September 20, 2004

9/20 - Caribbean Lobster Fishing Industry: How to cripple Nicaraguans

This is an excellent and distressing new article published on the website of SB partner group NRDC, about the $50 million Central American industry of lobster diving which compels divers to descend to 120 feet and lower in pursuit of the dwindling numbers of lobsters. And what do you think happens when you dangle the profit incentive in front of scuba diving lobster hunters?

From the article: "According to a 1999 World Bank report, "close to 100 percent of divers show symptoms of neurological damage -- presumably due to inadequate decompression." Over the past decade, local sources say, more than 800 of the 2,500 divers in Sandy Bay (a Honduran Miskito town north of Puerto Cabezas) have died or suffered serious injuries."

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Bad mix: profit incentive and scuba diving

Posted by Randy Olson at September 20, 2004 08:17 PM