Governments agree to end overfishing

The World Summit has agreed to end the overfishing of the planet's oceans by 2015. The agreement, which has potentially far-reaching implications for fishing fleets and marine biodiversity round the world, was among the first concrete deals negotiated by national delegations in Johannesburg. The UK delegation is claiming to have masterminded the conservation pact, pushing it through the European Union, which won approval from summit negotiators.

Well, good for the Brits. But (I'm going to sound like a wooly-headed one-worlder here, bear with me) it won't do any good if nothing is done about the collapsing Third World economies. Are you going to keep a starving man from catching fish to feed himself and his family? I wouldn't, and I'm a pretty ardent environmentalist. Speaking of which...

Environmentalists welcomed the agreements, but say they would have preferred a deal that emphasised conservation, rather than maximising the yields of fishing fleets.

Ah, yes. Let's make it a moral imperative rather than tying it to everyone's best long-term self-interest. Because then it's doomed to fail. I'm in favor of conservation, but the simple fact is that people are going to use the oceans, and it's much better that we make sure they know how to use them wisely rather than lecture them about how they're damaging the ecosystem.