Taboobey! (a GFRS unblog)

A revelation... over the past 3 weeks I've been stuffing myself with thousands of dollars worth of exotic fish. Bustar (Indonesian forest campaigner) told me that the Saratoga's commercial name is actually 'Arowana'...

Gaspppp! (moment of silence)

still more silence as the reality of the moment sinks in.

Here's a low down on the Arowana. Back in Malaysia (or anywhere else for that matter), the Arowana is a prized exotic aquarium fish that can fetch prices of up to a thousand dollars. It is highly revered among the Chinese people as a bringer of good luck; but in reality, it is really a tool to impress others that screams "look at me... I can afford an Arowana. Isn't it beautiful".

Before this, I was actually doing alot of pondering myself. I've seen the Saratoga and noticed its striking similarity to the Arowana. I told myself that it can't be an Arowana... It just doesn't make sense to me that such an expensive ornamental fish would be served so frequently (when I was at Awekaim, we had it every other day... honestly, I'm getting really sick of Saratoga already... it's not very tasty. Instead, Baramundi is my fish of choice). I chose to ignore the fact that it could be the Arowana... Of course, until this morning.

(insert dramatic orchestral crescendo here)

Fact: I really should not write about the consumption of endangered fauna here in the blog as it may freak the living hell out of fellow environmentalists reading this blog, we were told. "Gasp... but they're endangered and you're environmentalists. Shouldn't you be protecting these creatures instead. How unbecoming."

Reality: Here in Lake Murray, Anything that walks, crawls, swims, or flys is edible. Anything that can be boiled, fried, grilled, smoked, roasted, or steamed is edible. Unfortunately for those of us who lives in the "civilised" world, endangered animals qualify for both the former and latter list.

I reckon its only natural for us greenies to critisize such palates. The truth is, I think it's important for us to realize that we should not make blanket assumptions. I'm not saying that we are to make exceptions, but we need to understand that the 'endangered' animals hunted here are hunted in a sustainable manner. A single clan here owns hundreds of acres of forest area and they hunt only in an area that is less than 1% of their total forest cover... leaving a whole lot of space for the animals to regenerate. What we should freak out at is the illegal wildlife trade where poachers hunt to satisfy an unsustainable worldwide demand. Here, the demand is local... most importantly, the people respect and manage their resources.

In the same way, eco-forestry does the same thing too. Cutting down trees may sound horrible, but if done the right way... it does more good than bad.

There I've said it... it's almost dinner time and there's a tasty cassowary cooking in the pot. Bon apetit'.