As global demand for sushi and canned tuna escalates, fishermen are struggling to bring in a sizable catch. Tuna companies' shipments have halved due to dwindling fish populations, endangering the fish populations and the livelihoods of entire communities. Check out this video detailing the situation in the Philippines.
Cathy Erway: The Pescatore's Dilemma
Seafood has enjoyed a long history of acceptance among people who otherwise do not eat meat. Yet today's food gurus are placing pescatarianism at the height of ravenously irresponsible eating.
David Helvarg: Why Not a Department of the Ocean?
Creating a Dept. of the Ocean incorporating the Coast Guard and NOAA might be the bold action that could take the President's Ocean Policy initiative into the mainstream.
Sarah Chasis: Obama Administration Reveals Bedrock Ocean Policy Details -- and They're Strong
Like the passage of a Clean Air Act or a Clean Water Act, President Obama is in the process of creating a landmark national healthy oceans policy and plan of action for our seas.
Louise McCready: A Future Without Fish: End of the Line Casts Scary Forecast for the Sea
According to the documentary The End of the Line, we won't need to worry about eating too many McDonald's fish sandwiches because, quite simply, there will be no more fish to eat.
Overfishing linked to algal blooms : Nature News
Bok Choy: The Solution to Overfishing? - The Atlantic Food Channel
Pollution, overfishing, climate change affect penguins - washingtonpost.com
End Overfishing -- A Chance to Save 10 Species - The Petition Site
Tuna industry launches new organization to save tuna from itself
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The only hope for the Atlantic bluefin tuna is that the tuna fishing industry goes bankrupt before the species goes extinct.
As the bluefin numbers dwindle, they will become harder, and more expensive, to find. The price of bunker oil & diesel (ship fuel) will become more expensive, and eventually tuna fishing will become too expensive to continue. Many people will lose their livelihoods, but that is a small price to pay if it results in the survival of this magnificent fish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_bluefin_tuna
Will Overfishing Leave The Tuna Industry Dry?
Short answer, yes it will. There is no real will to manage fisheries correctly... none whatsoever. The shark harvest alone is an example of how regulation fails in an industry that won't regulate itself... add to it disasters like the failure of the salmon on the West coast of the US and we can see how impotent and ineffective our fishing regulation is... Then think about regulating Japan or China or other countries who do not comply, fish unregulated waters (like Africa/Somalia), and are mostly answerable to no one..
The global fishing industry can not regulate itself. It is corrupt and unconcerned. It was public pressure that changed anything about drift nets, dolphins, etc and the public just doesn't know enough to make good decisions...
There is general agreement that we have a significant problem. We need agreement on a solution.
The only solution that I think could work is Rolling Ban.
Rolling Ban breaks up the world's fisheries into a small set. Each member of the set, in turn, has all fishing banned for a number of years so that the complete fishery can recover. For example, all North Atlantic banned for 3 years, then 3 years south atlantic, etc.
The hope is that complete recovery can support greater harvests in the future.
The plan requires worldwide enforcement and quotas.
http://corporatestatesmen.net/images/Rolling_Ban.pdf
Did you ever read about the Canadian cod moratorium? Even after 10 years the stocks did not recover. Here's a story on it from 2002:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20020630/nfld_cod_anniversary020630?s_name=&no_ads=
Here's a quote from John Crosbie, the Federal Fisheries Minister at the time the moratorium was imposed (1992). He said this 10 years later, in 2002:
"There's no signs of (the cod) coming back," he said in a recent interview. "It may never come back. . . . It was so severely overfished. The whole state of the world's fishery is poor. I'm extremely pessimistic about it all."
Now, I'm going to go and find out what the current state of the cod stocks off Newfoundland are...
Here's a bit more about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod#Endangered-species_controversies_in_Canada_and_Europe
There used to be a herring school the size of Rhode Island off the US East coast... it was fished out and the dolphins and others began starving... how long doe it take to grow back something like that? and what about the predators that depend on it?
People will buy whatever is in fish markets.
Regulation is needed.
Regulation, smegulation! Regulations don't stop fishermen from exceeding their "quotas." Making international marine reserves and conviscating fishing vessels that enter into said reserves would. Regulations don't have any teeth. We need strict new laws and somebody to enforce them in international waters. We need somebody with enough stones to sink the trawlers that resist.
Yes, enforcement is key!
I think it's time tp call for a temporary ban on harvesting seafood. This should also include all ocean farming except for shelfish (which are filter feeders and therefore have minimal negative impact on the ocean.)
I hope all the fishing business fail. Our ocean is acidifying due to overfishing.
This is due to the absorption of CO2, reacting with H2O to form H2CO3, or carbonic acid.
Yep, it's exactly the same stuff that makes soda pop acidic, and eats away at tooth enamel (the hardest substance produced by the human body).
In 50 years or less, most of the edible fish in the oceans will be depleted--including tuna and swordfish. This will have huge consequences for us--and all other living creatures.
The answer to the question is yes.
japan could "sink" the tuna industry all by itself. There are many other countries in the "same boat."
The human race's lack of foresight and planning will sink all of us, sooner or later.
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Posted: 11- 6-09 03:01 PM