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Unsustainability of fishing
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Fish and fishing is a big part of today’s food industry. Millions of farmers and small scale fishers (mostly poor) depend on fishing and agriculture. Fishing increases peoples food supplies, high nutritious animal protein and micronutrients. About a 100 million tonnes of fish are eaten world-wide each year, providing two and a half billion people with at least 20 percent of their average per capita animal protein intake. Fisheries are currently said to be providing over 16% of the world’s protein. Fish and fishing is a lot more important in the developing countries because it is a cheap source of protein. Sustainable fishery ensures that there will be enough population of ocean and freshwater wildlife for the future. But in today’s world, fish are being fished more than being produced. Most of the world’s population is overfishing leading to unsustainable fishing which is awfully bad for long term fishing supplies.
There are quite a few types of unsustainable fishing practices, some of which are dynamite fishing, electro-fishing, cyanide fishing and bottom trawling. Dynamite fishing is the act of killing a number of fish at once with explosives. These bombs kill some wish and hurt the others destroying their homes and the places they live in. This type of fishing can
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Reducing the amount of carbon used by your fishing boat will help cause minimum harm to fish and marine life and will contribute to sustainable fishing. Use lead free fishing equipment. According to the U.S. environmental protection agency, lead harms fish causing them muscular problems, reproductive problems, stunted growth and sometimes even paralysis. Avoid leaving junk on beach shores because this goes into the seas and rivers and fish get fooled into thinking that this is food. They eat it and eventually end up suffocating. Fish going extinct is just a few steps away if these sustainable fishing practices aren’t
Overfishing is defined as a form of overexploitation where fish stocks are brought down to unacceptable levels. In the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2 yearly report (SOFIA), it states how over half of the fish stocks, worldwide, are fully exploited. Other research has shown it only takes 10-15 years of industrial fishing to obliterate a tenth of the intended species. Overfishing causes a ripple effect that hurts the entire ecosystem. The balance of the chain depends largely on the interaction between the predator and the prey.
Einarsson S. M. & Gudbergsson G. (2013). The effects of the net fishery closure on angling
Overfishing is a major problem in economy today. The practices of fishing too much or too often result in a decrease of the fish population. Constant removal of fish from the oceans (fishing) accounts for both adult and baby fish. With the consistent decrease in adult fish, mating becomes more difficult or even impossible, resulting in an overall lack of fish in the oceans. Pepijn Koster defines overfishing as, "Overfishing can be defined in a number of ways. However, everything comes down to one simple point: Catching too much fish for the system to support leads to an overall degradation to the system. Overfishing is a non-sustainable use of the oceans." (par.1). When fish stocks cannot be replenished faster than they are being depleted, a reduction in fish population occurs, which is what is referred to as overfishing.
Overfishing may have some benefits to it, but does it out way the negatives? By fulfilling our demand we can wipe out our whole oceans! Not just the fish, but water mammals too. Sure it can create jobs, but as what cost? It can help bring up our economy, but at the same time it can bring it down with many fish companies closing down due to lack of profit. Fish is a great source of nutrients, but too much can kill you! In other words, fish can be both beneficial and harmful to not only humans, but everyone and everything surrounding fish. There are three things people can do to help with overfishing, the first thing is to be aware of what you are eating. Is the fish on the fear of extinction list? Also asking yourself is the fish you’re about to eat really the fish you intend to eat? Another thing to ask is, was it shipped over seas? If it was it doesn’t benefit anyone, it won’t help the economy or you. Many fish shipped from a long ways creates pollution and may have lost its nutrients value from the long voyage. One last thing to do is if you see a sewer with a sign leading to the ocean, try not to leave trash near it, or better yet don’t litter at all! All the litter left out on streets or near sewers can cause pollution in oceans, lakes, and rivers which is very harmful for marine life. You can still enjoy fish, but not at such a high demand as
One of the sectors facing the largest impact is the seafood industry. Fish products are prevalent in pet food products as well as human diets. Given such a high demand on the seafood industry,
We are also catching to many fish and the fish are not able to sustain their population. There are plenty of fish on the endangered list due to over fishing and some of these fish are surprisingly commonly consumed across the United States. I’ll fill you in on the top ten: Alaskan Halibut, it’s a largest flat fish and it’s found in the North Atlantic. #2 is the Beluga Sturgeon, it’s usually consumed for its fillets and eggs that are known as “true caviar”. #3 is Acadian Redfish. #4 is Orange Rough, #5 is the Winter Skate (usually made into fishmeal or lobster bait). #6 the Bocaccio Rockfish, the most endangered in the West. #7 is the European Eel, when these juveniles are caught out at sea they have not yet spawned. #9 is the Goliath Grouper, their harvesting has been banned. #10 is the Maltese Ray, that is now only found in one area of the world, The Strait of Sicily. Most of these fish are being caught as bycatch, meaning they weren’t the intended target species. Our methods of fishing are a big contributor to this problem and bottom trawling, which is mainly used, is one of the most destructive ways to fish. Bottom trawling uses heavy nets that are dragged across the ocean floor catching everything, letting nothing escape. Simultaneously, this kind of trawling destroys reefs and habitats along the way and It could take decades to repair the damage done by bottom
For years corporations have been depleting the oceans of its wildlife for our benefit. However, one thing these corporations tend to not mention is the bycatch they encounter when catching fish for the purpose of consumption. The definition of bycatch “is the unintended capture of nontarget animals…”(Crowder and Murawski pg.1). Bycatch takes a negative toll on our ocean ecosystem that cannot be reversed.
