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Overfishing the

By Trevor Sims

One pillar of the world’s economy is the importation and exportation of . The rapid growth of the demand for around the world has led companies to overfish certain species of marine life, as well as illegally in order to reach their quotas. The definition of overfishing is depleting a stock of in a and to fish marine life at a rate that is well beyond the reproduction rate of the species. Illegal fishing is when a vessel violates laws, whether it is fishing out of season, not adhering to size and weight limits, or fishing in restricted waters. Illegal fishing happens everyday all around the world. Overfishing and illegal fishing go hand and hand and are driven by the lucrative industry that is placing detrimental quotas on certain marine life. Overfishing is a pandemic that is plaguing the world; if current fishing practices are not changed, it may lead to the ultimate demise of humanity.

Overfishing is pushing more and more marine species to . The Pacific region of the holds the majority of the focus of overfishing but is not the only area where this occurs. and fishing practices in the has led them to be endangered. The primary reason for being placed on the list is the practice of shark-finning. is when their fins are stripped from them and the rest of the body is released back to the ocean while the shark is still alive. After being released, the sharks die by either drowning or taken pray by larger predatory animals. This expanding practice “has taken a ​ severe toll on stocks, with a quarter of shark species predicted to become extinct in a decade if nothing is done.”( Harvey 1). Shark-finning is not solely an Asian practice, The is the eighth leading country in the world for shark-finning. Overfishing needs to be addressed immediately because more and more species of marine life, not only sharks are being driven towards complete extinction. In turn, further breaking the balance of the delicate within the world’s . Bluefin tuna are also being driven towards extinction due to the overfishing all over world but, primarily in the Pacific region of the ocean. In the past forty years, the tuna population has decreased well over seventy five percent. The Asian fishing fleets are removing tuna, shark, and other species out of the Pacific region at a rate much faster than the species can keep up with because the number of commercial fishermen operating to 24 hours a day to make a profit is steadily growing.(Harvey 1).

Overfishing is a serious issue because it not only causes certain marine species to be pushed towards extinction. While simultaneously causing a break in the balance of . The ocean is a highly efficient but delicate system. This delicate system is the natural food chain; every aspect of marine life is part of the food chain. When one species is being killed outside of the processes of the natural food chain, such as commercial using nets to dredge marine species out of the ocean to use for human consumption, an imbalance is caused. Companies target the top predators of the ocean, such as every species of tuna and a variety of shark species. According to World Wildlife Organization, once the predatory species are taken out of the ecosystem the prey fish begin to overpopulate, in turn causing a mass production of algae which smothers and kills reefs (Overfishing 1). Without coral reefs in the marine ecosystem, many fishing villages and towns that rely on coral reefs to stimulate their economy as well as sustain their diet, would crumble. Coral reefs are a key part to the marine ecosystem because they provide food and shelter for a plethora of marine species while concurrently, filtering the impurities out of the water to balance the carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen that are in the water.The delicate system’s natural balance is dependent on the top predatory species remaining in the cycle in order to maintain stable populations and ecosystem down the chain. An imbalanced ecosystem causes chaos to ensue and threatens both marine and human lives. Human lives are jeopardized by an imbalance in the marine ecosystem because many nations rely on the intake of certain species to support their economy and diets.

Seafood has been a main staple in the human diet since the Paleolithic period.The human population is constantly growing at higher rates and the demand for food is rising at an even higher rate. The companies have been left with the task to meet the people’s need for seafood. However, this constant fishing of marine species that many different ethnic group find to be a delicacy has led to those species to be overfished. The commercial fisherman will not stop fishing these species till the stock is completely depleted because the demand of these species creates a highly lucrative business for the fisherman. Bluefin tuna is an example of how lucrative the business can be, “a single fish has sold for over 1.75million dollars”( Bluefin

Tuna 1). The outrageous price for a single fish has commercial fisherman racing to catch as many fish as possible with no concern for the impacts they are making on the marine ecosystem.

Quotas are set by organizations such as NOAA on how many fish can be caught in one season.

For , the grand total for number of fish that can be caught by both commercial and recreational fisherman is 957 metric tons of tuna(NOAA 1). Overfishing occurs when fishman illegal catch more fish than the quotas allow, also when the juvenile fish fall victim to commercial fishing .

Bycatch is all the unwanted and unintended fish that commercial fisherman catch while they are fishing for certain species. Many juvenile fish fall victim to the byproduct of these practices which further decreases the species chances of flourishing. The majority of the fish that fall victim to bycatch are killed in the nets and during processing, only to be pumped and shoveled back into the ocean. Bycatch is a contributor to overfishing because many species as well as endangered species, that are not suppose to be caught are accidentally being killed in the process of commercial fishing.

The best solution to the pandemic of overfishing that is plaguing the world is to create more protected areas in the oceans worldwide. Only “1.6% of the world’s oceans have been declared as marine protected areas”(Overfishing 1). The increase of the marine protected areas around the world will allow for the marine ecosystem’s natural balance to be restored. Once the natural balance is restored, the species that were once endangered will begin to repopulate and slowly over time be able to get taken off of the endangered species list. Also, these protected areas will be kept out the destructive reach of both commercial and recreational fisherman.

