Dwindling Fish Supply Promotes Bushmeat Consumption
In many tropical countries, fish and terrestrial wildlife are the primary and secondary sources of animal protein for humans. Brashares et al. (p. 1180) use 30 years of data from West Africa to show a direct link between marine harvests and human consumption of terrestrial wildlife at a regional scale. Rates of wildlife decline are also related to fluctuations in bushmeat hunting and fish supply. An examination of prices and supply and demand data for fish and bushmeat from 12 local markets revealed the mechanisms linking marine productivity and terrestrial conservation. The activities of the large and heavily subsidized European Union foreign fleet may contribute to the declines in West Africa's fish supply and thereby contribute to associated increases in consumption of terrestrial wildlife.
The article merely discusses the effect that the EU fishing subsidies have on the consuption of bushmeat, however there is considerable evidence that eating Bushmeat has been tied to the development of HIV/AIDS and at least one Ebola outbreak. Hence if, as the article claims, the EU's subsidised fishing fleets are indeed driving Africans to consume more bushmeat then the EU can also take the blame for diseases that cross species from whatever bushmeat is eaten because fish were unavailable.
How many other ways can the EU and its boneheaded subsidy schemes kill Africans? That was a rhetorical question I really don't want to know, but ceterum censeo Unionem Europaeam esse delendam.