National Geographic article – “Time for a sea change”
The National Geographic article, “Time for a sea change”, by Paul Greenberg, discusses the global fishing industry’s unsustainable fishing habits. It examines fishing companies’ appetites for luring fish out of the sea, then selling fish to people to make revenue, and ultimately consuming more than the sea produces. As the industry is taking so much fish out of the sea, Seafood Print (a study supported by the Charitable Trusts and the National Geographic channel) is investing the repercussions if these practises keep progressing in the long term.
The study by Seafood Print explains that they do not wish to destroy the fishing industry or ban fish eating. However, they do want to notify
The questions begs a valid point and presents the challenges in the article and the Global Fishing Industry. It is evident in the case that there it has taken a significant amount of time for the notion of responsible fishing techniques. In the 50’s when the global fishing industry started picking up speed and the “Commons” precedent started taking effect with everyone trying to fish the maximum they can in order to maximize their immediate profit. It took almost three decades for communities to start feeling and exploring the effects of this overfishing and there was a need for
Overfishing is a death sentence to the world’s oceans. As technology continues to improve a great deal of fish can be caught quicker; but at what cost? The effects of overfishing can lead to the extinction of not just the animals being fished, but also the predators that rely on fish to eat. Ninety percent of the ocean’s largest animals have been wiped out due to overfishing (“Overfishing- A Global Disaster”, 2011). National Geographic cites the academic journal Science (2006) that predicts by 2048, all fisheries will collapse due to lack of ocean wildlife. Fish are not the only animal caught in the nets used by fishing vessels. Often animals such as dolphins, sharks, turtles, and seabirds are
Anyways it’s not like fast food fish sandwiches are required for us to survive. Also fish is wasted very frequently, it expires or is not eaten, so that is just harming our resources for no reason. People need to realize that fish is important, but could be used in a much smarter way. Many are reasonable and try not to be wasteful, but too many people are. Undoubtedly, if we continue this pattern of wastefulness with our ocean's resources there will be consequences. Many statistics and facts back this up. The rules and regulations we are putting on commercial fishing simply aren’t getting the job done. Our ocean’s fish population has declined so much in forty five years and the overfishing by commercial boats hasn’t gotten better, just worse. Remember the fate of the ocean’s resources is in our very own hands. Works Cited "The Threats of Overfishing: Consequences at the Commercial Level." DUJS Online. N.p., 29 May 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. Campbell, Andy. "Crucial Marine Populations Cut In Half Since The 1970s: Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Sept. 2015. Web. 23 Mar.
According to a study done by Living Planet Report in 2015, 29% of the world’s fishing stocks are considered overfished and an additional 61% is fully exploited with no possibility to produce more fish. Our environment is currently afflicted by a number of different problems, one of which is overfishing. Overfishing is defined by FishOnline as, “Fishing with a sufficiently high intensity to reduce the breeding stock levels to such an extent that they will no longer support a sufficient quantity of fish for sport or commercial harvest.” The overfishing situation is being exacerbated by non-sustainable and destructive fishing practices and unfair fisheries partnership agreements; while there are currently attempts being made at fixing these problems and their effects on overfishing, nothing has been extremely effective.
Undoubtedly, the nation is falling into an inordinate fish crisis. Many systems are in practice to contribute to feedings the world’s population, and roughly one-third of this responsibility falls in the hands aquatic fish farming. Aquaculture holds the potential to be a highly sustainable way to solve this problem, yet, there is much hesitance in making his decision facing the future of our nation (White). In the Struggle to Govern of The Commons, the protection of fisheries, and problems associated with pollution crossing national borders is specifically discussed (Dietz). With these corresponding ideas, I found my way into researching fishing restrictions and how they impact the American fishing industry. The United States holds a six-percent share in global trade, and also persists as the sixth largest supplier of fish and seafood products in the world market. ("U.S. Fish and Seafood Exports Reach Record Levels.") This industry is growing at a significant rate; therefore, it is vital to monitor what is occurring in this business and how it affects other aspects of American life and culture.
