Bunny hugger

Let's be clear, I do what I do because I want to contribute positively to the world, to environmental and conservation issues (and increasingly, sustainability and fisheries issues).

However, not in a bunny-hugger, tree-hugger, penguin or dolphin (or insert fluffy creature of choice) -hugger way. I believe in science, rational thinking, logical, clear arguments that lead to a decisive plan of action (admittedly this almost never actually happens in science). Some might call me an idealist.  I believe firmly in science,  I have faith in facts - which is funny in a way because of how inconclusive most of my science has been.

I have done what I do because I believe it is making a contribution both to the environment (through management objectives) and to the body of human knowledge... But... I'm not going to lie, I'm so sick of killing things! I did not become a scientist to kill animals! At all! I know rationally that the crabs don't belong in the ecosystem, that the indigenous species will do better in the absence of the crabs (this is especially noticeable in the areas where there's hardly ever bycatch so the crabs are completely dominating that area) but I still feel bad for the poor things. Don't get me wrong, some of them make me less sad to kill than others - blood has been spilled, my blood - but, as a whole, the sheer number of crabs I'm responsible for killing is starting to get me down. I knew that the sardines, anchovy and redeye would have died during the survey with or without my work (in order to reliably set a catch limit for the fishery and form part of a 30+ year data set) but I still felt sad (I actually cried - but don't tell anyone because science is still somewhat of a man's world) when I saw the number of sardines and anchovy they bring up in the nets and them all dying en masse. And my colleagues shook their heads at my wanting to release the bycatch (once recorded) into the sea (it's a multi-storey drop but I had to try!) 

Trouble is, some of them are really quite cute and pretty

I've mentioned this to some of my colleagues, and can tell by the way that they look at me askance that they think I'm being sentimental. Yet, this is not actually a part of me I want to harden (there are parts of me that need to toughen up - like the parts of me that feel sad when the minions don't like me).

On the other hand, I've had fishermen who have asked me what we'll do with the crabs look horrified when I say we'll kill (I say "euthanase") them - fisherman!!! On a good day I'll explain that we can't return crabs that have been in South African waters to Europe because of their exposure to different pathogens and parasites (never mind the expense), but on the one less-than-fabulous day I couldn't help exclaiming: "but you're a fisherman!" It is a bit crazy that my job at the moment is literally to kill off every last individual of a species in Hout Bay Harbour... And because we haven't quite managed to kill them all off yet, we are going to carry on trying for another four weeks. Of course successfully eradicating an invasive marine species in an area would be an amazing achievement and hopefully good for the local crabs, rock lobsters, klipvis and shy sharks that are brave enough to call Hour Bay Harbour home (but not so good for the individual crabs we "euthanase") but I can't help thinking that maybe cleaning up the litter, plastic, oil, diesel etc might actually be more helpful? 

So, keep an eye out for work that will pay me but that doesn't involve killing things and let me know!