmara community at Lake Condah for a long time. "In south-west Victoria people built intricate systems of stone canals and weirs, each covering several kilometres, to farm eels…" Wetlands were transformed into an eel-friendly landscape with weirs and channels. "… They modified more than 100 square kilometres of the landscape to breed eels. They constructed artificial ponds across the grassy wetlands and dug channels to connect them. And the whole scheme was systematically punctuated with eel traps." European farming destroyed this old aqua-culture and then the land. Eel husbandry and eel-trap-weaving skills have been passed on in the indigenous communities.

In the Sydney region today eels are urbanised out of existence, via the destruction of wetlands and a generous application of toxins. Just recently eels were killed in the waterways of Dee Why. A neurotoxin, banned in many other countries, but commonly used in Australia to spray food!crops was used by 'person/s unknown'. The insecticide Endosulfan it was suggested, could be "horded" by any resident. Who knows if these rusty old bottles of POP are in your neighbour's garage/shed. Who cares when they apply illegal organochlorines, or just ordinary pesticides to the environment. Who knows, except when the immediate 'kill' surfaces before the public eye. Anyone can freely buy any quantity of pesticides and apply them as an untrained person. The synergetic effects are unknown in the neighbourhood, the food chain and our environment.
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Lawns and pestides
Testing pesticides on human beings

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