The Tragedy of the Salmon
The United States Pacific Northwest has historically been a significant player in the global fishing industry. However, over the last half-century, the fish population in the area has been declining at an alarming rate. Popular species of fish such as cod and salmon have been particularly susceptible to these decreases. What once was a region flourishing with abundant fish populations, is now in danger of being exploited to the point of extinction of certain species. The majority of these population drops is attributed to increased industrialization and overfishing in the region. The ocean is a commons, as defined by Garrett Hardin in his “The Tragedy of the Commons”, and is being exploited as an open resource, resulting in a reduction of fish and industrial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. Enforced government regulation is the only viable course of action to deter the declining fish populations. Fisheries have been exploiting the region, and limiting the amount of fish one can catch, particularly of specific species, may lead to more balanced levels of fish population.
In 1968, Garrett Hardin published his essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” in Science, in which he elaborated his theories for curtailing the overpopulation problem. The article is perhaps best known for Hardin’s definition of the “commons” as a shared, limited resource under limited (if any) regulation. In his essay, Hardin considered the right to breed as a commons and confronted the resulting problem of global overpopulation. Hardin believed in the inevitable exploitation of any commons, and therein lies the tragedy of commons: a commodity which is universally free and accessible will inexorably result in overutilization precisely beca...
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...in suggests, mutual coercion must be applied. Enforced government regulation of the fisheries can achieve this, and extend the restoration of endangered species of fish.
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In this entertaining, search into global fish hatcheries, New York Times writer Paul Greenberg investigates our historical connection with the ever changing ocean and the wild fish within it. In the beginning of the book Paul is telling his childhood fishing stories to his friends, that night Paul discovers that that four fish dominate the world’s seafood markets in which are salmon, tuna, cod, and bass. He tries to figure out why this is and the only logical answer he could come up with is that four epochal shifts caused theses wild fish population to diminish. History shows that four epochal shifts happen within fifteen years causing certain fish species populations to diminish. He discovers for each of the four fish why this happened to
The first genetically modified animal has been given the green light to reach dinner plates.
“The Tragedy of the Commons” written by Garret Hardin explains how the human population is degrading the environment. When Hardin refers to commons he is talking about a resource that is owned by no one and used by a group of people. Some examples of commons include the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the oceans we fish. The tragedy is that people don’t look at the bigger picture; the over use of commons for our own personal benefit leads to the destruction or extinction of these commons. For example if one fisherman wants to fish the oceans as much as possible that’s fine, but now imagine if every fisherman wants to fish the oceans as much as they can, this is one example of a common being destroyed by the human population. The fishing lab we did the other day is a good example Tragedy of the Commons. Every student was placed into groups of four, each group received a bowl (which represented the ocean,) and 20 M&M’s (which represented 20 fish; salmon.) Ms.Engen told the class it was a competition but what she did not say is that if we catch all our “M&M’s” we will not receiv...
With a coastline of over 202 000 km and over a fourth of the world’s freshwater resources, it is no wonder why Canada’s fishing industry is a huge part of its economy.1 Canada exports more than 75% of its fish to over 130 countries worldwide. Many of the 7 million people who reside on the coast depend on the ocean’s resources. In total, Canada’s entire fishing industry is worth around 5$ billion dollars a year, being one of the world’s most valuable. However, the coasts have not been treated by respect; overfishing, over consumption, and wasteful practices has deteriorated, not only the industry, but the ecosystems and fish populations. This is a huge global issue; the worldwide collapse of fisheries has been project for 2048. Slowly, as the trends continue, we will inevitably see many fish species start to disappear. In fact, the ill-treatment of species on the Canadian border has already devastated a large specie, the cod.
Consuming an average amount of Salmon in one’s diet is proving to be one of the foods that can curb the desire to become violent. The experiments performed and carried out by Stephan Mihm, as well as other resources gathered, consider this to be somewhat accurate. Are we really able to determine which foods have this effect? Salmon is only one of many foods that contain Omega-3 Fatty acids.
One main issue is that the world is biophysically finite, which means that we all have a limit, the more people we have, the less each person should possess. Also, we can’t just increase the number of people uncontrollably and be able to satisfy everyone. The second key issue is, over population. Hardin assumes that every person is selfish, and everyone is looking to benefit themselves. Actions they would be doing are like, having more of what they need which leads them over using the only resources we have left. The third key issue, in Hardin’s point of view, is that we should just forget about the Commons system; meaning there should be a statement or right or law to restrict people from overbreeding. Being able to freely over breed will bring us other problems like losing some of our other freedoms. There should be laws to determine the size of families. Finally, the fourth key issue is to gain peoples approval for the new system that is going to pressure them a lot. Basically, we should make all people understand the consequences of letting them freely breed, and what overpopulation will do to us in the very near future.
Garrett Hardin, an American ecologist, warned of the dangers of overpopulation. In Hardin’s best-known works, “The tragedy of the Commons” and “Lifeboat Ethics,” he talks about the importance of sustainability and requiring everyone to take action. Hardin stresses the importance of evaluating our environment to maintain a high quality of life without sacrificing future generations ability to do the same. Sustainability is having a healthy balance between economic, social, and ecological issues. In my essay, I will expand on these issues and how they are addressed in Hardin’s writings.