There are many impacts that fishing and land animal farming have on the ocean, which are detrimental to ocean ecosystems as well as many other aspects of the environment. Overfishing, killing fish at a much quicker rate than the fish can repopulate, is one major problem. Three-fourths of the world’s fisheries are either fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted (Cowspiracy). Researchers have estimated an end of all viable fisheries by 2018 if the current trends of fishing continue (Mason). According to the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch, hundreds of thousands of animals die every year as bycatch, with one of the worst offenders being shrimp fisheries, catching up to six pounds of bycatch per pound of shrimp. Endangered species are also caught, including predators which are important in keeping the balance in ocean ecosystems (Smith). While many organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch recommend consumers to eat more “sustainable” fish, this will not stop the massive environmental impacts. Sustainable fishing for one does not account for the natural flux in the population of species of fish; what is considered a sustainable amount of fish to harvest one year may deplete the fishery in another year (Smith). Sustainable fish also are becoming even less sustainable as companies that label sustainable fish must find more For example, after Wal-Mart pledged to selling Marine Stewardship
Eric Dunne Consulting Initiatives (2010) aimed at examining direct sales of fish by harvesters in an effort to provide directions for regulation and monitoring to accommodate the needs of harvesters and consumers and to protect public health
Fish protein has been a mainstay for the human diet for centuries. However, aquaculture, which is the practice of raising fish such as salmon in controlled conditions, as opposed to the commercial fishing industry, which is procurement of wild fish from their natural environment, made its debut in the United States as a commercial enterprise in the late 1970’s according to the Eco - Justice Marketplace Project.(n.d.). This mode of salmon procurement began to develop in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, as a response to the declining populations of native wild fish such as salmon and trout.
Overfishing is a growing world problem. In 2013, 93 million tonnes of fish were caught
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 ...
Many of the methods used in commercial fishing are very destructive to the aquatic systems. Industrial ocean trawlers scrape the bottom of the water, often dragging up the seafloor with them. This destroys the habitat and kills many of the bottom dwelling organisms that are vulnerable to these practices. There is also a large amount of marine animals that are unintentionally caught by the large nets. These animals are considered bycatch, having no value to fishermen and are usually killed. These large fishing vessels also add a significant amount of pollution to the water. Fishing vessels cause oil spills as well as discharging chemical elements and wastes into the water. The thousands of of trawlers that pass through Japanese waters create large quantities of water pollution that can devastate aquatic life by changing the chemical composition of the water and affecting all the organisms that inhabit these
Overfishing is the most major problem related to oceans, but it is also the most overlooked. Fishing has been going on for thousands of years, and fish have always been seen as a renewable resource, that would replenish itself forever for our benefit. But around the world there is evidence that fish are not recove...
Aquaculture provides food and nutrients to millions of people allover the world. Fish provides key nutrients and proteins and it benefits people of all classes. Fish is full of nutrients that the human body needs. Fish is distributed to people less fortunate and by providing these nutrients to people it can fight hunger for thousands of people all over the world. In the United States, 80% of our fish is imported and around 50% of those fish came from fish farms. Aquaculture plays a big role on the environment also. Many species of fish are severely over fished by commercial businesses and they soon cannot meet the food demand for the world market. Aquaculture provides a stable supply of fish and shellfish for the world market and it also takes the stress of overfished populations. Aquaculture can benefit recreational fish such as bass and other very important ecological species and habitats. With the expansion of Aquaculture, it provides thousand of jobs for jobless