Saturday, March 22, 2014

Overfishing and The Future of the Oceans

We've discussed the threat of over fishing multiple times in and outside of class, but it still makes me curious about what the oceans will be like in the future at the rate at which it is. The population of fish is nothing new and in fact is a topic that has been discussed over and over again. Two-thirds of Earth is covered in water. According to a video that first made me more curious about this topic, global fish catches since the 1950's era have quadrupled and about one-hundred million TONS of fish are caught from the oceans each year. Let's take a moment and realize the sheer craziness of that, because in my mind that is such an astonishingly huge number.


Think about it. With the drastic amounts of fish that are caught in the ocean per year, it is estimated that in about 30 years the seas will be dried up and the fish gone along with it. There is a specific online video that is about an hour long, but so interesting and with so many facts I didn't even know about. Check out this website and see what is proposed in the Netherlands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V325y7QCg3c

 There are 6 out of the 7 species of sea turtles that are endangered by the long lines that are produced by fisheries. They attract a vast number of organisms such as turtles, sharks and fish, and so catching so many species will create endangerment that needs to be put more emphasis on. Change of how we as humans manage the vast species of the oceans, by the year 2048, the seafood will be off all menus.

According to one study, a decline in seafood has occured since the 90's. But all the while, people have become educated with the knowledge that fish is incredibly healthy and so the supply of fish decrease as the demand has increased. All the while, this study suggests that it will take more than just the will of the people but political help from the government to help stop this dilemma from occurring. Not only is fish consumption good for the body in terms of the brain and nervous system, but the oils of fish taken through omega-3. Fish only have 3-5% oil, so when you think about it, to make a liter of oil that gets transferred to pills that are sold in the drug store for increasing concentration, memory and health overall, it take a lot of fish. Is that necessary? Therefore, I think it needs to be stressed that overfishing is overrated and in time it wilnot only hurt the oceans but us as humans as well.

Reference:
http://daniel.krupka.free.fr/docs_references/20_menaces/40_surpeche/Overfishing%20Could%20Take%20Seafood%20Off%20the%20Menu%20by%202048_%20Scientific%20American.pdf




2 comments:

  1. You make a good point wit the fish oil pills. My grandma takes them and she always complains about the aftertaste. She should just eat the fish!

    100 million tons is a ridiculous amount of fish to be caught. Is this all from the ocean, or does this also account for fisheries? I would be curious to know how much fish is consumed worldwide, with oceans and fisheries numbers combined.

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  2. No matter which way you slice it fish are endangered. How do they get fish oil, that is not man made I assume, it is made from real fish.

    Valerie Warburton

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