How The Oceans Can Feed The World

The earliest accounts of overfishing occurred in the 1800s, when the demand of whale blubber nearly wiped out the whale populations. In the mid 1900s, the harvesting of Atlantic cod, herring, and California sardines drove them to the brink of extinction. These high disruptions cause regional depletions of animal resources which is starting to cause a global problem. There has never been a more urgent time for fishing nations to make a commitment towards the sustainability of our oceans. More than 80% of the world’s fisheries have been, or are being pushed beyond their limits and are in dire need of strict management plans. Populations of fish and elasmobranch fish such as tuna, grouper and sharks have been declining to the point where the survival

The earth’s oceans are overfished. Nearly 80 percent of commercial fisheries are overexploited and some experts believe that global fisheries will completely collapse by 2048 (Barkin page 1). While these are just facts that tell the worst-case scenario, they should be alarms that spark change in the way we fish. This paper, however, will specifically target overfishing in the Grand Banks in Newfoundland, Canada, and analyze its impact on Earth, its Environment and Humanity. Over fishing is simply when fishermen catch more fish than are being reproduced. Eventually the stock of fish in the environment will be completely depleted. That is exactly what happened off the shores of Newfoundland in 1992. With Cod fishing at an all time high, the Canadian government discovered that the Cod population was almost exhausted. New technology and poor decision-making led to the complete destruction of the cod population in the Grand Banks and this is a mistake that we should never repeat.

The Atlantic and Pacific Coasts fish stocks overall show little improvement, despite the management strategies that have been implemented to try to increase fish population. This is primarily due to overexploitation

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.

Nearly seventy-one percent of Earth is covered by oceans. This massive body of water provides homes to millions of species of marine life. Over the years, the amount of fish has decreased rapidly due to the practice of overfishing. Overfishing has become such a massive problem that if there is no stop put to it, it could destroy the ocean’s and the Earth’s future. Fortunately, an organization named Oceana was founded for the sole purpose of saving the oceans. Due to the overuse of fishing, the population of sea life is decreasing rapidly and the organization, Oceana, is helping to put a stop to overfishing to save world hunger, ecosystem destruction, and economic destruction.

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.

Sri Lanka is a heavily dependent fishing country that relies on mainly tuna to make money to try and make a decent living (Tallaksen, 2014). As of 2014, the European Union has banned all imports from Sri Lanka, a country that depends on fishing to make the vast majority of their money. But this ban may help them in the long run, even though that they might not see it right now. Trying to limit the amount of fishing trawlers catching Atlantic Bluefin Tuna that are in the ocean can help the population rise back and enable the tuna reach maturity to be able to reproduce (Tallaksen, 2014). This is great news for the tuna, but is bad for Sri Lanka as they will have to find another way of receiving some sort of

Many breeds of fish are being captured at a faster rate than they can reproduce. Some species such as orange roughy fishing became popular in New Zealand in the 1970’s. Over time, it spread to many countries around the world. In the last 20 years, there has been a decline in catch up to 75%. It is no longer common to see in grocery stores as well as restaurants. The amounts of fish that are captured and distributed around the world are alarming opposed to the rate the fish can multiply.

Studies indicate that our oceans are not as resilient as we had once believed (Declining Fish, 2007). According to Dr. Jeremy Jackson of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, we will never again be able to fish our waters at the level that we have been over the last half century (Declining Fish, 2007). Dr. Jackson also states that over fishing is more destructive to the ocean waters than toxic pollution or degrading water quality (Declining Fish, 2007). This is a frightening thought and seems to have environmentalists and commercial fishermen at each other’s throats.

In order for there to be plenty of fish in the years ahead, fisheries will have to develop sustainable fisheries and some will have to close. Due to the constant increase in the human population, the oceans have been overfished with a resulting decline of fish crucial to the economy and communities of the world. The control of the world's fisheries is a controversial subject, as they cannot produce enough to satisfy the demand, especially when there aren't enough fish left to breed in healthy ecosystems. Scientists are often in the role of fisheries managers and must regulate the amount of fishing in the oceans, a position not popular with those who have to make a living fishing ever decreasing populations.

The increase in fisheries catches across the globe has also been fueled by the significant increase in the demand for food because of the constant increase of human population. While the practice has remained a major threat to every fish species in the ocean, it has largely contributed to the large migrations by marine mammals as they seek to get the left over fish. Since the 1950s, there has been an increasing trend in the number of unsustainable fisheries, which is an indication of the global geographic expansion of overfishing (Coll et. al., p.1).

My father and I have be going on an annual fishing trip since I was eight. Every summer, we would go out and sit for hours waiting for something to bite. Last year my father made a poignant observation, he noted that in recent years there seemed to be less fish. He’s been doing this trip since he was my age and where he used to at least get some pull, he now has to wait nearly twice as long for anything. I’ve since come to realize that our ocean is running out of fish. We are overexploiting a natural resource and doing nothing to stop it. The current large scale fishing operations are not sustainable ecologically or economically.

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

Throughout the planet the effects of over fishing are being experienced daily. In fact, 24% of the world’s fish species are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion (World Wildlfe Fund). Defined, overfishing is the process of catching fish in massive quantities, with the possibility of causing extinction among a species of fish. While it is understood that catching more fish now will lead to a drastic decline of fish populace in the future, fishing is a very profitable occupation. In 2008 1.27 billion pounds of shellfish and finfish were accumulated from the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial fishermen earned $659 million in total income for 2008