the LOGICAL solutions to this biological issue

EDUCATE

Many people do care about the Ocean and its inhabitants, but are ignorant to problems that occur beneath the water. The key to prevention is education. If educated about the endangerment of the Giant Bluefin Tuna and other species that are being overfished, the human population will be more cautious about what food they buy, what restaurant they eat at, and will hopefully spread the word about what is happening.

REGULATE

Many fishers are getting away with overfishing because there are not strict enough enforcements on fishermen. The problem of overfishing needs to be brought to the attention of those in high standing such as the ICCAT and even national governments whose countries are surrounded by oceans that are having overfishing problems. Regulations and rules, though they are hard to enforce on the sea because of boundary issues, need to be implemented and abided by.

REPOPULATE

Though we cannot order the Bluefin Tuna to repopulate, we can give them time to do so. I propose that fish with low populations that are becoming endangered should be left alone and given the time to repopulate and increase their numbers. I think we can go without the luxury of having real Bluefin Tuna sushi. I am not proposing that we cease all fishing of certain fish but that we restrict it and stop the overfishing that is caused by big companies taking large quantities of fish that are causing the major damage.

BY TAKING THESE MEASURES, we will be able to preserve the populations of fish and prevent overfishing from wiping out the Bluefin Tuna and many other fish species. It is a sacrifice that will have opposition and will be hard to implement, but it is necessary in solving this biological issue.

"Overfishing of Inland Waters"

Not only is Overfishing occurring in large salt water areas, but it is also occurring in freshwater inland areas. According to the peer reviewed journal "Overfishing of Inland Waters", "the current fisheries crisis has focused nearly exclusively on marine resources...[but] fisheries of inland waters have received only slight consideration within global analyses." Because inland fishing is usually recreational, artisanal, or illegal, it is harder to regulate and calculate statistics on. however, we know that Fresh water ecosystems as well as Salt Water ecosystems are suffering rapid decreases caused by overfishing and disturbances to the natural environment.

The Fresh Water ecosystems are showing declines in different ways than Salt Water ecosystems. This may be the reason why hardly any attention is being paid to the Fresh Water ecosystem problem. Rather than experiencing a decline in quantity of fish in Fresh Water areas, they are experiencing major changes such as "reduced growth and wellness of fish, pollution, degradation, nonnative species introductions, and detrimental interactions with hatchery-reared fish." The Fresh Water ecosystem is undergoing constant unnatural change and a disturbance in the natural environment is occurring. This is the biological issue.

"Ecosystem Overfishing In The Ocean"

The peer reviewed journal "Ecosystem Overfishing In The Ocean" calculated sustainability levels and secondary production levels to find whether or not Large Marine Ecosystems (LME's for short) are being exploited and overfished. The results were these:

-"From 2000 to 2004, several LME areas suffered high losses in secondary production due to fishing and had fisheries with low sustainability levels...This was especially evident for systems located in East Asia, Northern Europe, North Atlantic, and the Pacific coast of South America."
---What this means is that fish in these areas are not reproducing enough fish to keep the population high and there are low levels of fish as a result of Overfishing.

The journal goes on to say that the systems with the lowest sustainability levels were in the following regions (numbers in parentheses indicate the percent sustainability levels)

IN THE TEMPERATE & HIGH LATITUDE LME'S
-Sea of Japan (40.9%)
-West Greenland Shelf (33.2%)
-Norwegian Shelf (27.4%)
-North Sea (24.2%)
-North-eastern US Continental Shelf (22.9%)
-Faroe Plateau (15.1%)
-Iceland Shelf (14.3%)
-Yellow Sea (12.9%)

IN THE TROPICAL LME'S (less severe)
-Sulu-Celebes Sea (37.9%)
-Gulf of Mexico (35.4%)

THIS INFORMATION IN PICTURE FORM...













The lower the Psust (percent sustainability level), the more overfished the area is (extreme overfishing shown by red, orange, and yellow areas).

"Global Fisheries Crisis"

As mentioned in the first post, Overfishing is caused when there is a high demand for a certain type of fish and producers legally and even illegally catch high amounts of that fish to make money. This simple and seemingly harmless money-making process can be EXTREMELY harmful to biological systems and to the ocean way of life. Upsetting the balance of species and endangering a certain type of species is a biological issue--one that is usually ignored or disregarded.

In the April 2007 National Geographic, this problem was addressed and brought to the forefront of biological issues in the article "Global Fisheries Crisis." This article addresses the overfishing problem specifically related to the Giant Bluefin Tuna, which, because it's a delicacy, is in high demand. The Bluefin Tuna population has been reduced to ridiculously low numbers and are becoming scarce. Though they are known to "grow to 12 feet in length, weigh 1,500 pounds, and live for 30 years", they are not even given that opportunity anymore because they are killed and sold faster before they can reach their full magnificence.

One main point the article touches on is the fact that we are unaware of the atrocities that are happening in the vague and distant "world we cannot see" known as the Ocean. Consumers of these fish are probably unaware of the fact that by contributing to that market, they are adding to the problem of overfishing, definite endangerment, and possible extinction of certain species of fish.

Another point the article author Fen Montaigne makes over and over again is that fishers are being careless and selfish. Sure, catching the fish that will make them the most money is economically wise. But is it necessary to catch the huge and ridiculous amount of that fish that they are catching? Japan, according to the article "Global Fisheries Crisis", has a stockpile of 20,000 metric tons of Bluefin fish in store. If that isn't overfishing, I don't know what is.

References

Allen, J. David, et al. "Overfishing of Inland Waters." December, 2005. BioOne Online Journals. American Institute of Biological Sciences, Washington, DC. http://www.bioone.org.erl.lib.byu.edu/doi/full/10.1641/0006-3568%282005%29055%5B1041%3AOOIW%5D2.0.CO%3B2


Coll, Marta, et al. "Ecosystem Overfishing in the Ocean." Month published, Year. National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.erl.lib.byu.edu/pmc/articles/PMC2587707/

Montaigne, Fen. "Global Fisheries Crisis." National Geographic April 2007. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/04/global-fisheries-crisis/montaigne-text/1

it's a biological issue

This blog was made for my Biology 100 class. It is also, however, for anyone interested in biological issues and concerned for the specific issue that I will be addressing: Overfishing

B A C K G R O U N D

We as humans love our fish. That is, we love to EAT fish. As a result, there is a high demand for fish in the restaurant and food producing business and producers overfish. This causes low populations of certain types of fish species and is an extreme biological issue!