Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, or pirate fishing, is a huge threat to the marine environment, it's bio diversity in food development is dependent on it. Losses due to pirate fishing are estimated to be between 10-23.5 billion U.S. dollars per year. Representing 11-26 million tons of fish. West African waters are estimated to have the highest levels of pirate fishing in the world. Fish is a crucial source of protein for millions of people. Fishing is the major coastal employment along the coast's. During a dramatic two year investigation, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has documented mass amounts of pirate fishing on the West Coast of Africa. Pirate fishermen are literally out of control. They are fishing in protected areas, destroying local fishermens nets and sabotaging them, hiding their names, and shipping their catch illegally at sea. They evade arrest, attack local fishermen, and abusing their own crews. The catches of these pirates have been entering the EU. the worlds largest import market for seafood. This is despite a new EU regulation. The regulation requires all fish imported into Europe to be accompanied by a catch certificate that asks for name, address, validating authority, fishing vessel name, license, and homeport. This is all declares that the catches have been declared legal.y 90% of the vessels documented by EJF fishing illegally are bottom trawlers. Bottom trawlers are are vessels that drag heavy nets across the sea bed catching all marine life in their path. Up to 75% of call the catches made on these vessels are dumped back into the sea, dead or dying. Fish is the principal source of protein for 2.9 billion people. But the United Nations recognizes 80% of the world's fisheries are e...
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...ting the ocean in catching fish leaving almost nome left and selling it to Europe. "Losses estimated due to pirate fishing are estimated between 10 to 23.5 billion U.S.dollars per year, representing 11 and 26 million fish." (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2011). "Fish is a crucial source of protein for millions of people." (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2011). Pirate fishermen use nets they call "curtains of death" to catch hundreds of fish and kill them in the nets, coastal fishermen cannot compete with these.
February 8th 2013, a US Coast Guard patrol ship ran into an illegal, five-mile long gillnet filled with dead sharks, stretching as far as about 17 miles north between the United States and Mexico border. A total headcount of 255 blacktip, 2 bullsharks and 109 bonethead sharks were trapped and killed inside the gillnet. ON ONLY MARKED PAGE
CLEAN
Due to the demand many packaging for the fish can find its was back to sea, or when fishermen are out at sea they can leave their garbage. Many nets from the boats and gears can also be found in the water, that fish can later see as food, eat it, and die; this ties back to extinction in fish. There is much pollution and decline stocks in fish because it is very hard to regulate the seas. To fulfill the growing demand for seafood, many companies are forced to fish beyond areas that are supposed to be non-fishing zones. This is because there are hardly any laws or restrictions telling them where they can and cannot fish. Sally Driscoll and Tom Warhol report in, ‘Overfishing’, that itt wasn’t until 1956 where we saw our first regulation, the United Nations organized the first UN Convention of the Law of the Sea or the NCLOS which helped promote rights of all countries by establishing boundaries off shore. Meaning that some seafood fished in certain areas of the ocean cannot be sold in certain countries, and in some areas it is illegal to fish unless you have a permit from that country. Economy also helps make it harder to regulate the seas, in ‘Overfishing’ it is explained that Preisdent Barack Obama brought up Antiquities Act of 1906, that let fishermen expand their fishing areas. The United Nations FAO estimates that 25 percent of all fish trapped in nets are labeled unusable or not licensed for fishing by the
The pirates are very active in the waters between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, off the Somali coast, and in the Strait of Malacca. According to some estimates, worldwide losses due to piracy can be as high as 13-16 billion US dollars per year.
Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to go online and sign a petition to help stop shark killings and to support the entire Racing Extinction cause in order to save species around the world from going extinct.
For years corporations have been depleting the oceans of its wildlife for our benefit. However, one thing these corporations tend to not mention is the bycatch they encounter when catching fish for the purpose of consumption. The definition of bycatch “is the unintended capture of nontarget animals…”(Crowder and Murawski pg.1). Bycatch takes a negative toll on our ocean ecosystem that cannot be reversed.
Shark finning began as a Chinese tradition around six-hundred years ago. (Techera 602) In Chinese culture, eating shark fin soup signifies a person’s wealth and status. According to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, when Fishermen hunt and catch sharks, they cut off their fins regardless if their alive or not. (The Brutal Business) Fishermen do not keep the whole body of the shark because it is considered valueless and there is limited space of the fishing boats. (Ling) So most of the sharks are thrown back into the ocean, where they are unable to swim without their fins. Furthermore, the sharks will bleed out and/or get eaten by other marine animals. (Verlecar 1078) Verlecar reports that sharks fins are being sold for more than seven hundred dollars per kilogram. (Verlecar 1078) Close to one-hundred and twenty-five countries are involved in the industry of shark fins. (Verlecar 1078) As reported by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, “…the oceans are literally being scoured clean of sharks…Poachers are invading national marine parks like the Galapagos ...