Global Ocean Refuge System or GLORES for short, agrees that more protected areas will overall erase the footprint that overfishing has left on the oceans worldwide. GLORES plan is to raise the number of protected marine areas from 1.6% to at least 30% by the year 2030. They made this their goal because they believe that protected areas are “the best way to maintain the oceans’ ​ diversity, abundance and resilience is to protect marine life in their ”(Global Ocean

Refuge System 1). The marine protected areas will also allow scientists to conduct studies that will gather information that will help inform around the world on safe eco friendly fishing practices. These protected areas will need to be under constant surveillance and scientific ​ monitoring to make sure illegal fishing is not taking place. Overall, marine protected areas are the best possible solution to the the problem of overfishing because they allow the marine ecosystem to be restored to the way it was before human intervention, bring species off the endangered species list, and allow scientist to commercial fisherman new and eco friendly fishing methods.

Organizations have offered many inferior solutions to overfishing that if implemented could bring an end to overfishing. One of these possible solutions is satellite tracking of fishing vessels. Satellite trackers will give law enforcement agencies the ability to know where every is at any time, allowing them to be able to go inspect the vessels and make sure they are adhering to fishing regulations laws. Where this solution begins to fall apart is the fact that vessels can turn the trackers off to disappear off the radar of the monitoring law enforcements. Also, avoiding being caught in the act of breaking regulation laws and overfishing marine life. Also, fisherman are very secretive about the prime fishing areas so it would very difficult to get fishman to agree to being constantly tracked and monitored by law enforcement.

Another potential solution to cure the world of this pandemic is to heavily monitor ports and commercial fishing vessels. However, this solution is inferior to creating marine protected areas because the animals will have already been killed and taken out of the environment by the time the heavy monitoring effects could take place.

Overfishing, if not solved, will not only have detrimental effects on marine life, it will ultimately be the downfall of humanity. If overfishing continues at the rate it is now all seafood will run out by the year 2048. Scientist from around the world have studied many different species of marine life and they have concluded that there is a trend seen among all the species.

Based off the the trend, scientist have concluded that by the year 2048 all species that are commonly consumed as seafood will collapse (Clover 1). With seafood collapse come worldwide and starvation. Many villages, islands, and small nations are dependent on seafood in order to have a sustained diet, once all seafood is eliminated the societies that are dependent on them will starve. In the United States in the year 2012, 199 billion dollars worth of revenue was generated by commercial and recreational fishing. Also, commercial and recreational fishing created 1.7 million jobs in the United States (NOAA

Economics Program 1). If overfishing is not stopped, all seafood will be eliminated yielding a multi billion dollar economic loss as well as a multi million dollar job loss. Many countries around the world depend on marine life trade as staple in their nation’s economy. Once all the marine species have been wiped out by the year 2048 that economic supporting pillar will be removed, causing nations to collapse and mass chaos to ensue. Also, many nations rely on marine life as the main course in their diet, as do many other humans since the Paleolithic period around 2.5 million years ago. When all marine life has been killed off after overfishing ceased to stop, many nations would experience extreme starvation. Also, since there will be no more seafood the human diet as a whole would need to evolve to overcome such catastrophes.

Starvation would not only affect humans, it would also affect hundred of species of birds,mammals, and reptiles. Once all seafood is eliminated by the year 2048 it will starve everything else in the world, leading to mass economic collapse and ultimately the demise of humanity.

Overfishing is ending the life as we know it and is being driven by the human population.

Overfishing is causing a mass imbalance in the marine ecosystem and has facilitated the increase of marine life extinction rates. If overfishing is not stopped it will cause all marine life to collapse by the year 2048, worldwide economic collapse, and over all mass starvation throughout every living creature on earth. Ultimately, overfishing is a plague on this world that can be stopped by worldwide agreeance on making more marine protected areas. More protected areas will cause populations to increase and proper marine balance to be restored. Overfishing has made its footprint on the world... now it is up to our generation to erase it before it is too late.

Works Cited

“Bluefin Tuna.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, ​ ​ www.worldwildlife.org/species/bluefin-tuna. ​

“ECONOMICS PROGRAM.” Fisheries Economics 2011, ​ ​ www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/economics/publications/feus/fisheries_economics _2012. ​

Editor, Charles Clover Environment. “All Seafood Will Run out in 2050, Say Scientists.”The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 3 Nov. 2006, ​ ​ www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533125/All-seafood-will-run-out-in -2050-say-scientists.html. ​

“GLORES Will Improve the Quality along with the Quantity of Marine Protected Areas Globally by Awarding Protected Areas That Meet Science-Based Standards.” Global Ocean Refuge System, ​ ​ globaloceanrefuge.org/.

Harvey, Fiona. “Tuna and Populations Suffer Catastrophic 74% Decline, Research Shows.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, ​ ​ 15 Sept. 2015, www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/15/tuna-and-mackerel-pop ulations-suffer-catastrophic-74-decline-research-shows.

Nmfs, Noaa. “.” NOAA :: National Marine Fisheries ​ Service : Scientists to Observe Gulf Fishery for Bycatch Impacts, www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2011/05/bluefin_tuna.html. ​

“Overfishing.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, ​ ​ www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing.