Overfishing
by: Zachary Luong
Humanity has long overlooked the consequences of depending on the seas in order to survive. Similarly, like every other natural resources, the seas are becoming depleted at an intense rate which is identified as the problem of overfishing. Due to overfishing, a large amount of marine species are becoming endangered, causing the disruption of food chains and ecosystems, as well as causing an insecurity for human consumption of resources, due to the overall lack of fish in the sea.
Environmentalist can agree that Overfishing has brought upon negative effects not just for wild animals, but as well have a backlashing effect on humanity as well. As seen in an article written by the Ceo of World Wildlife Fund Australia, the author gives first hand experience of the negative effects from overfishing on local fisheries: “I saw local fishermen returning at the end of each day with fewer fish to feed their families. I watched as they unloaded their diminished catches, made up mostly of juvenile fish.... It is as much a humanitarian issue and one with profound implications for food security as demand for seafood...” Similarly, in The State Of World Fisheries And Aquaculture, The Food and Agriculture Organization statistics show how marine fishery resources has continued to decline. Statistics also show that the rate of consumption of fish has gone over sustainable rate: “Between 1961 and 2016, the average annual increase in global food fish consumption (3.2 percent) outpaced population growth (1.6 percent)”
In other respects, it is known that overfishing has caused problems with ecosystems not just by the general decrease in fish in the sea, but as well for putting other aquatic species at risk. For example, according to Jesse R. Zaneveld, the Microbiologist informs: “...overfishing and nutrient pollution impact reefs down to microbial scales, killing corals by sensitizing them to predation, above-average temperatures and bacterial opportunism.” Another way that overfishing causes issues with aquatic ecosystems is through bycatches which is through the process of fishing, a non-target species can be inadvertently killed, injured or impacted. Conjointly, Overfishing is not just a problem in the vast oceans but as well in inland waters. The constant fishing of an individual species in inland waters not only threaten fisheries from making a profit but as well threaten ecosystems to face a biodiversity crisis. For example, the Murray Cod which is native to the Murray-Darling River of Southern Australia and is relatively slow producing, has experienced a sharp decline in population as catch statistics shows during the 1940-1950s.
As a result of overfishing, we humans have diminished a critical amount of resources in our oceans. Because of overfishing, not only have we negatively affected the environment around us but have brought damage upon ourselves. HOWEVER, there are organizations providing solutions to fix this issue. For instance the Marine Conservation Institute plans to create 10% of our oceans to be marine protected areas. Additionally, The chinese government has placed a ban on trawling that took into effect in December 2012.
The solutions to overfishing do not only rely on big organizations but onto you as well. As consumers, we can also help avoid the problems of overfishing by making smarter choices by: buying locally, avoiding big fish which have been overfished for years, consuming smaller fish, consuming wild instead of farmed fish, etc. Above all, the most vital solution we could have is the education and spread of awareness of overfishing.
Questions:
Do you like seafood?
Were you aware of the problems faced with overfishing?
What do you think are some long term effects of overfishing?
How can you help fight overfishing?
Sources:
19 comments:
Yes I love seafood lol.I have been aware of the problem of overfishing for a very long time this has been a very serious issue and I have always been hearing stories of overfishing and news articles and videos on youtube of people finding ways to go around the rule of a particular amount of fish.The effects of over fishing is kind of like the game that we did where we had a bowl and if we take too many fish the fish can't recoup in time and the fish in the bowl would end up gone in a couple of rounds.And of course the loss of fish would lead to loss of other animal populations because it is basically a food chain/web once something goes extinct than other start to disappear slowly but surely.I can help fight overfishing by abiding to the rule of how many fish that the particular area has set and we have to force stricter laws about how people need to conserve certain species so that they can reproduce back to the standard that they once were.
I actually have never had seafood. I have heard reports of overfishing occasionally, but I did not know it was to this scale. When overfishing occurs, many fish species become endangered or even extinct. This distrupts the food chain in habitats, which may negatively affect other species in these food chains. We may be indirectly (or directly) delepleting species that we should not even be hunting, like sharks and whales. This could even affect the ocean waters and surroundings because of the amount of distrupton that occurs. Overfishing can be solved with local government regulations, and once this is successful it can become national. We should take this one step at a time to ensure the fish populations are saved.
Overfishing is a serious issue that can really effect the marine ecosystems. If the food web gets disturbed, then more severe consequences could occur beyond that one food web. It can also seriously effect the marine biodiversity, and most living organisms in the area. Not only will the ecosystem be destroyed but the economic value we recieve from the fish will deplete as well. The more we deplete the amount of fish, the more destroyed everything can become. The best thing the US can do is to enact laws that restrict the amount of fishing so they can recover, and they can designate more areas that are exclusively for protecting marine life.
I love seafood, and I've heard of the problem of over fishing and how it affects ecosystems, but I didn't think it would go this far. We need to put limits on how much fish can be captured at a time and while it will bring prices of fish up, the long term effects will leave ecosystems better off. Government regulations need to be the same level of strict internationally to save the biodiversity of marine life, before its too late.
