The Problem And Solutions To Overfishing
With marine life and ocean ecosystems occupying 70% of the earth, it is essential to keep them viable; however, overfishing threatens the sustainability, leading many fish and sea creatures to an imminent demise. Despite the world continually driving the downfall of fish markets and ecosystems, there are solutions that allow fish to become populated and sustainable once again.
Although increasing population has required more food and the more demand for food has led to overfishing, there are many more factors that cause it. A leading factor is unrestricted and open access fishing. It was revealed that fishing is the only industry in the world that that has unrestricted and open access of fishing promoting no limits for fisheries. According to the book, “Achieving Sustainable Fisheries”, the number of fisherman has doubled in the past 25 years. Additionally, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's report, over 50% of fish stocks are totally exploited 20% of fish stocks are exploited moderately, 17% of fish stocks are overexploited, and 7% of fish stocks are completely depleted. These statistics show that 25% of world fish stocks are either depleted or soon to be and almost 80% of the world's fisheries are in a condition of fully, overexploited or a depleted state of disarray. Just one example of the exploitation leading to the quietus of a species can be found in Newfoundland, Canada in 1992. What once was a thriving cod rich industry, collapsed when there were simply no fish in the beginning of the season. Decades of exploiting the natural cod ecosystem caused this catastrophic disaster in not only an entire ecosystem but the jobs of nearly 40, 000 people. Still 20 years later, fisherman are still awaiting the depleted ecosystem to return, and the community to recover from the region's biggest economic debacle. Overexploiting fish ecosystems is not the only peril to their sustainability. Bycatch is just as severe. In 1997, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), bycatch is defined as "total fishing mortality, excluding that accounted directly by the retained catch of target species". Essentially, it is a mechanism for overfishing and unintentional catch, leading the decline in fishery. The most consequential part of bycatch is because it is undocumented. In early 2000’s the U. S established catch limits to fisheries as a solution to overfishing but instead had an antithetical effect. The success of these limits is short lasting though because target fish for one fishery are discarded as bycatch in a different fishery.
Unfortunately, since bycatch is widely undocumented, it is hard to track the exact amount of damage it has caused but there are some noticeable ecosystems that have been affected, One of the biggest species affected by bycatch have been sharks, specifically the dusky shark. Emily Tripp, author of “Bycatch Spotlight: One of the Biggest Issues Facing Sharks Today” says, ”Dusky sharks, for example, have experienced population declines of 85 percent due to overfishing and bycatch. In 2010 alone, more than 3, 400 dusky sharks were captured as bycatch in two bottom longline fisheries in the southeast region of the U. S”. She continues to go on and explain other sharks that are becoming endangered by bycatch: great whites, tigers, hammerheads, and many other species.
Fortunately, there are solutions. Currently less than 2 percent of the world's ocean is protected by marine and wildlife parks; and less than 1 percent is protected from any kind of fishing according to the World Wildlife Fund. Marine parks are proven to help save and recover endangered species. The critically endangered hawksbill turtle was on the brink of extinction before being protected in the Papua New Guinea Coral Sea marine park where it had over quadrupled its population.
Marine parks and sanctuaries are not the only elucidation to protecting sea life. Removing trawling, the leading cause of Bycatch, is another lucrative solution. Trawling is bringing huge nets through the ocean, scooping up any kind of animal in its wake, resulting in massive wasteful bycatch. The outright ban to all trawling has shown effects in parts of the world like Hong Kong. The Chinese government imposed a trawling ban in Hong Kong waters that took effect in December 2012 when they realized the depleting fish stocks with an imminent and complete collapse. That meant, no longer could trawling fishing equipment be bought or used in their waters. Over the six years this law has been introduced, the number of documented bycatch has dropped significantly, no doubt, saving many types of species.
Overfishing is still a significant problem in the world that continues to undermine successful fisheries management and waste the ocean’s living marine resources. Despite some countries attempting to combat the issue, more needs to be done everywhere about improvements being made in accurately reporting bycatch and reducing the amount of fish that are discarded at sea as well as properly documents and not exploiting the limited regulations of fisheries. Fish and chips is an exquisite dish, wouldn’t it be a shame if it no longer existed?
