TONY KELLY’S letter about our sea life (HAS, May 6) is just the tip of the iceberg because mass production methods and general capitalism are being used for natural living resources and, of course, it’s not sustainable.

A basic rule of capitalism is that the rarer something becomes its price will be so high it will deter buyers.

But tell that to Japanese buyers who pay millions of dollars for a large blue finned tuna. Gordon Ramsay also showed how sharks' fins have had to be stewed for hours and then chicken stock added to give taste for diners to pay about £50 a bowl.

In both cases it’s about vanity, and certainly not necessity.

A Japanese protestor smuggled a BBC investigator into the huge industrial sea life market with hundreds of different sea life species, shellfish as big as tennis rackets, and the Japanese import about 80 per cent of blue fin tuna caught around the world.

Apparently their public are unaware that their diet is at the expense of their young’s future.

Being a regular visitor to local shores, I’m aware of how rock pools are devoid of life, even the creatures that used to be under rocks have gone, along with kelp which is eaten and used industrially.

An Indian spokesman said their first satellite means their hundreds of fishing ships can target sea life more accurately.

The only answer seems to be more and larger conservation areas, strictly policed. The World Health Organisation warned 30 years ago that immigration and resources shortages were dangers to world peace.

C Davison, Billingham