With heavy and unjustifiable fishing techniques the fishing populations has been declining over the years. As of this moment close to eighty-five percent of the world’s fisheries have been threatened. With the lowering fish populations, the world has had to adjust by reducing the amount of fish that are harvested. But still the fish population is on the decline. Due to the over fishing of certain species, mostly predators (sharks, tuna, etc.) has had a negative effect on marine ecosystems. Overfishing also leads to bycatch; catching of unwanted fish, which leads to millions of dead fish each year. Overfishing also having a negative effect on the economies of fish communities too. Fishing communities that solely rely on fish harvesting and fish consummation are faces overwhelming affects. Developing countries were they account for almost fifty percent of the world’s fish export, and being hit the hardest with these consequences. The overfishing by the world’s fleet leads to illegal fishing and higher prices for the developing countries. Fish is one of the most important sources of for that this world offers us, and over seventy-one percent of the world is ocean water. Fish is a huge source of protein for humans; in Asia almost one billion people’s primary source of protein comes from fish. Almost twenty-five percent of the world’s consumed animal protein is provide threw fish, twenty percent from the ocean and five percent from fish farms. Even though the fishing
Commercial fishing has a great affect on the marine life for many reasons. Those reasons include species of marine life going extinct, or over population. Some marine life are going extinct from overfishing because as scientists said fish are able to produce only a limited quantity of fish over time this problem cannot only affect the fish but it can affect the entire ecosystem in the ocean. Some species of fish are also going extinct from bycatch. Bycatch is when other species of fish or marine life is captured in the nets with the target fish that is supposed to be caught. It is estimated by scientists that 25 percent of the commercial fishing industries around the world harvest is discarded bycatch. Some species of marine life cannot only go extinct but it can also overpopulate. Certain types of marine life can go extinct because their predators are going also going extinct. This issue arose in the early 1900s when commercial fishing industries expanded their fishing fleets.
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.
For human populations, particularly people in the poorest countries across the globe, fish is an important source of nourishment and food. As a result, fisheries catches represent a huge export of energy and mass that can no longer be utilized by trophic levels that are higher than those fished. For a long period of time, several human populations across the globe have continued to depend on fish as a significant source of food and nourishment, which has contributed to widespread overfishing. The widespread overfishing has in turn resulted in the decrease in the global catch of fish. Nonetheless, the links between overfishing and food security have remained largely unclear and uncertain. According to the findings of research, approximately 50 percent of commercial marine species have been overfished in the past five decades (Srinivasan, Cheung, Watson & Sumaila, p.1).
Fishing is a great hobby for the “average Joe.” People fish for fun, family bonding, and to make a living. Overfishing, defined as excessive fishing to an extent, damages local ecology. “Overfishing.org”, found at, http://overfishing.org/pages/what_is_overfishing.php, states, “Catching too many fish; fishing so much that the fish cannot sustain their population”. This means that too many fish are taken out of the water too quickly causing a low population count. People who are overfishing oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. are affecting local biological organism and humankind itself. Humans constantly fishing these bodies of water affect the whole food chain. In a few years, your favorite fish may not exist. World powers, such as the United States
One of the most serious environmental issues that we are facing is overfishing, which is often overlooked. Many people rely on the fishing industry for a job, and many more (one billion people) depend on it for a source of protein, so it is not surprising that our supply of fish is dwindling.
Humans are the number one contributor to this problem. With the continuing rise in population that relies on fish in their diet and the demand to meet it there has been more need for fishermen and fisheries to meet these needs. With the increase in the number of fishermen and fisheries in industry, there has been an increase in competition to get the largest catch and make as much money as possible. The race by fishermen and fisheries to increase their catches and the need to meet demands has led to the discovery of the technology and techniques that would allow for this which are often destructive. However, this problem affects more than humans. There are other animals that have fish in their diet. Fish are also in the diet of many species in the water and are responsible for eating some species. With dwindling fish populations and the chance that we will one day be without fish, we face the balance of the species and habitats that are sustained by fish becoming unbalanced or losing many more species as a result.
The ocean makes up nearly three-quarters of the planet 's surface and contains about eighty percent of the life on earth. Millions of people all over the world depend on seafood heavily as a primary source of food. Americans alone consumed as much as 15.8 pounds of seafood per person in 2009 (NOAA). This is a lot of fish. In fact, it is so much that many populations of fish are going extinct. At this particular rate according to National Geographic, scientist predict that the earth is expected to lose all of its current fisheries by the year 2048 (Roach). The overfishing of our oceans leads to unmanageable practices that will eventually cause many species of fish to become extinct.
People often take the ocean for granted due to its vastness since it makes up over seventy percent of the Earth, however the integrity of the ocean is deteriorating. One of the major, worldwide threats to the wellbeing of the ocean and its inhabitants is overfishing. Overfishing affects not only the ocean, but also the land dwellers. Many countries around the world depend on fish as their main source of food. Tons of fish are caught out of the sea daily, however, the rate that fish are being hauled is far too high where fish stocks are incapable of naturally recovering. There is a decline in population size of affected fish and some species have even faced extinction. Overfishing is the leading cause of ecological extinction, foregoing any other human disruptions to marine ecosystems, such as pollution, water degradation, and climate change (Jackson, et al). Overfishing causes an overwhelming devastation upon the oceans because it depletes food resources, disrupts the food web, and destroys habitats of aquatic organisms, due to this, overfishing causes an oceanic ecological collapse worldwide.
First of all, fish is a common food source in the world especially in areas around the ocean. People all around the world rely on fish for their main food source everyday. The fish population is severely depleting because of lots of overfishing. To show how much less fish there are, my research shows that the amount of fish consumption has gone down in the past few years. Many types of seafood have been overfished also. Places like restaurants have had to replace normal fish on the menu with similar looking and tasting fish because of the lack of seafood. Species like eel and king crab have been overfished to critically low levels. Loads of these species get caught in nets everyday with the chance to escape.
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
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
One of the largest factors that is threatening both marine and freshwater fish populations across the globe is the issue of overfishing, which is made necessary in part by the overly voracious desires of the consumer economy. In addition, the unbalanced fish consumption that is encouraged causes only a select few species such as
Another global effect of overfishing is fish farming or aquaculture. It was first started to help preserve the ocean and hoped to help people to obtain a reliable fish source. Unfortunately, what many came to realize is the downside of fish farming. One example is water contamination, where consequently waste products such as foods eaten, feces and other dead fish, are all dumped into our main water supply which contributes to water pollution. Moreover, chemicals that are used to treat the fish farms like antibiotics and algaecides are all released into the ocean; which is a real cause for concern for our oceans. Fish that come from the fish farms are pumped full of drugs, to prevent sickness in the fish but this is not healthy for us to eat. There is also a great environmental impact which includes the fact that to sustain fish farms, portions of
Today I will be talking about over fishing, Over-Fishing is the over exploitation of fish to below acceptable levels. This can occur in most bodies of water, such as the oceans, rivers, lakes and even ponds. In over fishing we are going to be talking about shark finning, Shark finning is the practice of slicing off the shark’s fins while the shark is still alive and throwing the rest of its body back into the ocean where it can take days to die what must be an agonizing death. Shark finning is very common in Asia as it is a delicacy and a prime ingredient in shark fin soup. Overfishing is very bad problem that is occurring more and more in the world today.
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