The Effects Of Overfishing On The Ocean

Clover’s stance on overfishing may seem over dramatic, but Clover’s statement is correct in pointing out that the real danger to the ocean’s wildlife is overfishing. Overfishing is when fish and other sea animal populations are being depleted to the point that sea animals cannot keep up with being fished by reproduction. Fishing massive amounts is degrading the oceans, yet there are both developed and developing countries whose economies rely heavily on fishing.

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

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.

Ocean overfishing is the process of removing wildlife from the ocean (or any other water sources) at unsustainable rates that lower their replication rates. Overfishing began around the mid-20th century. At this time, there were many attempts to increase the pricings and variety of protein-rich foods; this led to the government trying to increase the fish capacity. While the fishing operations advanced, the fish populations deteriorated. These operations ended up turning into profit-hoggers and started to steal the ocean’s wildlife. Considering that this was just the onset of overfishing, the buyers became adapted to having a variety of fish at reasonable prices. In 1989, after about 90 million tons of fish were taken from the ocean, the products

Commercial fishing is a tremendously important economic activity, overfishing has led to a depletion of worldwide fish stocks, threatening the viability of the industry. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a significant problem that affects the marine ecosystem and those who depend on it for

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.

Overfishing’s status as the focus of public concern mainly results from its negligible but harmful influence on individuals, collective, and even the whole world. One of the world’s significant fishery in the East China Sea is damage by overfishing and growing levels of contamination, recent research has shown, confirming the fear of fishermen and environmentalists. (Xinhua on GOV, Lu Hui, ed. 16

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.

The downfall of fish in the Atlantic Ocean is a result of numerous factors such as certain fishing techniques, climate change, and pollution. One type of fishing technique that is causing serious damage to marine life is bottom-trawling. Bottom-trawling is a form of fishing that involves a large net, about 60 meters wide, and dragging it along the bottom of the sea with heavy weights from a trawler. Bottom-trawling causes irreversible damage to coral life and slow-growing fish species, for example the “Orange Roughy 's (Slime Head) species has decreased more than 90%. Halibut disappeared from the North Atlantic in the 19th century. In the North Ocean, Blue Fin Tuna disappeared in the 1930 's-1940 's, and today have disappeared across the seas of Northern Europe.

Millions of people rely on the ocean for basic nutrition in their diet as well as financially, but the majority of those people do not know what effects of catching that fish might have on the ecosystem. Overfishing has been done for century’s and continues to this day with the first group of fishermen hauling in nearly 500 pounds of fish per fishermen on an eighteen to thirty man vessel in the 11th century. Lack of government also contributes to the problem of life in the ocean to ensure there is an equal balance. Although enforcing laws can ensure the survivability of the oceans ecosystem; cretin fishing companies damage the balance due to the dragging of nets across reefs furthermore removing predatory fish.

As if overfishing in the earth’s oceans wasn’t bad enough and little to no time for the fish’s population to reproduce we are slowly exhausting the vast ocean’s natural ecosystem of their wildlife (Dr. Daniel Pauly, Overfishing.org) and with the probable extinction of the sharks bring ruin the entire global economy, with that the number of sea life with decrease exponentially hence our way of life of fishing will become extremely difficult to fish in the earth’s oceans with little to no fish left to catch. Eventually it may become a reality where fishermen may not be able to maintain their basic living lifestyle and millions of people will suffer unemployment with a deteriorating ocean thus the economic foundation will be at risk of

The overharvesting of marine organisms has been an ongoing issue since the mid 20th century, but has never been more prevalent until the present day. Fishing in the 20th century was a massively rapid-growing industry. Because of international efforts aimed at increasing the availability as well as affordability of foods rich in nutritional value, government intervention took place to increase the availability of fish species to the human population. With the implement of policies, government loans and support, there was a dramatically huge increase in industrial fishing—eventually making marine organisms the world’s primary source of protein-rich foods. This was good for a while, but obviously, good things never last too long. Overfishing, as defined by Pepjin Koster, occurs when more fish are caught then can be replaced through natural production (Koster, 2012). The balance of life in oceans is affected, and the social and economic well being of

For example, one commercial fishing method that has significantly increased the amount of bycatch and destruction of marine ecosystems is known as bottom trawling. This popular commercial fishing technique was first introduced in New Zealand when fishers began searching for shrimp and other deep sea species. Trawling is now being used to catch a range of species, such as shrimp, hoki, ling, hake, squid, and halibut. Bottom trawling “involves one or two fishing vessels to tow a large net.” As these large nets drag through the bottom seafloor, nets can be towed for at least two hours at a speed of a high of four knots. With these weighted nets dragging along the seafloor, everything in its path is either disturbed, damaged, or completely destroyed. Although bottom trawling may be a more labor-saving method to catching large loads of shrimp and other deep sea life, there have been occurrences in which the amount of bycatch discarded exceeds the amount of target fish caught. For instance, in 2007, Belize only landed “19 metric tons of shrimp and likely discarded about 76 to 190 metric tons of other marine life.” From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Kelleher stated that bottom trawling has been “one of the most destructive ways to catch fish, and is responsible for up to half of all discarded fish and marine life worldwide.” Not only has bottom trawling led to overfishing but it also has disrupted coral reefs, and many other seafloor habitats. As habitat destruction from these fishing techniques worsen, fish populations continue to be threatened and

I have been fascinated by the beauty, form of oceans, with every drop of water his or her drink

How often do we stop and think about the people that fish to provide the rest of the world with the supply of fish that is in demand. With many fisheries closing down due to poor managing and depletion, anglers are turning to the deep sea to fill their “fish orders”. Large fishing vessels also known as Super Trawlers are dragging fishing nets up to a mile deep. Doing this allows them to catch as many fish as possible, but it is also destroying natural habitat such as coral reefs that have been part of the sea for thousands of years. The effect of this is devastating to sea life.