International law for the conservation and management of sharks is fragmented and piecemeal . However conservationists are making progress towards ending this destructive practice.
Sharkwater is a documentary. Just like many documentaries it puts forth a strong message by using relevant facts and captivating footage. Sharkwater explores the nature of sharks, how misconception and ill treatment is driving them to the edge of extinction, and how some people are taking a step towards protecting them. The creator of this document did an excellent job went it came to using primary sources and proper facts. In some places of the world shark finning is a full-blown industry that is being protected by the government and was killing thousands of sharks everyday just for the sake of money. In that point of the film you could say a bias opinion was presented. But when the streets of Puerto Rico began to flood with angry protesters
Shark nets have been implemented in locations across the world in response to shark sightings and attacks. Nets are submerged beneath the surface of the water, roughly 200 metres from the shoreline. The meshing is designed to be large to capture sharks, leaving them to struggle before eventually drowning under the weight of their own body. The meshing allows small fish to pass through, however captures larger fish and marine species. Shark nets provide no discrimination between common, vulnerable and endangered species, resulting in a high mortality rate for a variety of marine wildlife.
Why? Our oceans cover nearly three fourths of the surface of our earth. According to overfishing.org, eighty percent of all life on earth is in the ocean, and us humans are threatening and driving them to extinction by overfishing. What is overfishing? Overfishing is defined as “To fish (a body of water) to such a degree as to upset the ecological balance or cause depletion of living creatures.” (Merriam Webster Dictionary) Recent studies from the Environmental Defense Fund reveal a bleak truth: Overfishing is depleting our oceans of sea life around the world. 87% of the world’s assessed fish stocks are at their breaking point, classified as overexploited or fully exploited. 1 out of 2 fish stocks in the U.S. are either overfished or at risk of being overfished. Moreover, 100 million sharks are killed each year. Carl Safina, world-renowned author of books such as Song for the Blue Ocean, once said, “If you're overfishing at the top of the food chain, and acidifying the ocean at the bottom, you're creating a squeeze that could conceivably collapse the whole system.” Overfishing is classified as the most dangerous threat our oceans are facing today. Worldwide, about 90% of fish stocks are gone forever. In 1990 our oceans contained at least six times more fish than they do today. Collapsing fish stocks create large ecological dead zones in our
“Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction”. CITATION
It is no secret that sharks have a bad reputation for being blood-thirsty man-killers. Sharks are known as the “killers of the sea.” Every year, on average, 10 people are killed by sharks; however, every second 3 sharks are slaughtered by humans. So who is the real “killer of the sea?” Sharks are victims to a cruel and inhumane practice known as finning. Finning is a practice that is more practiced in the pacific today but used to be practiced all around the world. Finning refers to when commercial fishermen will pull a shark onto the boat and slice off the fins. The typical target fins that are cut off the shark are the primary dorsal fin, secondary dorsal fin, the lower caudal fin, anal fin, pelvic fin, and the pectoral fins. The removal of these fins leaves the shark a slender, finless carcass. After cutting the fins off, the fisherman toss the still living shark back into the water to die a gruesome and painful death. The practice of finning sharks should be banned and enforced internationally.
Did you know that sharks have lived for over 420 million years ago? One way people know that is because of research and tracking. If people keep hurting sharks they will be decimated sooner than society thinks. That is one reason why sharks should be protected.
Trawling is one of the most popular methods of fishing. It is extremely helpful in catching lots of fish, but it is also extremely helpful in causing lots of damage. One study from the Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, states that it “removes a layer of sediment, which over time leaves the fishing area completely infertile.” I’m not trying to find fault on fisherman here. In fact, the UN states that “Fishing is central to the livelihood and food security of 200 million people.” And many people living in coastal communities depend on fish as a primary source of protein and
Shark populations are undeniably in trouble and in a steady and rapid decline; in fact they are considered one of the most threatened marine animals in the world. Their populations are declining rapidly as a result of overfishing, bycatch, and habitat degradation. As of 2010, an estimated fifteen percent of shark species were listed as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable, with as many as one-third of all pelagic, open oceans, sharks faced with extinction (IUCN 2010). Not only that, but the number should probably be higher: the conservation status of forty seven percent of shark species could not be determined because adequate data is not available (IUCN 2010). Sharks are collected and subsequently killed in the United States intentionally
With such booming fishing industries, there are several species of fish out there that can handle the effect of human influences with proper regulations. Although, sharks are not one of these species. Shark finning is an act of catching sharks and harvesting the fins off of them while they are still alive. After the process, they are let back out to either drown or die of bleeding out, and it’s beginning to become out of control. Shark finning should be more heavily regulated due to the increase of illegal demands in the economy for shark fins, the drastic decrease in shark populations, and the negative impacts the low number of sharks cause to the ecosystem around the species.