Overfishing In America
As some people know the saying “There are plenty of fish in the sea”, that is not really the case. Fishing has been a passtime, and a way of life, for many
Americans since the 16th Century. Fishing is the term referring to catching fish from oceans, lakes, or ponds. Many peo
(Tale Of Two Fisheries 4). Overfishing is when either recreational fisherman or industrial fisherman catch too many fish at one time and it affects not only the marine life balance, but also the economic balance. People need to realize that overfishing is a real problem and needs to be fixed. Some people may ask how do we solve the overfishing issue? The government is coming up with different laws and regulations to set on big commercial fisheries
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Little do they know the fish in the oceans populations are actually going down rapidly. The population of fish in the ocean has went down almost 4% in the past decade.
Some people would look at 4% and think that is a really low number, but when you have millions of fish in the sea that can be a very very big number. Most of these fish are being caught by commercial fishing boats for consumption by the people from all over the world. There are so many fishing vessels out in the ocean right now. The DMV says that there are about 33,000 different fishing vessels out in the ocean fishing for anything that will take their bait (Hakai 4).
This includes crab boats, tuna boats, and even boats that catch a variety of fish.
The 33,000 boats that the DMV knows about are all registered and that is why they know how many boats are out there, but there are still thousands and thousands of boats out there that are out fishing illegally and without a license.
Most of the Overfishing issue is coming from these boats that are out there illegally. This is because no one knows about those boats. Every year the coast guard catches about 3,000 fishing boats that are unregistered, fishing without
Since three-forth of the world is composed of bodies of water, it’s natural that a great number of people rely on fishing for their livelyhood or just for their recreation needs. There are numerous of fish species swimming under the lakes, seas, ponds, and rivers. Most anglers consider fishing as the delight in their purpose-driven life, a sport, as they say.
In the early 1900s people from Italy started to arrive on ship. They first arrived in Detroit, Michigan and later immigrated to Gloucester, to fish like they did back in the old country. Children, as young as ten years old went fishing to make a living for their family. When they first came the fishing industry was booming. There was no limit to how long you could fish or how much you could catch. Many men went fishing for weeks at a time. When Italian fishermen came upon the Atlantic off what is now Cape Cod, the waters churned with schools of fish. When they came nearly 800 of them in Boston and Gloucester combined became fishermen. In New England, cod was king. Enriched by a West Indies trade of fish for molasses, boat owners were referred to as the "codfish aristocracy. Sadly in the late 1990s the fishing industry went downhill and changed for the worst. (.)
With fish stocks depleting, fisheries are coming to a point of there being no jobs.
Rupert Murray’s The End of the Line focuses on the depletion of the oceans fisheries and the devastating effects it has already begun to have on ecosystems and less affluent populations. The film opens with a description of the tribulations of Newfoundland. Once possessing waters so populous with cod that one could “walk across their backs in the water,” improved technology and larger fishing vessels began to deplete the fish stocks. Despite placing a moratorium on fishing in 1992, the fisheries had already been depleted to the point of complete collapse. Similar processes are occurring around the world, as only .6% of the ocean is restricted to fishing vessels. According to the film, much of the ocean’s catch has declined by 90%; the continuation of current trends if continue, stocks will collapse by 2048.
The primary areas of concerns entail not only local nutrient pollution into water systems, via waste feed, but feces, as well as, chemical pollution, with chemical and antibiotic treatments, and the spread of diseases via farm escapees to wild fish populations. According to Farmed and Dangerous.org (n.d.), salmon farming remains one of the most harmful aquaculture production systems. due to open net-cages maintained directly in the ocean, hence producing farm waste, chemicals, disease and parasites , which flow directly into the neighboring waters, harming other marine life, such as industry, as sea lions and seals. Furthermore, farmed
There are many impacts that fishing and land animal farming have on the ocean, which are detrimental to ocean ecosystems as well as many other aspects of the environment. Overfishing, killing fish at a much quicker rate than the fish can repopulate, is one major problem. Three-fourths of the world’s fisheries are either fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted (Cowspiracy). Researchers have estimated an end of all viable fisheries by 2018 if the current trends of fishing continue (Mason). According to the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch, hundreds of thousands of animals die every year as bycatch, with one of the worst offenders being shrimp fisheries, catching up to six pounds of bycatch per pound of shrimp. Endangered species are also caught, including predators which are important in keeping the balance in ocean ecosystems (Smith). While many organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch recommend consumers to eat more “sustainable” fish, this will not stop the massive environmental impacts. Sustainable fishing for one does not account for the natural flux in the population of species of fish; what is considered a sustainable amount of fish to harvest one year may deplete the fishery in another year (Smith). Sustainable fish also are becoming even less sustainable as companies that label sustainable fish must find more For example, after Wal-Mart pledged to selling Marine Stewardship
With a coastline of over 202 000 km and over a fourth of the world’s freshwater resources, it is no wonder why Canada’s fishing industry is a huge part of its economy.1 Canada exports more than 75% of its fish to over 130 countries worldwide. Many of the 7 million people who reside on the coast depend on the ocean’s resources. In total, Canada’s entire fishing industry is worth around 5$ billion dollars a year, being one of the world’s most valuable. However, the coasts have not been treated by respect; overfishing, over consumption, and wasteful practices has deteriorated, not only the industry, but the ecosystems and fish populations. This is a huge global issue; the worldwide collapse of fisheries has been project for 2048. Slowly, as the trends continue, we will inevitably see many fish species start to disappear. In fact, the ill-treatment of species on the Canadian border has already devastated a large specie, the cod.
