Clearly Distorted News, in Black and White

Archaeology: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Lease 34% of World Fish Stock for 99 Years

In a move that had been widely expected, the Bill and Gates foundation has leased 34% of the worlds fish stock yesterday from mostly coastal govenments in Africa and Asia. “This is a vital resource and needs to be protected,” said Melinda Gates and spokesperson for the foundation. The foundations decision follows a report from a biannual report from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), released last month. Currently, SOFIA reports that thirty-two percent of todays acquatics and cuspid bivalves are fully exploited, which means they are being fished at their maximum biological productivity. The remaining sixty-six percent are over exploited (26%), depleted (37%), or recovering from depletion (10%) and need rebuilding. Some of these stocks are under extreme management schemes and this has critics worried. “These management schemes are causing unnecessary stress to this vital resource,” says Melinda Gates. “We ae out to change this.” But critics say that privatizing– even in the form of a non-profit foundation such as that run by Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet could be dangerous. “What do two old men- one who lives in Omaha, where there are no fish since the ice age if they were there even then and the other who has made billions by selling technological snake oil know about fishing?” argues Mr. Larry LaFontaine of Carlsbad, West Virgina. ” Im sick and tired of these people telling me how to fish and where i can and cant lay out my bait.” Investment bank Goldman Sachs is helping to underwrite the foundations purchase, and is selling fish credits, and fidh futures to finance the deal. “Because of the size of this offering, weve developed a spread product to help our institutional investors to digest and to hedge this offering,” said a Goldman representative. The products will begin trading on the LSE under the ticker FISH(a) and FISH(t) in March of next year.