Yes, seafood is a unique delicacy that me and my family like to enjoy. Yes, I know that over fishing is a problem but I guess it really never struck me how big of a problem it is and how much it would affect me. If we continue to overfish, we will lose that source of food and our oceans will become less diverse. To help overfishing you can educate people on the urgency of this problem as well as boycott certain fisheries that are damaging our oceans.
Seafood is a really popular food now more than ever due to all the health benefits of a lot of the fish. It also doesn’t help the fish’s cause that most people like myself see the ocean and its inhabitants as vast and never ending in some places. The average person never considers that fish are actually a finite resource that could run out of we are not careful, and a lot of LDC’s would suffer terribly from a world where they could not substance fish. So, for the well being of our less fortunate neighbors we need to start noticing the amount of fish we are taking in for ourselves.
This seems to be another example of the misunderstood “tragedy of the commons.” To begin with, most people understand the fact that we are dependent on extracting marine life from the seas. We also understand that this in turn suggests that we do not want this extraction to be depleted. What we fail to understand is that although we currently may have the capability to take more than we need to, that does not mean we should. By overfishing, we are reducing the population production of the next generation and are decreasing our ability to fish for the same amount of fish every year. This does not only disrupts the food chain and decreases the biodiversity of marine life, but it directly affects our economy and its ability to be sustained.
Seafood is one of my favorite types of food. It can be very tasty when prepared correctly. I had a small knowledge of overfishing from other classes, but I was not aware of the scale that it was one. If humans overfish then we are going to be hurting the ocean biodiversity by taking away large amounts of its prime dwellers. This will come back to hurt us when we eventually lose this source of food. To fight overfishing humans can use more fisheries instead of getting fish directly from the ocean.
This topic runs parallel with last week’s activity and discussion of the “Tragedy of the Commons”. In order to sustain the amount of fish, we need to only fish 1/2 of the carrying capacity. However, as stated, we are far over passing that. If people thought more long term with less self-drive, we would be able to sustain Earth’s resources. Not only affecting us humans, entire ecosystems and marine life are affected and lost.
I personally do not like seafood. I was unaware of the problems faced with over fishing, but it makes sense. Some long term effects of overfishing, would be destroying oceanic ecosystems, and coral dying. We can giht over fishing, by consuming fish in our diets less frequently.
It is evident that overfishing is now a problem not only for the environment but also those who are dependent on fish for their main source of food. The competition of the seafood industry has come at the expense of small fisherman who simply need fish for their families. This problem is one of serious concern, and therefore must be solved right now; the country must place heavier restrictions on the fishing industry.
Overfishing is a severe problem that could affect the way we live as well as food chains in the environment. Most fish are considered keystone species, and when one species is overfished, it could lead to a worldwide domino effect. Even though we already have laws in place to regulate overfishing, there needs to be more to state the severity.
I like seafood a lot, and I am not aware of problems with overfishing; I never knew this was a “thing” that could affect ecosystems, however, based on the blog, I doubt it will get any far. We need to put a limit on how much fish or when to capture, this will probably increase a better environment for marine life. To help fight to overfish, we can set up government regulations to save the biodiversity of aquatic systems, before overfishing has made the issue worse.
I never really liked sea food, but I am aware of the problem of over fishing. When visiting my family's home town by the ocean, I witnessed fishing villages removing mass amounts of fish from the water every few hours. By removing so much fish from the ocean, ecosystem's food chains are disrupted. To combat overfishing, it may be necessary to set up government regulations on fishing exports. As economy drives the demand for fish, government policies could limit the amount of fish being taken.
Yes, I love seafood, I eat fish all the time. But, I am also aware of the problems faced with overfishing. I never knew how bad it really was. Some long term effects of overfishing are that we may lose some species of fish, which will create a loss of biodiversity. Overfishing can be solved by the government placing regulations on how much and where companies can fish.
Some of the long term effects of overfishing are the extinction of many slow developing species that aren’t having enough time to recover. This will impact the food chain and will cause the extinction of other species that depend on each other.
I do enjoy eating a lot of seafood, but I do agree that we should fish at a sustainable rate instead of overfishing. One way to combat overfishing is to raise awareness. Social media enables us to spread information at a rapid rate. We can post pictures and statistics of the effects of overfishing to raise awareness of this world wide problem. By doing this, we can all play a part in helping preserve the marine ecosystem as well as maintaining our seafood supply.
I like seafood. I had known about some of the problems of overfishing, but not to this extent. The long term effects to overfishing are habitat loss along with species extinction. To fight overfishing, we can petition for laws that regulate and go against overfishing so that the problem declines slowly.
I hate seafood with aa passion, the only times I eat seafood is when I eat sushi. I have never liked the idea of overfishing and I think that there are many other substitutes that humans can enjoy. Like all other problems in the environment, it can be solved through government regulation.
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