To fish or not to fish is a personal choice. The fact that the oceans are being overfished is a growing concern for individuals, organizations, and governments throughout the world. In this paper I want to discuss the effects of overfishing on the restaurant industry, and possible solutions to solve the problem. Fishing is an ongoing source of food for people around the world. In many countries it is a food staple in their everyday diet. In more modern societies eating fish has become a sensual experience, and not just for the wealthy. It hasn't been until population explosions in the last century that the demand for seafood has led to more effective fishing techniques and technologies. Now the demand for popular fish like the salmon, tuna, sea bass, cod and hoki, which is the key fish in McDonalds filet o' fish, is diving wild populations to dangerously low levels. The methods used to catch the amount of fish demanded by the industry do not leave sustainable populations in the wild. In an attempt to preserve the fish population, governments have set limits on the minimum size that may be harvested and how many of each may be taken. Boundaries have been set up saying which areas can be fished and which ones should be left alone. A number of smaller fisheries have gone out of business because of the limits imposed by the government. This leads to even less fish being harvested and brought to market. Therefore the amount and varieties of fish at markets are smaller and can cause shortages for wholesalers and restaurants. Some restaurants will no longer have the variety on their menus that they used to enjoy. If a restaurant thrives on its seafood menu they may be unable to cope with the shortages and will go out of business. In the ...
“Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction”. CITATION
This is a list of things that I have learns over the years fishing on sportfishing boats. Some of this may seem common knowledge if you’re an avid angler but if you newbie then this might be helpful. I’m sure this is not a complete list so if you have something to add feel free to send me an email so I can add it to the list.
When economic incentives overshadow moral reasoning, people often disregard, or temporarily repress moral arguments, and eagerly turn toward the economic incentives. In January 2009, a 440 lb Bluefin tuna sold for $173,000 (Keim, 2009). The average weight and size of a bluefin tuna is 770 lbs and 2-2.5 m. This high selling price reflects an irresistible incentive to catch these immense fish and sell them to the highly demanding market. Demand for bluefin tuna has grown so high that demand is starting to supersede the supply. In anticipation of resolving this problem, commercial fisheries began large-scale fishing of the tuna. Bluefin Tuna have very fast swimming speeds, which allow them to migrate between cold temperate feeding grounds and warm water spawning grounds regularly (Fromentin and Powers, 2005). Atlantic Bluefin Tuna can sustain cold (down to 3°C) as well as warm (up to 30°C) temperatures while maintaining stable internal body temperature (Block et al. 2001). One problem with the unrestricted fishing of Bluefin tuna is their susceptibility to being overfished. Northern Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in particular have life spans of over 30 years. This causes them to be more vulnerable to getting caught at some point in their lifetimes. In addition it takes them eight years to mature which leads to a very slow reproductive cycle (Fromentin and Powers, 2005). By the time they reach eight, there is a very good chance that they will already be caught eliminating their chance for reproduction. Egg production, for the individual species that do make it to maturity, appears to be size-dependent: a smaller, younger female produces an average of five million eggs, while a larger, older female can carry up to 45 million eggs (Rodriguez-Ro...
More than forty thousand merchant ships, and countless number of smaller coastal craft, ply world oceans which comprise nearly seventy percent of the earth’s surface. Each year approximately ten million containers of cargo, containing raw materials to finished goods are transported by seas. The ships are owned by different states, private companies or individuals and manned by mixture of seafarers from different countries, mixed together from various nationalities. These ships are perhaps the most autonomous entities on earth as rule of law allows frequent change of their allegiance or identity by choosing a flag to suit their requirement.
This leads to those fish becoming endangered and even extinct. For example, "up to 2,000 of the animals were drowning in gill nets in the Gulf of Maine each year--enough to eventually wipe out the species” (Cone). Some species can’t reproduce fast enough to continue having a stable population. This leads to endangerment and eventually extinction. In addition to this, "the vaquita... become entangled in nets set for the totoaba, and drown" (Malkin). Aquatic animals, such as the vaquita, are being over caught and killed in nets that weren’t even meant for them. Most of the anglers don’t even use the vaquita that was unintentionally caught. On the other hand, "...fish is the primary source of protein for one in six people on earth” (Whitty). To stop using drift nets to collect fish would deny many people much needed foods. Even so, "Erik Anderson, who has fished New England's waters for 30 years, would haul up his gill net and occasionally discover a harbor porpoise, entangled and dying, trapped in the mesh along with his harvest of cod and flounder" (Cone). Although some people may have to find a different source of protein, the demise of drift nets will save entire
Overfishing is the most major problem related to oceans, but it is also the most overlooked. Fishing has been going on for thousands of years, and fish have always been seen as a renewable resource, that would replenish itself forever for our benefit. But around the world there is evidence that fish are not recove...
Unless the current situation improves, stocks of all organisms that are currently fished for food are predicted to collapse drastically by 2048 (WWF 2.) Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more