The dangers of invisibility

Authors: Jeremy Fleming
Publication: New Zealand Journal of Forestry, Volume N.Z.J.For. 2020, Issue N.Z.J.For. 65(4) 2021, pp 44, Jan 2021
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry

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Abstract: It has been my privilege to have worked in the forestry and seafood industries, two of our great primary industries. Combined they generate $8 billion in export earnings and employ 52,000 people in primary production and processing. Plantation forests are ubiquitous in our rural landscapes, most of us live in houses built from plantation grown timbers, an increasing number of us enjoy recreation in plantation forests, most of us have seen inshore fishing boats leaving and entering harbours around the country, and almost all of us enjoy fish and chips and seafood from the supermarket. Why then are these two great industries largely invisible in our media unless things go wrong. Does invisibility matter? It is not as if this a new phenomenon or unique to forestry and commercial fishing.

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