OverFishing by Varoujon Shahmirian

Over-fishing

Introduction:

  Imagine hanging out with your friends and wondering what you guys wanna eat. Someone says "Sushi!" and your all on board. Now your at the restaurant, the waiter is handing you the menu, and almost half the menu is crossed off because that specific fish is endangered. This is the possible future if we as humans, don't stop over-fishing. Fish has been a reliable substance for humans for thousands of years. However, has the human population continues to grow at increasing rate, the fish population can't keep up with us. I feel that we need to regulate and control fishing so that it doesn't lead to the extinction of certain fish species.

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Research:
 The data I had come upon was alarming. According to the World Wildlife Fund,"a scientific report estimated that industrial fishing had reduced the number of large ocean fish to just 10 percent of their pre-industrial population." Fish such as Blue-Fin Tuna and Chilean Sea-Bass have had their numbers crash as a result of the fish boom in the 1950's. Since the fish numbers became this low, you would assume we stopped fishing right? No, we continued, and still are. According to National Geographic,

"commercial fleets are going deeper in the ocean and father down the food chain for viable catches. This so-called "fishing down" is triggering a chain reaction that is upsetting the ancient and delicate balance of the sea's biologic system." Not only are they digging deeper into the ecosystem, causing further turmoil, but a "study published by the journal,Science, predicts that if fishing rates continue apace, all the world's fisheries will have collapsed by the year 2048." If this isn't a wake up call, then I don't know what is.

Sources;

1)“Overfishing.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing#. 

2) “Overfishing.” National Geographic, 27 Apr. 2010, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/critical-issues-overfishing/.

Personal:

 I personally chose this topic because I am a fisherman, and I've always held animal controversies close to my heart. I've gone on plenty fishing trips and seen in first person how fish are treated. Not only that, but I am also an avid fan of sushi, I'm sure almost everyone is. I want to be able to eat sushi not only the rest of my life, but for the future generations too. Now if we as humans don't alter our attitude towards nature, not just over-fishing, we will lose this planet and all its resources. 

Community Statements

Shaunt Abnous

 "The over-fishing epidemic has maintained a constant incline since the 1950's. People fail to realize the damaging affects of over-fishing as it aggressively disrupts the food chain, ultimately causing a great impact on our own lives. I hope that awareness is brought upon the subject of over-fishing so the problem does not carry on to future generations."

 

Karin Babikian

"I am against over-fishing because it leads to eliminating certain fish species. The outcome would ruin the ecosystem of not only certain seas but the whole ocean."

Alex Bakhdanyan

" The tremendous decline observed in the global population of the blue-fin tuna since the 1950's is a clear indicator of the damage caused by over-fishing. The over-fishing I refer too is carried out by commercial fishing vessels employed by large scale corporations. As a recreational fisherman myself, it pains me to see these commercial fishing boats destroy these fish along their ecosystems by using techniques such as penning to catch massive schools all at once. What happened to just using a rod and reel?"