Based on the news story: "Two Buddhists fined £15,000 for releasing crustaceans into sea".
Zhixiong Li snipped the bands holding the lobster's claws together. The lobster slowly flexed its pincers, as though surprised they still worked.
The boat rocked beneath Zhixiong's sandaled feet as he held the crustacean out over the water. He let go and watched the lobster splash into the gray sea and sink out of sight. The assembled group chanted together, wishing the creature a long and happy life.
"That's the last of the lobsters," Ni Li said, her face glowing with enthusiasm. She gestured to another large bucket on the deck of their rented fishing boat. "But I also bought some crabs from the fish market in Greenwich."
Zhixiong's orange robes pooled around him as he knelt and pulled out a wriggling crab. One by one, the red-brown crabs tumbled into the ocean. Only a day before, their destiny on the dinner plate had been all but guaranteed. But now they were free.
Amidst cheers from their little armada of reverse-fishing boats, Zhixiong clasped Ni Li's shoulders. "We've done a wonderful thing here today. It will bring good karma for Master Hai Tao's visit to London."
Ni Li closed her eyes and breathed in the cool, salty air. Her spirit also felt free, at peace.
Emily Brown pulled the crab pot out of the water. Amidst the local spider crabs scuttling around, she spotted the broader shell of a Dungeness.
"A-ha! Got you!" she exclaimed. She pulled the North American crab out of the cage and flung the others back into the water. "You're awfully far from home, luv."
Emily pulled out her field notebook and jotted down a note. Crustacean #323. Only 388 to go... unless they'd started reproducing.
Two years after their release, the non-native crabs and lobsters were still throwing a wrench in the food chain in Brighton's waters. If left unchecked, they'd make it harder for the smaller local varieties to survive, so her mission was to hunt them down.
At least justice was being served in the courts. She'd heard the Buddhists had to cough up 15,000 quid for their error. After all, someone had to pay her salary.
Emily wrapped some rubber bands around the Dungeness crab, pinning its legs to its side. This guy would catch a decent price at the little restaurant on the dock. And Emily'd keep working to make the world better one invasive species less at a time.
Thanks for reading! Photos are from pixabay, and all of this story apart from the details given in the news article are fiction. You can view the prompt here.
This news story interested me because it's a reminder that the right thing to do is often a complicated issue. Even with the best of intentions, it's easy to cause more harm than good.
When done correctly, the Buddhist practice of fang sheng can be a beautiful gesture. But at its worst, it can reputedly disrupt local ecosystems, kill animals unequipped to survive in the wild, and ironically lead to more wildlife being captured so that they can be purchased for release. You may have heard similar stories about charity organizations taking jobs from locals or paid orphanage voluntourism creating a need for more orphans.
Many of us yearn to help the world, but making a big difference is usually the result of long-term efforts and intimate knowledge of the areas involved rather than short-term fixes. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the topic!
-Katie, @therovingreader
