Introduction
Most of us love to eat fish, don’t we? Fish is the source of protein and we also know fish comes from ocean. There were full of fishes many decades ago, but it’s not the situation today. Our earth now facing too much complex issues like pollution, climate change and of course overfishing. All of the problems are created by ourselves’ activities.
What is overfishing, there is a definition from Wikipedia: “Overfishing is a form of overexploitation where fish stocks are reduced to below acceptable levels. Overfishing can occur in water bodies of any size, such as ponds, rivers, lakes or oceans, and can result in resource depletion, reduced biological growth rates and low biomass levels.” Obviously, in one word, overfishing is catching
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We need to end overfishing as soon as possible. Governments should make fishing legally; and the populace should start with little things to protecting our common natural environment.
Overfishing problems
According to the WWF, only 1.6% of the oceans have been protected as Marine Protected Areas, and 90% of these Maine Protected Areas are opening for fishing. These areas are important because they protect the fish species and their habitats.
From World Wildlife Fund (WWF): “More than 85 percent of the world's fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits and are in need of strict management plans to restore them.” Many of important fish species have been caught and the populations decreased to a very low point where they are almost threatened.
Recently, the population of Bluefin Tuna has been decreased to a seriously low level. Based on an article from IUCN, all of the scientific advice agreeing on the need for a violent reduction of fishing levels, and an abandon of fishing during the fishes’ spawning season to allow reproducing. (Simard, Nov.,
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The increasing humans need for fishes stimulate fishing committees go fishing more frequently and crazily.
Also, illegally fishing transactions from black markets are big problems for overfishing because of the attractive profits.
Why do we need to end overfishing?
In recent years, the increasing humans needs make fish catching more frequently; technology, better fishing equipment make fishing easier and faster. Many fishing industries have the best equipment, vessels, and technology that make sure that they are able to fishing deep into the oceans. They can stay on the oceans for weeks and months to fishing. Experts believe that the equipment from all over the world is enough to catching fish on 4 earth-size planets.
There are some impacts of overfishing:
First, non-sustainable practice destroys the marine environments, and disrupts the entire food chains in the oceans. It will impact all the living life in the chains.
Second, Sustainable fishing can make sure that people’s livelihoods are protected and the fishing business is sustained. But overfishing does not guarantee that, and soon, the fishing business will go breaking and people will be out of
One of the distinct features of any common resource is that it is a “non-excludable good1”, meaning no one can be prevented from using what is available. As discussed, the consequence of this scenario is that it will produce a socially inefficient outcome. There are differing theories on how to achieve an economically feasible marginal cost and marginal social benefit equilibrium. The difficulty, of course, is to determine what the socially optimal supply level for Bluefin Tuna should be in relation to fish stock restoration and future sustainability as well as empowering the global community to act in unison. The discussion here
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
Commercial fisheries can do tremendous damage to the marine ecosystem if they are not managed properly. This became apparent in Newfoundland and Labrador during the 1990s, when decades of overfishing caused the northern cod stocks to collapse and resulted in a moratorium on the centuries-old industry. These were huge ecological and economic losses, which dictated an urgent need to change fisheries policy and practice in a way that would make the industry sustainable and protect marine biodiversity.
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.
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.
Fish have been one of mankind's greatest resource throughout history. They have been sustenance to civilizations in the most extreme climates. But now they are being overfished. There are pros and cons of overfishing. Some pros include more jobs, healthier food, and it provides food for the world. Overfishing should be stopped because the fishing methods that companies use can be very destructive to aquatic ecosystems, they can disrupt balances in the food chain and can lead to the exploitation of non fishing zones/areas, and it can cause overpopulation of other species. Stop overfish and regulate commercial fishing.
2. 90% of global fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. We need to move towards small-scale sustainable fishing practices, not industrial monster sized boats, if we are to have healthy oceans.
By 2030 the world’s population will exceed 8 billion people. Reduction in the growth rates cause a lack of space to grow in. Studies by the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre show that we have ran out of room to expand our fisheries. The study showed that since 1950, fisheries expanded at the rate of 1 million sq. kilometers per year from 1950-1970, and tripled in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. This text can help me by explaining the importance of reducing fishing at large rates because if we do not we will later have a shortage of fish to consume. Also providing
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
Many breeds of fish are being captured at a faster rate than they can reproduce. Some species such as orange roughy fishing became popular in New Zealand in the 1970’s. Over time, it spread to many countries around the world. In the last 20 years, there has been a decline in catch up to 75%. It is no longer common to see in grocery stores as well as restaurants. The amounts of fish that are captured and distributed around the world are alarming opposed to the rate the fish can multiply.
In order for there to be plenty of fish in the years ahead, fisheries will have to develop sustainable fisheries and some will have to close. Due to the constant increase in the human population, the oceans have been overfished with a resulting decline of fish crucial to the economy and communities of the world. The control of the world's fisheries is a controversial subject, as they cannot produce enough to satisfy the demand, especially when there aren't enough fish left to breed in healthy ecosystems. Scientists are often in the role of fisheries managers and must regulate the amount of fishing in the oceans, a position not popular with those who have to make a living fishing ever decreasing populations.
Overfishing is an enormous issue that needs to be corrected or there will be no more fish to catch in the future. The true definition of overfishing is as defined by the national fisheries act from 1996 overfishing is “a rate or level of fishing mortality that jeopardizes a fishery's capacity to produce maximum sustainable yield (MSY) on a continuing basis(kennedy, 2016)." Some of the facts of overfishing are so shocking they would blow you out of the water, as well as some of the effects overfishing can have on the fisheries. The solutions to overfishing are extremely simple and completely within our power to do.
The triple bottom line of fishing is influenced by sustainability in many ways. One way is the demand for fish increases with population. As well there are new laws limiting fishing, ultimately forcing once