Ethical considerations of sustainable fishing in Europe

The United Nations (UN) estimate that 200 million people are directly or indirectly employed by the fishing industry and around 1 billion people depend on fish as their primary source of protein. The UN also reports that one quarter of the world’s fish stocks are over exploited and half the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited (UN, 2010). To try and counter this problem the concept of sustainable fishing has been proposed.

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Animal tool use shows us humans aren’t so special!

Humans have always been fascinated with what makes us unique. What is it that has allowed us to make such an impression on the Earth like no species before us? There are many things that make humans unique from our ancestors, from bigger brains to bipedalism. We are also known as the “tool using animal”. That is not to say other animals don’t use tools, but humans use tools in an incredible number of activities and to an incredible degree of complexity. Because we arguably use tools better than any other animals, humans often associate tool use with intelligence. There are a variety of animals that use tools, some of which are discussed below.

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