Representatives for the United Nations, our company Ocean Hope is before you in hopes of gaining your support for our cause. We are a not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to helping to stop the increasingly real threat of overfishing. We have set out to do this through a series of print advertisements, raising awareness for the issue and hopefully opening our audience’s eyes to the danger our society faces if action is not taken. This, in turn, will encourage them to re-evaluate their lifestyle choices, hopefully resulting in them donating to our company and/or living in a way that better suits our company’s values by eating only sustainably-sourced seafood, as well as eating seafood in a smaller amount.
Cod Part Two: Limits tells the story of the beginnings of mass, industrialized fishing and how it affected the cod market and availability of the cod itself. Kurlansky studies the similarities and differences between the industrialized cod fishing economies on both sides of the Atlantic, showcasing connections characteristic of World History. The development of new, improved ways to fully harness the power of the ocean meant that we could begin to truly test its limits. Line fishing, trawling, gillnetting; these methods made fishing dramatically more efficient just as they depleted the environmental stocks of fish at an unprecedented rate. Dr. Michael N Pearson writes that “Local, traditional fishers had to compete with foreign trawlers, which vacuumed up marine life in a totally random way.”1 This was a war,
As a first world country, we consume a first class quantity of seafood as well. Overfishing of marine resources jeopardizes not just our existence, but they are also vital in supporting various ecosystems. In this paper, a number of research articles and other review articles were examined to compose a picture of the overfishing crisis. The recent developments of Atlantic cod and squid are discussed in more detail to provide a pattern that may lead to empty oceans in the future.
Overfishing of marine life began to occur in the mid-20th century when there was a need for new sources of affordable and easily accessed protein-rich foods. The solution was fish, which lead to a burst in the commercial fishing industry with many large
Overfishing has led to the destruction of ecosystems and resulting in great amount of reduction of stocks in fish and marine mammals from the 11th century onwards (Roberts, 2009). Ocean overfishing is defined as catching fish from sea at rates too high thus lead to depletion of the stock of fish. As today, there are almost 90 percent of fish population have been depleted by humans worldwide because fish is considered as a sources of food. In 2010, 148 million tonnes of fish from fisheries and aquaculture were used by the world and 86 percent of which was used as food for people (Katz, 2012). Besides, according to the non-profit group New Economics Foundation, Ireland, Spain, and Sweden were the worst offenders. Based on a
One problem that is hurting the world’s oceans is overfishing. Fueled by the overgrowing demand for raw fish and seafood, fishing companies are now using methods that could severely deplete the world’s fish population. This problem is evident in East Asia, where seafood demand has reached record peaks, forcing fishing companies to begin fishing in natural habitats once closed to commercial fishing. Overfishing has
This articles discusses how fish all over the world are going extinct due to overfishing. The world wildlife federation claims that " the planet’s fishing fleet is two to three times larger than the oceans can support" which just lets the reader know how big this problem is. The article also express that this is mostly because the restaurants are exploiting certain species. This is not just occurring to fish, even Maine lobster are suffering.
How often do we stop and think about the people that fish to provide the rest of the world with the supply of fish that is in demand. With many fisheries closing down due to poor managing and depletion, anglers are turning to the deep sea to fill their “fish orders”. Large fishing vessels also known as Super Trawlers are dragging fishing nets up to a mile deep. Doing this allows them to catch as many fish as possible, but it is also destroying natural habitat such as coral reefs that have been part of the sea for thousands of years. The effect of this is devastating to sea life.
These are just a few examples of how overfishing can seriously affect not only the fish stocks, but also the livelihoods of many people who depend on fishing as a job. There is a delicate balance to be struck between catching large numbers of fish so as to make more money and ensuring that there are enough fish left alive to be able to replenish stocks for future years. It is human nature to try to make as much money as possible, but this has to be weighed against the economic hardship that whole communities have suffered as a result of overexploiting their own fisheries, not to mention the grave consequences of overfishing for fish populations.
According to the United Nations, 17% of fish stocks worldwide are currently overexploited; 52% are fully exploited; and 7% are depleted. This means that only an estimated 20% of worldwide fish stocks are not already at or above their capacity(Seafarms, 2013). Catches of Pacific herring have decreased by 71% since the 1960s, with Atlantic herring catches falling by 63%. Atlantic Cod catches have fallen by 69% in the same time(Seafarms, 2013). These are just a few of many facts and statistics on the topic of overfishing. The effects of these statistics and facts impact people’s and animal's lives around the