During the papal audience at the 23rd World Congress of the Apostleship Of the Sea, Benedictus XVI addressed encouraging words to those working in the vast fishing sector and their families: “…, they more than others must face the difficulties of the present time and live the uncertainty of the future, marked by the negative effects of climate change and the excessive exploitation of resources. To you fishermen, who seek decent and safe working conditions, safeguarding the dignity of your families, the protection of the environment and the defence of every person’s dignity, I would like to ensure the Church’s closeness.”
We believe that God and his principles in the first pages of his Bible must get the place of honour where the ecological debate takes place. It’s a hot item that touches the whole world very emotionally. It’s our mission to bring God’s Words to the attention of the policymakers. 50 years ago, the Council Fathers emphasized the fact that “the greater man’s power becomes, the farther his responsibility extends”, and that every human activity is to correspond, according to the design and will of God, to humanity’s true good.”(C.S.D. 457) What are God’s Biblical principles in his call to fishermen for responsible fishing? In this article, we attempt to put together some Biblical considerations.
The call for ecological awareness
“If we continue like this, there will be disasters on our planet.” Such words seem to come from the last book of the Bible. But not the angels blow the trumpets of the apocalypse. It is the climatologists and ecologists. Now, after the onset of globalization, the fishermen face an environmental challenge. Consumers and international fishery factories heard the call of nature lovers. The demand for ecological awareness in dealing with all creation, and in particular in dealing with sustainable food harvesting from the sea, is becoming urgent. The older generations in fishery consider environmental problems as naturally occurring defects of nature, grossly exaggerated by the media. Younger fishermen look at it differently.They ask: what’s going on? It seems as though nature does not regulate itself anymore. “Man is the culprit”, one calls. In the old days we could harvest, pick, fish and feast without restriction. Nature was no concern. Now it seems that nature is out of balance, and that nature has come to depend upon our help. Continue reading
Sources
- Fr Dirk Demaeght, Apostleship of the Sea, Belgium International Christian Maritime Association
- Image: Scoop