Politics Tuesday: Fishgate - Gored by a Tiny Tooth

Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org

So what are the lessons about fish politics (and politics generally) from last week's silly flap about the Patagonian toothfish that Al Gore ate at the rehearsal dinner at his daughter's wedding?

People expect a level of perfection out of politicians that they don't expect of themselves. Granted that Al Gore has become a potent (and at times hypocritical) symbol of the environmental movement, but do we really expect him to pay any attention to the menu at an event that the groom's family was paying for? Was he really supposed to make a scene with his future in-laws and not eat the toothfish?

Al Gore is clearly someone who cares about environmental issues, but what do we think the chances are that he even knows that Patagonian toothfish are imperiled? And assuming he did, how is he supposed to deal with the fact of the MSC certification on this one population? This is confusing for me, and this is what I do for a living.

This whole incident is really a commentary on our movement and our success (or lack thereof) in building the political support necessary to keep Gore's in-laws from even having the option of putting a fish like this on the menu. If we were successful in getting our government to get Patagonian toothfish listed on CITES, then trade in this species wouldn't be an option. It's all a function of politics.

And while there are definitely times when it makes sense to go negative on a politician, let's make sure we're going after the real enemies over real transgressions. Have we become so consumed with "gotcha" that we've lost the ability to distinguish who the real enemies are? It's a hell of a lot more effective to build up political champions rather than spend time tearing down a potential ally over a minor slight (if a slight at all).

The likely result of all this mess is that Gore will end up being less disposed to work with folks who care about fish. Perhaps we succeeded in shining a little light on the Patagonian toothfish issue, but potentially at the cost of losing a good ally. Politics is a tricky dance, and we hardly have enough friends at this point to risk making enemies out of the Al Gores of the world.