In Part I, Moral Problems, Greene relates Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” to compare individualistic and collectivistic interests. In the “Tragedy of the Commons”, a single group of herders shares a hypothetical common pasture. Hardin posits that, were everyone to act for his or her individual self-interests, the pasture would be eroded and nothing would be left (19). Collective interests should triumph over individual interests whenever possible (24).
Due to the demand many packaging for the fish can find its was back to sea, or when fishermen are out at sea they can leave their garbage. Many nets from the boats and gears can also be found in the water, that fish can later see as food, eat it, and die; this ties back to extinction in fish. There is much pollution and decline stocks in fish because it is very hard to regulate the seas. To fulfill the growing demand for seafood, many companies are forced to fish beyond areas that are supposed to be non-fishing zones. This is because there are hardly any laws or restrictions telling them where they can and cannot fish. Sally Driscoll and Tom Warhol report in, ‘Overfishing’, that itt wasn’t until 1956 where we saw our first regulation, the United Nations organized the first UN Convention of the Law of the Sea or the NCLOS which helped promote rights of all countries by establishing boundaries off shore. Meaning that some seafood fished in certain areas of the ocean cannot be sold in certain countries, and in some areas it is illegal to fish unless you have a permit from that country. Economy also helps make it harder to regulate the seas, in ‘Overfishing’ it is explained that Preisdent Barack Obama brought up Antiquities Act of 1906, that let fishermen expand their fishing areas. The United Nations FAO estimates that 25 percent of all fish trapped in nets are labeled unusable or not licensed for fishing by the
The topical focus of this paper is the Atlantic salmon fishery. In particular, this paper looks at habitat loss and salmon farming both of which have had major impacts on the sustainability of the fishery. Several efforts have been made to restore Atlantic salmon to their native habitat, specifically in Maine and New Hampshire. This paper reviews the policies that have been implemented, not yet implemented, and a proposed policy.
Ashley Dean, Shwartz,.Mark 2003. Salmon farms pose significant threat to salmon fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, researchers find. Stanford University
In Tragedy of the Commons, Hardin began to put a focus on the point that commons problems could not be just simply addressed by technology, he claimed that such problem occurs are because of increasingly population growth and the consumption of limited resources. If the population growth is maximized, then each individual must minimized all resources. Therefore, he didn’t think there is any foreseeable technology could solve the tragedy of the commons on this planet to balance population growth and maintain life quality. He also introduced a pasture theory to demonstrate the situation of common-pool resources. Shepherd hopes to maximize their profit by adding more sheep, as result it brings a consequence with impact both positive and negative: positive impact is the shepherd can get more money from those additional sheep. And negative impact is a worse pasture. However, it’s important to note that the gains and the losses in this theory are not equal. Shepherd get all the benefits, but the losses are transformed to the rest of shepherd, thus, each shepherd will expand their flock size to maximize the profit. When all shepherds got this conclusion, and unrestricted grazing, the pasture capacity will be damaged inevitably.
The region surrounding the Columbia River is one of the metaphors that can be found for the term “Buffalo Commons”. In this region a serious debate is taking place over the removal of some of the dams along the river. By shifting the economic dependency on the river to alternative sources there is a hope that the Native Salmon will be able to re populate and flourish in an area were they had once been plentiful (Ka-bye).
To fish or not to fish is a personal choice. The fact that the oceans are being overfished is a growing concern for individuals, organizations, and governments throughout the world. In this paper I want to discuss the effects of overfishing on the restaurant industry, and possible solutions to solve the problem. Fishing is an ongoing source of food for people around the world. In many countries it is a food staple in their everyday diet. In more modern societies eating fish has become a sensual experience, and not just for the wealthy. It hasn't been until population explosions in the last century that the demand for seafood has led to more effective fishing techniques and technologies. Now the demand for popular fish like the salmon, tuna, sea bass, cod and hoki, which is the key fish in McDonalds filet o' fish, is diving wild populations to dangerously low levels. The methods used to catch the amount of fish demanded by the industry do not leave sustainable populations in the wild. In an attempt to preserve the fish population, governments have set limits on the minimum size that may be harvested and how many of each may be taken. Boundaries have been set up saying which areas can be fished and which ones should be left alone. A number of smaller fisheries have gone out of business because of the limits imposed by the government. This leads to even less fish being harvested and brought to market. Therefore the amount and varieties of fish at markets are smaller and can cause shortages for wholesalers and restaurants. Some restaurants will no longer have the variety on their menus that they used to enjoy. If a restaurant thrives on its seafood menu they may be unable to cope with the shortages and will go out of business. In the ...
In 2009, Sylvia Earle gave a presentation in a TED conference on a rising problem that the world faces: the ecologic depletion of the world’s oceans. The ocean accounts for a massive portion of the recycled carbon dioxide back into oxygen, and provides food for huge parts of humanity and for huge numbers of animals. I agree with her conclusions that the oceans are being depleted and this can only mean bad things for humanity, but I disagree with her solution. To solve the problem, Mrs. Earle claims that the United States and other countries should expand their protected zones of the ocean. However, an ocean is not like a land environment, where you can section off parts of America to save isolated habitats. Fish travel often travel and migrate hundreds of miles to find food and suitable mates, this is especially true the larger the fish is. Sectioning off parts of the ocean only solves part of the problem, because the fish in that area will simply swim out of the area and then be caught by fisherman. The only way to incorporate government protection into the oceans, is for the government to effectively own the oceans within its borders and then lease the rights to fish or put quotas on the number of fish that each fisherman can take out.