The Problems of Overfishing

The Problems of Overfishing

Or too many people chasing too few fish

Today, 11 of the world's 15 major fishing areas and 69% of the world's major fish species are in decline according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization The population of the Bluefin Tuna in the Atlantic Ocean is already depleted.

Apart from environmental pollution, overfishing is the decisive cause of this alarming development.

Reasons: - The modern fishing boom since 50 years

- The improvement in technology => rampant exploitation

Radar technology => allows to fish in fog

Long-range navigation equipment => exact location of fishing grounds

Sonar => allows to fish in the deep sea

- The explosion of the world's population => increasing need for fish

- The overcapacity of the world's fishing fleet

- Fish stocks have been considered as common property

- As long as the caught fish cover the operating costs, there is no economic incentive

to stop fishing

- Subsidies of approximately $13 billion a year encourages fishing in already

depleted fisheries

- Fish stocks do not have enough time to reproduce

Ecological effects: - The change of the composition and abundance of edible marine life

which is sufficient to endanger marine ecosystems

- Overfishing makes ocean ecosystems more vulnerable to harm from

other human impacts such as pollution

- Overfishing probably contributes to the decline of marine birds and

mammals, by reducing their food supplies

- The depletion of the world's fishing grounds

- Once a population is reduced to low levels, its resilience is reduced

Solutions: - Legal action to enforce laws that protect fish and ocean ecosystems

- Legislation that requires sustainable fishing

- The creation of no-fishing areas

- Aquaculture (the cultivation of fish in controlled environments)

- Fishing quotas for fishes living 5 years or more

Problems of the reduction of overfishing:

- An estimated 950 million people (particularly residents of developing countries) depend on

fish as their most important source of protein

- The fishing industry directly or indirectly employs about 200 million people worldwide. A

restriction of fishing would lead to several millions of jobless fishermen or employees of

processing companies

Sources:

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_overfishing.html

http://www.sierraclub.org/population/reports/fishing.asp

Greenpeace. http://archive.greenpeace.org/~comms/fish/part8.html

http://www.buchal.com/tgsh/chap7/c2fn-04.htm

http://www.scientecmatrix.com/seghers/tecma/scientecmatrix.nsf/_/A50FDC4BB32C443AC1256B60003C07AA         

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/dynamic/issues/threats/overfishing/overfishing.htm

Finite oceans http://www.guardian.co.uk/fish/story/0,7369,353295,00.html