The Effects Of Overfishing

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

The Shark’s place in the marine ecosystem is as a predator at the top of the food chain as there is no natural predator of sharks. Sharks are not very fastidious about what they eat but their diet generally consists of seal, crab, squid, lobster and fish. If sharks were to become extinct there would be an ecological cost. The marine life that is the shark’s food source would start to overpopulate with nothing to prey on it. One possible reason that sharks are coming closer to shores is that their natural food source is diminishing due to overfishing by humans. To stop sharks from being too near to popular swimming locations, fishermen need to expand or change their hunting areas.

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

As the population on earth increases ,overfishing has become a growing issue in all parts of the world. Fish is a vital food source for many, in the world and counts for many of the cultures and heritages in the world, which means there is a high demand for it . This high demand has caused overfishing to occur. This is a cause for concern since due to the development of better technology, there is a higher risk of overfishing if not managed properly. Canada in particular has been facing the problem overfishing for years now. Due to Canada’s issue of overfishing, the environment and wildlife as well as human settlements all have negative impacts ,therefore a sustainable solution must be implemented. If action isn’t taken, Canada’s issue of overfishing will continue to worsen.

The result of the fact that approximately 30,000 people out of work in the fishing industry of NewFoundLand and Labrador clearly illustrates that overfishing affects the economy in Canada. Finally, the evidence of salmon stocks in British Columbia that were constantly killed in commercial and recreational fisheries proves that overfishing in Canada could cause major disruptions to the environment.

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.

Myers’ and Worm’s article “Rapid Worldwide Depletion of Predatory Fish Communities” (“Rapid Depletion”) focuses on the same pressing matter of overfishing, but their article gravitates more towards statistics and figures. For example, Myers’ article states that a suggested 90% of large predatory fish are no longer present in our oceans. Myers uses blunt facts to reveal the severity of overfishing to readers. Studies have concluded that for a given area of ocean opened up to commercial fishing, an 80% decrease in target species may be found in as little as 15 years. With numbers like this, it is no surprise that our oceans are in such a crippled state. Harmful methods of catching species

Signs of overfishing is the decrease in number of seawards animals based on the yearly data based. The fishing industry often responds to these signs by moving to new areas to catch, and overtime it’s might cost the same result as the initial result.

Overfishing and bycatch can lead to many problems and one of the main problems of overfishing and bycatch is the species of fish or marine life going extinct. The consequences of this problem is some of fish and marine life going extinct. When it happens it can affect many things such as not providing certain animals food. It can also lead to overpopulation in some species because there predator might not be alive anymore so without certain species predators will

The effects overfishing have are still very reversible that is if we act on it right now. We need to start taking stands on these big fishing companies they wont stop doing what they are doing if we don’t try and stop them. By putting it out on social media and word of mouth the friends we can help lower make it more aware of what is going on with the fish. By one tweet or Facebook post the right person may see it and be able to help the situation. One way we can help is by I forcing safe catch limits. By doing this we are limiting the number of fish fishermen can bring in daily. Another way we could do this is by trying to control the bycatch. By eliminating bycatch animals that were meant to be caught wont be caught and killed as a result. It will limit the number of deaths in the ocean by a lot. (“conservation”) We cant do this by ourselves we need the help of politicians by getting the word out there about this issue they will be able to help stop what is happening by making new laws and helping enforce them. By getting people to stay at the docks and monitor what is going and coming from the docks would be very key to this. Many fishermen if they knew that some one would be waiting at the dock to check what they brought in wouldn’t be bringing in what they are now for the fear of being in trouble. Instead of watching the ocean be lost right in front of us we can do these small things to try and help

II Over the years there has been a huge drop in the population of sharks, because of the popularity of Shark fin soup in china, and this can later on lead to the ocean ecosystem to be disrupted, if sharks are extinct.

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.

In contemporary society, human society is progressing rapidly on various fronts. Nevertheless at the same time, the problem of overfishing is becoming increasingly worrisome and attract extensive attention of the society. In this essay, I will address overfishing and propose some possible causes of this phenomenon which can give contribution to some solutions.

The main causes of overfishing are poor fishery management with a lack of regulation, unrestricted access to the ocean and illegal fishing. During the last few decades the demand for edible seafood globally has skyrocketed and the high demand is causing us to overfish to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, fisherman are catching more fish than can be naturally reproduced. There are only limited regulations in place, which means that fishing companies are basically fishing when and where they want to with out any oversite. Overfishing causes such serious effects such as the ocean life getting knocked out of balance. Coastal communities rely on the benefits of the fishing for social and economic health. When we overfish it

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